REDMOND, Wash. -- April 1, 2003 -- Microsoft Corp. today announced that they have come to a definitive agreement to purchase the assets of Infopop Corporation, a privately held technology company based in Seattle, Wash. Infopop is best know for it's Ultimate Bulletin Board and Open Topic Collaboration Software.
"Customers tell us that collaboration software like Bulletin Boards, Forums and Instant Messaging provides a unique user experience, and creates content and demand for a wide range of websites," said Steven Ballmer, Chief Executive Officer at Microsoft. "Infopop has been the category leader in forum software, and we look forward to integrating their software with our upcoming release of SharePoint Portal Server."
"When I first released Ultimate Bulletin Board in 1996, I had no idea it would one day become part of the largest software company in the world," said Ted O'Neill, Chief Executive Officer and Founder of Infopop. "This is an exciting time for all of us at Infopop; I can't wait to get to meet Bill."
Infopop's integrated communication and collaboration tools include the UBB.classic™, UBB.threads™, UBB.x™, and OpenTopic™ message board products; and the buzzcast™ HTML/text email creator and list management application.
Financial terms of the agreement were not released. Mr. O'Neill will join Microsoft as Vice President, Collaborative Software Development.
About Microsoft
Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and Internet technologies for personal and business computing. The company offers a wide range of products and services designed to empower people through great software -- any time, any place and on any device.
About Infopop
Infopop Corporation (
http://www.infopop.com) creates innovative online technology that connects people. Infopop's mission is to facilitate meaningful, relevant, and engaging human interaction for its customers. The company offers a wide array ofs integrated communication and collaboration tools. Over the last five years, more than 300,000 customers have selected Infopop's solutions.
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The names of actual companies and products mentioned herein may be the trademarks of their respective owners.
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The press release can be found at:
http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2003/apr03/04-01InfopopPR.asp
You weren't supposed to know about that yet! Well, now that you heard, don't forget that UBB 7.0 will have magic dust in the servers so that it can tell how you want to reply before you see the topic 
