MS, Wall St. Journal launch new sites
Microsoft and The Wall Street Journal launched separate news services on the Net.
Microsoft has opened the doors to its Microsoft Network News service on the Web. Previously available only through the proprietary MSN online service, MSN News is part of the company's stated goal of migrating the network entirely to the Web.
MSN News, which will be officially launched tomorrow at the Internet World industry conference in San Jose, California, organizes daily news into eight sections: World, Nation, Business, Sports, Arts and Entertainment, SciTech, Life, and Weather.
MSN News is just one of Microsoft's Net editorial efforts. The company is also planning a series of regional online entertainment guides under the code name Cityscape, as well as a weekly political magazine under the editorship of Michael Kinsley, former host of Cable News Network's Crossfire. Last week, Kinsley and Microsoft announced the name of the magazine, Slate, which is due out this summer.
But Microsoft's editorial efforts will be competing with a growing number of newspapers that have made the leap to the Net, including USA Today, The New York Times, and the Los Angeles Times.
The Wall Street Journal today launched The Wall Street Journal Interactive Edition, a business news, analysis, and financial information site. The online edition is staffed by more than 30 editors and is among the first to employ a fee-based subscription model.
Although users who register before May 31 will have free access to the site through July 31, subscriptions will cost $49 annually after that. Subscribers to the print edition of the Wall Street Journal will pay $29 annually for the electronic service.
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