What happened to Microsoft News server?

[Cameo]

I've just noticed that the msnews.microsoft.com server no longer carries
many of the groups, such as for XP and Vista. Are they all migrating to
web based forums?

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

I've just noticed that the msnews.microsoft.com server no longer carries
many of the groups, such as for XP and Vista. Are they all migrating to
web based forums?

Yes. Many are mirrored on Usenet servers, however, so look for ms groups
there.

 

[Grenou]

I've just noticed that the msnews.microsoft.com server no longer carries
many of the groups, such as for XP and Vista. Are they all migrating to
web based forums?

This is what was posted.
The 12th was the last day, this morning, as you've noticed, there was
nothing.

Grenou

::: quote :::

"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 September 12, 2010 this newsgroup will be closed.

Where Should I go with the Closure of this Newsgroup?
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://windowslivehelp.com/product.aspx?productid=15
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
(e-mail address removed)

 

[Ken Blake]

I've just noticed that the msnews.microsoft.com server no longer carries
many of the groups, such as for XP and Vista. Are they all migrating to
web based forums?

Yes, but you can still find the newsgroups on other servers, such as
the following free ones:

news.eternal-september.org
aioe.org
news.albasani.net

 

[Cameo]

Thanks. I prefer news groups over slow web forums but if that NNTP
Bridge works fine, that would work for me.

 

[- Bobb -]

::: quote :::
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.

They left out " we want you on OUR site".
"We want you to register ..."
"We need yet another name in our database..."
They make it sound as if they have administrators organizing it all
....'cleaning up after everybody'.

So, you go there and click on:
Where is the Forum For…?
which brings you to:
http://social.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/whatforum/threads
and you see 7965 threads for ....
any subject at all - questions posed by users who don't have a clue.

There is no organization ... so the first place you'd try -
the 'INDEX forum' is crap.

" content easier to find by customers "
Yeah, right.

 

[Ken Blake]

Thanks. I prefer news groups over slow web forums but if that NNTP
Bridge works fine, that would work for me.

Three points:

1. There are many disadvantages to the web-based forums; their being
slow is only one of them.

2. You can use the Microsoft NNYP bridges or you can use the Community
Forums NNTP bridge at
http://communitybridge.codeplex.com/releases/view/49451

The latter is *much* better.

3. Even with the better NNTP bridge, the forums are far from fine.
They are much better than the web forums themselves, but not as good
as the newsgroups were. In my view Microsoft made a very poor decision
to move from newsgroups to web-based forums, and they made even poorer
decisions in how they created and maintained the forums.

I participate in many of the forums using the community bridge, but I
dearly wish that Microsoft had stuck with the newsgroups.

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

Three points:

1. There are many disadvantages to the web-based forums; their being
slow is only one of them.

2. You can use the Microsoft NNYP bridges or you can use the
Community Forums NNTP bridge at
http://communitybridge.codeplex.com/releases/view/49451

The latter is *much* better.

3. Even with the better NNTP bridge, the forums are far from fine.
They are much better than the web forums themselves, but not as good
as the newsgroups were. In my view Microsoft made a very poor
decision to move from newsgroups to web-based forums, and they made
even poorer decisions in how they created and maintained the forums.

I participate in many of the forums using the community bridge, but I
dearly wish that Microsoft had stuck with the newsgroups.

Does the bridge act as a news server that can be added to a newsreader,
like Thunderbird, as just another NNTP server, or must the bridge be run
separately and independently?

 

[Tim Slattery]

Does the bridge act as a news server that can be added to a newsreader,
like Thunderbird, as just another NNTP server, or must the bridge be run
separately and independently?

You run the bridge, it talks to the web forums. When you bring up your
newsreader, the bridge will look like a Usenet server to it. So yes,
you have to add it to Thunderbird or Agent or whatever as a new
server, and yes you have to run it separately.

 

[Dave \Crash\ Dummy]

You run the bridge, it talks to the web forums. When you bring up your
newsreader, the bridge will look like a Usenet server to it. So yes,
you have to add it to Thunderbird or Agent or whatever as a new
server, and yes you have to run it separately.

They aren't real big on directions, but I finally got it figured out.

 

[Colon Oscopy]

This is what was posted.
The 12th was the last day, this morning, as you've noticed, there was
nothing.

Grenou

::: quote :::

"What is Happening?
This message is to inform you that Microsoft will soon begin discontinuing
newsgroups and transitioning users to Microsoft forums.

Why?

The real reason is because of Alias.