Final Reminder - Microsoft Responds to the Evolution of Community

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/group/WindowsAnswers 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

NNTP@microsoft.com