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AOL Time Warner's cable division and Advance/Newhouse Communications have restructured their cable partnership in a deal that will switch about 2.1 million cable subscribers into the Newhouse fold and reduce TWC's cable base by about 16 percent.

The consolidation, which the industry has expected for some time, also calls for Time Warner Cable to take over the Syracuse, N.Y.-based Newhouse's stake in Road Runner, AOL's high speed cable modem Internet service provider.

As a result of the changes, Time Warner Cable will be serving about 10.8 million cable subscribers but will have also consolidated its interest in Road Runner, the provider of high-speed Internet access over cable lines, which counts an estimated 2 million subscribers. The flagship AOL dial-up service counts about 34 million subscribers.

TWC will still hold on to its position as the second-largest cable provider behind the estimated 22 million that AT&T Broadband and Comcast Corp. will net when the two complete their merger.

Advance/Newhouse's 2.1 million cable customers in the deal are based in Florida, Alabama, Indianapolis, California and Michigan.

News source: Internet News
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Raikes will also demonstrate the next version of the company's Outlook messaging software.

The new XML capability of Office is intended to make it easier to link desktop programs, such as spreadsheets and word processing documents, into corporate data stored in customer relationship management and other business systems.

Raikes, in his keynote, will discuss boosting the productivity of what the company terms "knowledge workers," or typical PC users in large companies. The software maker sees features that integrate Office programs into larger corporate data systems as a key reason for large companies choosing Office over competitors such as Sun Microsystems' StarOffice or OpenOffice.

"We pay very close attention to competitors and what's happening broadly in the market," Raikes said. "Customers (say) their Office tools are fundamental to their productivity. Continuing to make sure the capabilities of Office advance to help them connect to business systems and data...that's what is most important."

While Microsoft still dominates the desktop business software market, customers may be taking a closer look at competitive packages, such as StarOffice. One reason: a new licensing plan aimed at businesses which takes effect on July 31.

Though the plan is intended to make revenue more predictable for Microsoft, it could also significantly raise prices for customers, according to market researcher Gartner. As of last month, two-thirds of Microsoft's largest customers had not yet signed up for the plan.

Raikes said Microsoft has not seen any reasons to be concerned about competitors. "Anytime there is a challenge in the marketplace, people like to talk and write about it. But what we see is that today people want a relationship with Microsoft to get the latest Office technology to get their jobs done."

Tablet PCs on the agenda

As expected, Raikes will also discuss Microsoft's Tablet PC initiative. Raikes will disclose that three PC hardware makers--Toshiba, Acer and Fujitsu--will debut the first Tablet PC models on Nov. 7. At least six other makers, including Viewsonic, Motion Computing and Via, are expected to follow with Tablet PC systems later this year, Raikes said.

Tablet PCs, in their most generic form, are modified notebooks: They will weigh about 3 to 4 pounds, can connect to the Internet wirelessly and may include keyboards. Unlike notebooks, though, tablet PCs will come loaded with new applications, such as Microsoft Journal, that let people input words or drawings into the computer by writing on the screen.

Raikes said Tablet PCs are a "good example of how devices will become a part of a broader productivity enhancements" for workers.

Prototype Tablet PCs with a beta test version of Windows XP Professional Tablet PC Edition will begin being tested by several Microsoft customers within 30 days, Raikes said.

Raikes will also demonstrate Pocket PC 2002 Phone Edition, a version of the company's operating system for handhelds, which combines a personal digital assistant with wireless voice and data access. The software will debut later this summer on systems from VoiceStream/T-Mobile, Raikes said.