Tue May 2, 2000 --

Microsoft Corp. Tuesday took a major step to support biometrics, the
security technology that uses fingerprints and eyeballs as an
alternative to passwords to verify a computer user's identity. The
company acquired biometric authentication technology from I/O Software
Inc. and said it will begin incorporating it into its Windows software
as early as this summer. Biometrics have long been promoted as a more
secure and convenient alternative to passwords, social security numbers
or even mothers' maiden names, which can be hard to remember and may
easily fall into the wrong hands. Industry experts say Microsoft's move
could be pivotal in helping to speed widespread adoption.

Unlike passwords, it is virtually impossible for so-called biometric
keys to get into the wrong hands, since the fingerprint is a literally
part of the individual user's hand. But while many computer users would
happily swap a long list of passwords for a simple fingerprint reader,
such biometric technology has until recently been prohibitively costly.

Microsoft says it plans to offer biometrics support to users of its
Windows 2000 software by this summer and will fully incorporate the
security into Windows in the future.