Reminder - Microsoft Responds to the Evolution of Community

[Guest nntp@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.answers.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/category/windowsxp

 

 

 

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

 

NNTP@microsoft.com