July 25, 1997 1:00 PM ET
Microsoft offers free toaster with NT 5.0

SEATTLE -- To combat claims that its products are unreliable, Microsoft Corp. has announced a plan to offer a free toaster with each purchase of its NT 5.0 operating system. The toaster project, code-named Dresden, has been in development for almost a year and was unveiled last week. A Microsoft spokesperson said: "MS-Toaster is based on decades of proven toaster technology but we've added some new features, like a slider bar to control whether your toast is 'light' or 'dark.'" Additionally, in response to criticism that Microsoft systems do not multitask well, MS-Toaster can toast up to four pieces of bread simultaneously. Beta testers found MS-Toaster friendly and easy to use but reported a few bugs. "If you adjust the slider from its default setting, sometimes the toaster will lock up before your toast is done," one tester noted. "Nothing will fix it but to unplug the toaster and plug it back in." Microsoft is based in Redmond, Washington.