Microsoft Corp. today announced a no-charge offering for users of Macintosh^® computers, The Microsoft®Empowerment Pack for Apple Mac&153;. The Microsoft Empowerment Pack for the Mac provides users with a powerful set of tools designed to enhance their presence on the Internet, increase their computer's performance, and improve their system's memory. It includes Microsoft Internet Explorer version 2.0 for the Macintosh, which uses fewer system resources than any other Mac browser; Internet Assistant 2.0 for Microsoft Word for Macintosh, which enables users to turn their Word documents into Web pages with just a few clicks; Internet Assistant for Microsoft Excel for Macintosh, enabling users to create and share spreadsheets online; the Microsoft Word 6.0.1a Update for Macintosh, which improves a system's performance and stability; the Apple^® System 7.5 Update 2.0 and System 7.5.3 Revision 2 from Apple Computer Inc.; and a special memory offer from Kingston Technology Corp. of 8 MB of desktop memory for only $69 - a savings of as much as $100.

"The Microsoft Empowerment Pack for the Mac is part of our ongoing effort to bring our customers new, powerful technology that improves their overall experience with the Office applications," said Dave Meltzer, group product manager for Macintosh applications at Microsoft. "The tools in The Microsoft Empowerment Pack improve performance and make it possible to bring the Internet to the desktop with easy-to-use, familiar Microsoft programs that our customers are comfortable with."

"We're happy to be working with Microsoft to get the latest refinement of our operating system into the hands of our mutual customers," said Jim Gable, vice president of AppleSoft marketing at Apple.

The Empowerment Pack Tools include

Microsoft Internet Explorer 2.0 for the Macintosh. Developed specifically for use with the Apple System 7.x operating system, Microsoft Internet Explorer is completely integrated with the Macintosh user interface and underlying architectures, including support for AppleScript&153;.

Internet Assistant 2.0 for Microsoft Word for Macintosh. Working from within Word, Internet Assistant 2.0 for Word is a full-featured authoring tool that automatically converts Word files to HTML and provides users with an interface for inserting hyperlinks, images and forms into their documents.

 

Internet Assistant for Microsoft Excel for Macintosh. Through its wizard, Internet Assistant for Microsoft Excel helps users convert their spreadsheet data to HTML format either as a separate document or in an existing HTML document, without users having to understand the complicated code associated with HTML.

 

Microsoft Word 6.0.1a Update for Macintosh. The update enhances performance and stability with faster boot time and word count, improved font handling, and resolved extension conflicts.

 

System 7.5 Update 2.0 and System 7.5.3 Revision 2 from Apple Computer. Working with the Microsoft applications group, Apple created the latest refinement of the Mac operating system, which improves overall system performance and makes startup times for Microsoft Office up to four times faster on the Power Macintosh^®when using virtual memory.

 

A special memory offer from Kingston Technology Corp. Adding memory enables users to more effectively run multiple applications simultaneously, increasing productivity.

 

Registered users of Microsoft Office 4.2 for Macintosh, Microsoft Word 6.x for Macintosh, Microsoft Excel 5.x for Macintosh, and the Microsoft PowerPoint^® presentation graphics program version 4.x for Macintosh will receive free Microsoft Empowerment Packs by mail in early July. Users of Microsoft Office 3.0 applications who registered after April 1993 will receive a mail-in card for The Microsoft Empowerment Pack for the Mac.

All other customers can download the software from the Microsoft Web site Users can also order the software on 3.5-inch disks by calling (800) 469-6520 in the United States.

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