MICROSOFT yesterday announced plans to expand the use of the Internet in consumer banking with new technology that is the latest weapon in a fierce market battle against rival Intuit Inc.
Microsoft executives, meeting with about 200 bankers and software developers at the US company's suburban Seattle headquarters, unveiled specifications that will allow direct connections over the Internet between users of the company's `Money' personal finance software and their financial institutions.
Intuit dominates the market for personal finance software with Quicken, used by more than 7 million people.
Since a planned merger of Microsoft and Intuit was scuttled by anti trust concerns, Microsoft has charged ahead and is making inroads with the latest version of `Money', which operates only on the company's new Windows 95 operating system.
Money has an installed base of 1.5 million users, compared with about nine million for Quicken, which can be used with any Windows platform or with Apple Computer's Macintosh system.
The company believes the Internet option, gives Microsoft a competitive advantage.
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