After talking about the thing ever since 1993, Microsoft Corp yesterday finally began shipping Exchange, but the product’s ambitions have been brutally scaled back, and from from the originally-intended Notes killer, it is now more like a glorified electronic mail package. It runs only under Windows NT, and is tightly integrated with the operating system’s administration tools. A full-featured Exchange Server Enterprise Edition, including the X400 connector, Internet Mail Connector, Exchange Connector and Exchange Server, is $1,970. The Exchange Server messaging server with integrated groupware is $700 and a client access license for group scheduling and application development tools, is $54. Separately, Microsoft and Dolby Laboratories Inc said they intend to bring high-quality Dolby Surround Sound audio to personal computers as part of the Microsoft Simply Interactive initiative. And Microsoft is rallying partners for an On Now initiative that will enable personal computers to be ready to go at switch-on time.
