Microsoft announces Digital Dashboard initiative

Microsoft Corporation announced this week the immediate availability of software toolkits that will make it easier for IT professionals to create customized front-ends for Microsoft Exchange- and BackOffice-based environments. These front-ends, which the company dubs "Digital Dashboards," gather personal, team, corporate, and external data into a single user interface that integrates with Microsoft applications such as Outlook. Three toolkits--Microsoft Digital Dashboard Starter Kit, Outlook 2000 Team Folder Wizard, and the Team Productivity Update for BackOffice Server 4.5--make it all possible.

"To help customers address the challenge of information overload for their knowledge workers and teams, Microsoft continues to enhance the core platform products such as Office 2000 and BackOffice Server," said Bart Wojciehowski, group product manager for Knowledge Management at Microsoft. "This platform enables solutions that integrate information from collaborative, transactional and Web-based sources and deliver digestible knowledge 'nuggets' to the user's desktop."

Shades of Active Desktop, indeed. But the Digital Dashboard technology builds on products that are in use on millions of desktops and servers around the world. For example, in Outlook 2000, an Outlook Today-based digital dashboard can be used to extends users' ability to view data by collecting critical information into meaningful "at-a-glance" views. It's a tool people are already using, but made more powerful.

For more information about the Digital Dashboard, please visit the Microsoft Web site