Another Acquisition For Microsoft -- Computer Map-Maker To Be Added To Home Line

Microsoft Corp. is continuing to expand into the consumer software market by buying other companies - this time a business that makes a computerized road-map program.

In a deal announced today, Microsoft will buy NextBase Ltd. of the United Kingdom and its Bellevue subsidiary, Automap Inc. Financial details of the deal were not disclosed.

The acquisition gives Microsoft control over the Automap Road Atlas, a route-planning program that helps users plot routes between destinations. The program has earned mixed reviews in the year or so since it was published.

Automap will continue selling as is, priced at about $50, through the end of this year. But it could be upgraded next year, said Suzanne Dennehy, a Microsoft spokeswoman.

The program will become part of the Microsoft Home brand early next year, Dennehy said. Microsoft is expanding the Home line and plans to begin raising its profile with an aggressive new ad campaign starting this month. The line includes programs for home use, such as software for children, entertainment, general reference and home management.

Reviewers say the Automap program is a modest first step toward computerized mapping but has some flaws. One reviewer said the program concluded it would take less than two hours to drive, via ferry, from Seattle to Lake Crescent on the Olympic Peninsula, a trip that more realistically takes close to four hours. The program did not account for ferry travel time or time spent waiting in line. An East Coast reviewer was told to drive at 50 mph along the Appalachian Trail, a foot trail.

NextBase, which is 7 years old, has about 50 employees in three offices, including the Automap site and offices in the United Kingdom and Paris, Dennehy said. She would not release revenue figures for NextBase, but a release about the deal said NextBase has sold more than 400,000 copies of its software, which includes the Automap program; AutoRoute Express, a map program covering Europe; and MapBase, which helps users create customized maps.

The NextBase deal will continue a recent string of Microsoft acquisitions and deals aimed at reaching home-computer users.

Just two weeks ago, Microsoft announced it would buy Intuit Inc., maker of the Quicken personal-finance program, for $1.5 billion in stock. The deal, one of the largest ever in the software industry, is subject to government approval. (The NextBase deal is not, because it does not give Microsoft a dominant share of the computer mapping market.)

In June, Microsoft announced separate deals with Walt Disney Co. and Scholastic Inc. to develop games and educational programs.

Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said at an annual shareholders' meeting last week that the company will make more acquisitions during this fiscal year, either by using some of its $3.6 billion in cash on hand or by issuing new stock.