Sidewalk plans change

Microsoft announced today that it is shifting its strategy for Sidewalk,the 'city guide" Web sites that only debuted two months ago. Microsoftwill "centralize local content development for international markets within the content development efforts for Microsoft Network" and hascancelled plans for a Montreal site. Plans for U.S. city sites are notaffected by the change. Currently, only the Seattle and New York Citysites are online; Microsoft is said to be "pleased" with the traffic atthe two sites. Competition for city guides is tough: Yahoo, CitySearch,Digital City, and other companies have launched or have plans to launchsimilar services. A new San Francisco city guide was also recently developed by the SanJose Mercury News and Contra Costa Times called Just Go