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Steven Bonisteel
Newsbytes.com Staff Writer
Tuesday, May 21, 2002; 7:00 AM

Microsoft Corp. is hoping that the only thing preventing many America Online subscribers from switching to its MSN Internet access service is the hassle of reconfiguring software and the virtual paperwork involved in closing one account and opening another.

In a bid to overcome inertia among subscribers of the AOL Time Warner Internet service provider, Microsoft today began to promote an account-migration service it says can make the move painless by automating the process of switching access providers.

The Redmond, Wash., company's aggressive drive to court AOL users has enlisted the aid of Esaya Inc., whose TrueSwitch service can transfer the contents of e-mail inboxes, address books and personal calendars at the same time that it sends a disconnect notice to a user's old ISP and alerts friends and business contacts to new e- mail addresses.

The TrueSwitch service can also be use to automatically check e- mail associated with previous ISP accounts and forward any messages to a new address.

Microsoft said that it is also extending a "switching offer" that rewards AOL users with a $50 mail-in rebate if they switch to MSN and pay for three months of its unlimited dial-up or broadband plans.

The company said it would spend $10 million over the next three months to promote the speedy account switching drive using print and online advertising as well as a direct-mail campaign.

MSN is at: http://www.msn.com .

Esaya's TrueSwitch is at: http://www.trueswitch.com .

Reported by Newsbytes.com, http://www.newsbytes.com .