Online Newspapers begin to show Way Forward

Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft, has set an agenda for online newspapers that will focus attention on their usability and commerciality.

He warned publishers who view websites as mere sidelines for their print editions that they are ignoring the next generation of readers. He told the annual convention of the Newspaper Association of America that Microsoft is developing new software to make articles as easy to read on the screen as in a newspaper. The intention is to reproduce the experience of reading a newspaper, but with added features, he said.

Newspapers might deliver information and services like video messaging and bill payment, he suggested.

Meanwhile, Slate, the online magazine backed by Microsoft, produced its first ever profit in the first quarter of this year.

While the paid-for online newspaper Wall Street Journal Online was the leading online news service for March, beating the New York Times website. Research, by Nielsen//NetRatings, showed that the "Iraq in Transition" section was one of the most heavily viewed areas of the site. A recently launched email service is also considered a factor in how it attracted the most news traffic. The site has 675,000 subscribers, making it the largest paid-subscription site on the web.

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