Preserving a hyperlink to the past

Adding to its collection of miscellaneous Internet tools, Microsoft today licensed a scrapbook tool from the ForeFront Group that will let users drag and drop text and graphics--complete with working hyperlinks--from a Web site into their applications.

Called GrabNet, the tool creates a scrapbook on the desktop for storing copied text and graphics from Web sites, which can then be duplicated into all manner of applications while maintaining all of the hyperlinks and other HTML coding of the original.

Microsoft hasn't figured out exactly what it's going to do with GrabNet yet: it will add support for the tool into its Windows 95 desktop applications, but it's not sure which ones. Company representatives also aren't sure if the tool would let users automatically launch browsers from within applications that contain the pasted-in material.

But the deal is consistent with Microsoft's recently developed habit of licensing any interesting Net tools that might come in handy.

The deal marks the second time Microsoft has licensed ForeFront technology. Last February, the software giant licensed the WebWhacker offline browsing tool for inclusion in its Internet Jump Start CD for classrooms.

The companies did not disclose terms of the licensing agreement.