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Amazon, Microsoft team
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August 28, 2000: 3:10 p.m. ET
Retailer uses Microsoft software to sell e-books; Adobe also makes digital moves
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NEW YORK (CNNfn) - Microsoft Corp. said Monday it has joined Internet retailer Amazon.com in plan to sell digital books over the Internet.
Amazon.com will use Microsoft Reader software to enable its 23 million customers to buy, download and display content from titles in its future e-book store, the companies said at a publishing tradeshow in San Francisco.
The move comes seven months after Amazon rival barnesandnoble.com (BNBN: Research, Estimates) inked a deal with Microsoft to use Reader software to sell its catalog of digital books. The site allows readers to download Reader software free and features titles from the "Star Trek" series, and best-selling authors Sandra Brown, Robert Ludlum and Scott Turow.
Amazon signed an agreement with rival software firm Adobe Systems (ADBE: Research, Estimates) in March, allowing Adobe's PDF Merchant server software to be used in e-books for Amazon, including Stephen King's e-book, "Riding the Bullet."
Barnesandnoble.com also features electronic books from Adobe and in an announcement also made Monday, the companies announced an expansion of their earlier alliance to feature e-books in the Adobe Portable Document Format (PDF).
 Adobe also said Monday it has acquired Boston-based Glassbook, Inc., a privately-held developer of consumer and commercial software in the e-book market, which automates the supply chain for publishers, booksellers, distributors and libraries.
Adobe said it will use Glassbook's Content Server product to allow publishers to distribute book electronically in the Adobe PDF format for business and e-commerce transactions. Shares of Adobe gained 4.34 to 133.22.
In late afternoon trading Monday, shares of Amazon (AMZN: Research, Estimates) rose 0.06 to 40, and Microsoft (MSFT: Research, Estimates) shares gained 0.19 to 70.81. 
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