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.
Where Should I go with the Closure of this Newsgroup?
Effective July 1, 2010, this newsgroup will be closed.
In an effort to enhance and improve your experience, this newsgroup is scheduled for closure in the upcoming months and we would like to invite you to participate at http://social.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/windowsxp forum(s). An exact date will be posted in advance as plans are finalized.
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
VanguardLH
> What is Happening?
Microsoft is abandoning its 4-year experiment at trying to usurp Usenet.
> Why?
Despite the better organizational tools available via newsreaders,
Usenet is outside Microsoft's control. Instead Microsoft will devolve
their users into suffering with the inane web-based interface of forums.
> Which Newsgroups Are Affected by this Shutdown?
None of them will get closed. All of the microsoft.public.* newsgroups
will continue to exist in Usenet despite Microsoft scrambling away from
yet another of their failed experiments. You will, however, have to use
a non-Microsoft NNTP server. Many are free.
> Where Should I go with the Closure of this Newsgroup?
You don't have to "go" anywhere. This group will continue to exist.
> Who Should I Contact with any Questions?
Definitely not to Microsoft. They don't care about a better venue for
user communication using better organizational tools available for a
protocol which Microsoft cannot control via a worldwide mesh network
whose content Microsoft cannot control.
a
> Where Should I go with the Closure of this Newsgroup?
> Effective July 1, 2010, this newsgroup will be closed.
Wow, how the hell am I reading and posting this, then? LOL! :)
Bob Lucas
Microsoft server at msnews.microsoft.com.
The reason you and I can still read and post messages is because
other servers are still hosting the newsgroup.
However, I was under the impression that other servers provided a
mirror of newsgroups on the primary news server. Consequently, I
don't really understand why access is still available via
alternative NNTP servers - and I don't know how long that state
of affairs is likely to continue.
Perhaps one of the MVPs can explain what is happening (if there
are any MVPs around).
"a" <b...@invalid.com> wrote in message
news:4c308047$1...@dnews.tpgi.com.au...
Geo
>However, I was under the impression that other servers provided a
>mirror of newsgroups on the primary news server. Consequently, I
>don't really understand why access is still available via
>alternative NNTP servers
There is no such thing as a "primary server" on USENET - there a just a load of
servers exchanging data. Just depends which server you want to connect to which
groups they carry. Microsoft went off in a huff and don't carry these newsgroups
on /their/ server - but the rest of us don't give a fig.
--
Geo
Ken Blake, MVP
> The newsgroup has definitely disappeared from the primary
> Microsoft server at msnews.microsoft.com.
>
> The reason you and I can still read and post messages is because
> other servers are still hosting the newsgroup.
>
> However, I was under the impression that other servers provided a
> mirror of newsgroups on the primary news server. Consequently, I
> don't really understand why access is still available via
> alternative NNTP servers - and I don't know how long that state
> of affairs is likely to continue.
>
> Perhaps one of the MVPs can explain what is happening (if there
> are any MVPs around).
There is really no such thing as a "primary" server. Although
Microsoft may have started the newsgroup and the others servers began
by *mirroring* it, the other servers all immediately became equal to
the original one. A message posted to any of them is accepted and gets
mirrored to all the others.
It was always this way. Someone could post a message on the Microsoft
server and it would get mirrored to eternal-september, aioe, etc. Or
they could post a message on aioe and it would get mirrored to
Microsoft and eternal-september. The only thing that's new is that
since the Microsoft server no longer carries it, nothing gets mirrored
there any more.
How long will it last? Essentially forever, unless servers decide not
to carry it (which is unlikely). The problem is not that the
newsgroups will disappear, but that activity on them will likely peter
out.
--
Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
Please Reply to the Newsgroup
Bob Lucas
We must do our utmost to maintain useful activity on these
newsgroups.
"Ken Blake, MVP" <kbl...@this.is.an.invalid.domain> wrote in
message news:g7o1365b210ihqch1...@4ax.com...
Ken Blake, MVP
> Thank you, Ken.
You're welcome. Glad to help.
> We must do our utmost to maintain useful activity on these
> newsgroups.
OK, but I'm not optimistic. There are two reasons:
1. The Microsoft forums will be more successful at attracting people
with questions.
2. The trolls tend to take over the newsgroups, and the primary reason
for that is that the good people tend to answer them back and argue
with them. Alas, that argument is exactly what keeps the trolls going.
If we would all simply killfile and ignore the trolls they would
eventually get bored and stop trolling.
Leythos
says...
> However, I was under the impression that other servers provided a
> mirror of newsgroups on the primary news server. Consequently, I
> don't really understand why access is still available via
> alternative NNTP servers - and I don't know how long that state
> of affairs is likely to continue.
>
Other servers don't MIRROR anything in Usenet - they pass or pull data
about groups from their peers. Some Usenet Server operators may kill
groups on their servers, but it has no impact on other servers that
don't feed from them.
MS killing their Usenet service has little impact on the Usenet
community.
--
You can't trust your best friends, your five senses, only the little
voice inside you that most civilians don't even hear -- Listen to that.
Trust yourself.
spam9...@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)