Final Reminder - Microsoft Responds to the Evolution of Community
nn...@microsoft.com
What is Happening?
This message is to inform you that Microsoft will soon begin discontinuing
newsgroups and transitioning users to Microsoft forums.
Why?
As you may know, newsgroups have existed for many years now; however, the
traffic in the Microsoft newsgroups has been steadily decreasing for the
past several years while customers and participants are increasingly finding
solutions in the forums on Microsoft properties and third party sites. This
move will unify the customer experience, centralize content, make it easier
for active contributors to retain their influence, mitigate redundancies and
make the content easier to find by customers and search engines through
improved indexing. Additionally, forums offer a better user and spam
management platform that will improve customer satisfaction by encouraging a
healthy discussion in a clean community space. To this end, Microsoft will
begin to progressively shift available resources to the forums technology
and discontinue support for newsgroups.
In addition to offering a compelling online browser experience, for those
users who prefer to use an NNTP (newsgroup) reader to participate in the
newsgroups community, we have developed a solution called the NNTP Bridge
which allows a user to connect a variety of supported NNTP readers to the
forums they would like to participate in and continue having the NTTP reader
functionality. You can find instructions on how to download and set up the
NNTP Bridge here: http://connect.microsoft.com/MicrosoftForums/
Which Newsgroups Are Affected by this Shutdown?
All public newsgroups will eventually be closed between June 1, 2010 and
October 1, 2010. Microsoft will be closing newsgroups in a phased approach,
starting with the least active newsgroups and moving eventually to more
active ones throughout the course of the next six months.
When will this Happen?
Effective June 1, 2010 this newsgroup will be closed.
Where Should I go with the Closure of this Newsgroup?
Microsoft has a large selection of forums, many of which cover either the
same or closely related technologies to the ones found in the newsgroups.
The forums have seen amazing growth and are an excellent place to continue
the discussion. We recommend that you start with
http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vbpowerpacks/threads
Where to post your VB 6 questions
Microsoft forums support current releases of Visual Basic as well as help on migration to the .NET platform through the following forums:
� Visual Basic Interop and Upgrade(Update VB6 code to .NET): http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vbinterop/threads/
� Visual Basic General (General VB.NET questions): http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vbgeneral/threads
� Visual Basic Power Packs (controls, components, samples and tools that are part of the VB Power Packs): http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vbpowerpacks/threads
� Visual Basic Language (VB.NET language -- compiler, runtime, language keywords): http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vblanguage/threads
� Visual Basic IDE (IntelliSense, debugging, ErrorCorrect, code snippets, colorization, smart tags, etc.): http://social.msdn.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/vbide/threads
These forums do not support Visual Basic 6, however there are many third-party support sites that do. If you have a VB6-related question please visit these popular forums:
� VB Forums: http://www.vbforums.com/forumdisplay.php?forumid=1
� VB City: http://vbcity.com/forums/26.aspx
There are also many other technical resources and sites for Visual Basic 6 developers like:
� Essential Training Videos for VB 6 developers: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/cc297223.aspx
� Visual Basic 6.0 on MSDN Library: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/library/kehz1dz1(VS.90).aspx
� MSDN Visual Basic 6.0 Resource Center: http://msdn.microsoft.com/en-us/vbasic/ms788229.aspx
� VB-Helper: http://vb-helper.com/
� CodeGuru: http://www.codeguru.com/forum/forumdisplay.php?s=540fe8a60a6d965cb7f0c0349a1f3582&f=4
� Code Project: http://www.codeproject.com/KB/vb-interop/
� Planet Source Code: http://www.planetsourcecode.com/vb/default.asp?lngWId=1
Should you want to visit the other Microsoft Forums, please go to
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/forums/default.mspx
Who Should I Contact with any Questions?
Send any questions about the process, recommended forums and timing to
NN...@microsoft.com