MSN takes on Compuserve

Microsoft has claimed that Compuserve will lose subscribers between now and Christmas, allowing it to increase the number of members for its recovering MSN service.

Taylor Collyer, marketing director at MSN UK, admitted there had been a low take-up for MSN. He revealed that just 20,000 UK subscribers had joined the service six months ago, making it only the seventh biggest online service provider in the UK. 'But now we are third in the UK with 70,000. Forty per cent of our extra MSN members are Compuserve refugees,' he said.

Microsoft's figures also show that only 10 per cent of new MSN subscribers join after leaving other service providers such as America Online and Demon.

MS has also announced it will use its Internet Explorer 3 as the default Web browser for MSN. Judy Gibbons, director at MSN UK, said the move is 'fundamental to MSN's transition to a fully Web-based online network'.

The company has also developed content using Internet Explorer and Active X.