REDMOND, Wash. - April 4, 2000 - Microsoft Corp. today announced that its re-branded Microsoft^® Visio^® 2000 product line is now available to all customers via its Open and Select licensing programs, as an add-on to its Enterprise Agreement, and from the e-commerce site http://shop.microsoft.com/. Service Release 1 focuses on minor changes that help the product conform more closely to the Microsoft user interface, and on minor improvements to the graphics engine's performance. In addition, the company announced the launch of its Visio Web sites, http://www.microsoft.com/visio/ and the MSDN™ Online Visio Developer Center at http://msdn.microsoft.com/visio/.

Visio is a natural complement to existing Microsoft product offerings, particularly the Microsoft Office suite. The ability to add business drawings and technical diagrams to Office documents allows users to augment the words and numbers that constitute typical business documents with illustrations that help them communicate knowledge even more clearly.

"By offering best-of-breed products for words, numbers and now diagrams - as well as the tools to present, send via e-mail, print and post online the resulting work - we are offering a more complete set of tools for knowledge workers," said Bob Muglia, group vice president of the Business Productivity Group at Microsoft. "Visio's deep functionality and graphics engine can add value to other Microsoft products as well, and we're currently evaluating where and how to leverage this unique technology to our customers' benefit."

Since the completion of Microsoft's acquisition of Visio in January of this year, integration efforts have proceeded quickly and successfully. Now, customers, developers and partners will be able to purchase Microsoft Visio as well as locate information about the product line through the same resources they use for other Microsoft products. The new Web sites will contain information on all the Microsoft Visio 2000 product editions, and the MSDN Online Visio Developer Center will provide a wealth of developer resources, including white papers, technical articles, training, customization examples, webcasts, newsgroups and the "Developing Visio Solutions" guide.

"Today's news, coupled with our March announcement regarding Visio's contribution of more than 100 functions to the Microsoft Office 2000 Code Librarian Update service, demonstrates the amazing progress we've made in integrating with the rest of Microsoft," said Jeremy Jaech, vice president of the Business Tools Division at Microsoft. "We look forward to continuing the integration process and exploring further ways that Visio technology can help knowledge workers share information."

About the Visio 2000 Product Line

During 1999, Visio launched its Visio 2000 platform, a family of four products - the Standard, Technical, Professional and Enterprise editions. The Visio 2000 platform brings the power of clear visual communication to knowledge workers' everyday work, regardless of their responsibilities within a company. It provides a powerful, cost-effective platform for the development of graphics-based drawing and diagramming business solutions. Visio 2000 delivers new drawing, navigational and Internet enhancements, which lead to an overall increase

in ease of use and productivity. These enhancements offer users more intuitive ways to draw and diagram. Visio 2000 also gives users the power to integrate Visio technology into their existing IT infrastructure, thereby reducing the total cost of ownership when Visio 2000 is deployed enterprisewide.

About MSDN and Microsoft

MSDN is the essential resource for developers, bringing together everything they need to be successful, including tools, technologies, education, information and technical events. MSDN has a wide range of developer resources including the MSDN subscription program, MSDN Online, MSDN Training, an e-mail newsletter, print publications, and local and national MSDN-sponsored events. More than 3 million developers use resources provided by MSDN to create applications and solutions for the Windows^® operating system and the Internet.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software - any time, any place and on any device.