NetGen Team Targets Youth

NetGen, a Microsoft team charged with creating software to appeal to the 13-to-24 age group, has released a beta of its first product, a free instant messaging (IM) add-on with digital media features called threedegrees. Microsoft is interested in this age group because its members use their PCs in different ways and for a wider variety of functions than older users, and because they will become the mainstream consumer market over the next several years. Microsoft has also said that it views digital media as an important component in driving the next generation of consumer PC upgrades.

Originally part of the digital media business unit reporting to Will Poole, the NetGen team was created in early 2000 to create software that appeals to the so-called Internet Generation-younger users who use the Internet as their predominant social tool, rather than mainly for productivity purposes. The 12-member team is not expected to create profitable products immediately. Rather, it functions more like a market-research arm: if a particular NetGen product or feature proves to be popular (e.g., it’s widely downloaded), it will find its way into other consumer products, such as the client version of Windows, Windows Media Technologies, or MSN.