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M$ Ending Open Discussion Newsgroups!

D

Dhu Pin Yoo

Flightless Bird
Joining the leagues of censorship activists, obviously.

-
"Microsoft said it plans to end support for more than 4,000 old-style
newsgroups starting next month, pushing users instead to discussion
forums such as those found on the Microsoft Answers, TechNet and MSDN
sites.

Although venerable, Microsoft said that so-called NNTP newsgroups have
past their time in terms of being usable and secure."

More at

http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20004109-56.htm
 
P

PA Bear [MS MVP]

Flightless Bird
cf. http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/default.mspx

Dhu Pin Yoo wrote:
> Joining the leagues of censorship activists, obviously.
>
> -
> "Microsoft said it plans to end support for more than 4,000 old-style
> newsgroups starting next month, pushing users instead to discussion
> forums such as those found on the Microsoft Answers, TechNet and MSDN
> sites.
>
> Although venerable, Microsoft said that so-called NNTP newsgroups have
> past their time in terms of being usable and secure."
>
> More at
>
> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20004109-56.htm
 
L

LD5SZRA

Flightless Bird
I would only say that Microsoft is fed up of its customer base and
is deciding to wind-up its business. The examples are as follows:

1) Newsgroups shutting down;
2) IE8 not available to XP users (Mozilla and other browsers will
continue on XP systems)
3) Outlook Express not being developed
4) Hotmail can't be read in Outlook unless you also install a
Connector (new version just released on 20/04/2010)
5) If you criticize Microsoft products on forums, expect your
messages to be deleted;
6) MVP status being scaled down (hooray - who is going to miss
this? Not me for sure but Pig-Bear will)
7) Future products will only available online not on CD or DVDs
8) Microsoft Works version 10 not available on XP or Vista
9) Microsoft Office Accounting disbanded - the last version was
2009;

The list goes on and on!

hth


Dhu Pin Yoo wrote:
>
> Joining the leagues of censorship activists, obviously.
>
> -
> "Microsoft said it plans to end support for more than 4,000 old-style
> newsgroups starting next month, pushing users instead to discussion
> forums such as those found on the Microsoft Answers, TechNet and MSDN
> sites.
>
> Although venerable, Microsoft said that so-called NNTP newsgroups have
> past their time in terms of being usable and secure."
>
> More at
>
> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20004109-56.htm


--
THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
KIND. LD5SZRA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL LD5SZRA
OR ITS ASSOCIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER
INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF
BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF LD5SZRA OR ITS
ASSOCIATES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL
DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

Copyright LD5SZRA 2010.
 
S

spamlet

Flightless Bird
First I'd heard of this. I hope these 'forums' will not degenerate into the
form they take in so called 'Google help'; Google Earth 'community' etc.
Questions used to get answered but when I've looked at these lately, they
were all questions and no answers. The virgin help newsgroups were
excellent but have recently been shut; now it appears these excellent groups
are for the chop too. Not my idea of progress in the least!

S


"PA Bear [MS MVP]" <PABearMVP@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:-OUkW8o96KHA.3924@TK2MSFTNGP04.phx.gbl...
> cf. http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/default.mspx
>
> Dhu Pin Yoo wrote:
>> Joining the leagues of censorship activists, obviously.
>>
>> -
>> "Microsoft said it plans to end support for more than 4,000 old-style
>> newsgroups starting next month, pushing users instead to discussion
>> forums such as those found on the Microsoft Answers, TechNet and MSDN
>> sites.
>>
>> Although venerable, Microsoft said that so-called NNTP newsgroups have
>> past their time in terms of being usable and secure."
>>
>> More at
>>
>> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20004109-56.htm
 
S

sgopus

Flightless Bird
it couldn't possbly be due to all the jerks and idiots who post garbage on
these areas for their fun and entertainment, annoying the rest of the users.
I'm personally glad they are ending these newsgroups, however, the format of
the group for windows 7 sucks big time, you can hardly find anything, and
people want to put their entire message in the subject line, and in all caps,
idiots!!!!!

"Dhu Pin Yoo" wrote:

>
> Joining the leagues of censorship activists, obviously.
>
> -
> "Microsoft said it plans to end support for more than 4,000 old-style
> newsgroups starting next month, pushing users instead to discussion
> forums such as those found on the Microsoft Answers, TechNet and MSDN
> sites.
>
> Although venerable, Microsoft said that so-called NNTP newsgroups have
> past their time in terms of being usable and secure."
>
> More at
>
> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20004109-56.htm
>
> .
>
 
D

David H. Lipman

Flightless Bird
From: "sgopus" <sgopus@discussions.microsoft.com>

| it couldn't possbly be due to all the jerks and idiots who post garbage on
| these areas for their fun and entertainment, annoying the rest of the users.
| I'm personally glad they are ending these newsgroups, however, the format of
| the group for windows 7 sucks big time, you can hardly find anything, and
| people want to put their entire message in the subject line, and in all caps,
| idiots!!!!!

You can't fix stupid.


--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp
 
P

Peter Foldes

Flightless Bird
Copied from nntp@microsoft.com in the public.test.here newsgroup

<snip>
Date 5/4/2010
Starting in early summer 2010, Microsoft will begin progressively closing down the
Microsoft public newsgroups to enrich conversations in the rapidly-growing forum
platform. This decision is in response to worldwide market trends and evolving
customer needs.

Microsoft continues to invest in forums to reduce customer effort, consolidate
community venues and make it easier for active contributors to retain their
influence. Forums provide a healthy community environment with less spam and make
answers easier to find by customers and search engines. Additionally, forums offer
a better user and off-topic management platform that will improve customer
satisfaction by facilitating discussions in a clean space.

We understand that some newsgroups are still active, and important to the community.
In the coming days and weeks, we will be rolling out tools and resources to minimize
disruption to the community discussions.

We are working diligently on providing additional resources and information in local
languages later this week. In the meantime, please refer to the official Microsoft
Newsgroup website http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/default.mspx
concerning this issue. The Microsoft Newsgroup website will be made available in
additional languages in the next few days.
<end snip>

--
Peter

Please Reply to Newsgroup for the benefit of others
Requests for assistance by email can not and will not be acknowledged.
http://www.microsoft.com/protect

"PA Bear [MS MVP]" <PABearMVP@gmail.com> wrote in message
news:%23ze0U%23%236KHA.5848@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> At some point in the future, this newsgroup will NOT be accessible or available
> via the MS newsserver (news://msnews.microsoft.com) nor via web-access
> (http://www.microsoft.com/communitie...lt.aspx?dg=microsoft.public.windowsxp.general).
>
> spamlet wrote:
>> First I'd heard of this. I hope these 'forums' will not degenerate into the
>> form they take in so called 'Google help'; Google Earth 'community' etc.

> <snip>
 
L

LD5SZRA

Flightless Bird
Also jerks won't be able to use the word "idiots" on forums. As
soon as this word is used to describe a microsoft customer, that
person would be censured very severely!

hth


sgopus wrote:
>
> it couldn't possbly be due to all the jerks and idiots who post garbage on
> these areas for their fun and entertainment, annoying the rest of the users.
> I'm personally glad they are ending these newsgroups, however, the format of
> the group for windows 7 sucks big time, you can hardly find anything, and
> people want to put their entire message in the subject line, and in all caps,
> idiots!!!!!
>


--
THE INFORMATION IS PROVIDED "AS IS" WITHOUT WARRANTY OF ANY
KIND. LD5SZRA DISCLAIMS ALL WARRANTIES, EITHER EXPRESSED OR
IMPLIED, INCLUDING THE WARRANTIES OF MERCHANTABILITY AND
FITNESS FOR A PARTICULAR PURPOSE. IN NO EVENT SHALL LD5SZRA
OR ITS ASSOCIATES BE LIABLE FOR ANY DAMAGES WHATSOEVER
INCLUDING DIRECT, INDIRECT, INCIDENTAL, CONSEQUENTIAL, LOSS OF
BUSINESS PROFITS OR SPECIAL DAMAGES, EVEN IF LD5SZRA OR ITS
ASSOCIATES HAVE BEEN ADVISED OF THE POSSIBILITY OF SUCH
DAMAGES. SOME STATES DO NOT ALLOW THE EXCLUSION OR
LIMITATION OF LIABILITY FOR CONSEQUENTIAL OR INCIDENTAL
DAMAGES SO THE FOREGOING LIMITATION MAY NOT APPLY.

Copyright LD5SZRA 2010.
 
D

David H. Lipman

Flightless Bird
From: "David H. Lipman" <DLipman~nospam~@Verizon.Net>

| From: "Peter Foldes" <maci252211@hotmail.com>

|| Copied from nntp@microsoft.com in the public.test.here newsgroup

| It is just now being propogated and the time is 7 hours off !


To add insult to injury...

By definition the messages is spam as it is the same content being posted multiple times
to numerous groups.

Bloody MS idiots.

--
Dave
http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp
 
L

LVTravel

Flightless Bird
"David H. Lipman" <DLipman~nospam~@Verizon.Net> wrote in message
news:uc23eG$6KHA.5476@TK2MSFTNGP06.phx.gbl...
> From: "sgopus" <sgopus@discussions.microsoft.com>
>
> | it couldn't possbly be due to all the jerks and idiots who post garbage
> on
> | these areas for their fun and entertainment, annoying the rest of the
> users.
> | I'm personally glad they are ending these newsgroups, however, the
> format of
> | the group for windows 7 sucks big time, you can hardly find anything,
> and
> | people want to put their entire message in the subject line, and in all
> caps,
> | idiots!!!!!
>
> You can't fix stupid.
>
>
> --
> Dave
> http://www.claymania.com/removal-trojan-adware.html
> Multi-AV - http://www.pctipp.ch/downloads/dl/35905.asp
>
>


But Microsoft is going to try. Apparently they will be moderated forums
according the FAQs listed at
http://www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups/default.mspx. While this
will get out the junk, you will have to sign up and depending on the method
of moderation the responses could be delayed hours while someone decides if
the post is legitimate or not. Other forums allow open posting with
improper messages removed by the moderator. Don't know which type MS will
decide to use. I don't like the forums set up for Win 7.
 
P

PA Bear [MS MVP]

Flightless Bird
Typical...including the dupes of said post.

David H. Lipman wrote:
> From: "Peter Foldes" <maci252211@hotmail.com>
>
>> Copied from nntp@microsoft.com in the public.test.here newsgroup

>
> It is just now being propogated and the time is 7 hours off !
 
M

milt

Flightless Bird
On 5/4/2010 8:23 PM, David H. Lipman wrote:
> From: "sgopus"<sgopus@discussions.microsoft.com>
>
> | it couldn't possbly be due to all the jerks and idiots who post garbage on
> | these areas for their fun and entertainment, annoying the rest of the users.
> | I'm personally glad they are ending these newsgroups, however, the format of
> | the group for windows 7 sucks big time, you can hardly find anything, and
> | people want to put their entire message in the subject line, and in all caps,
> | idiots!!!!!
>
> You can't fix stupid.
>
>


nope, and that is mostly what you find on the MS forums. Have fun trying
to find anything USEFUL there!
 
M

mister_friendly@the-newzgroups.com

Flightless Bird
On Tue, 04 May 2010 15:06:41 -0700, Dhu Pin Yoo
<dhu.pin.yoo@ethereal.broadband.taipei.tw> wrote:

>
>Joining the leagues of censorship activists, obviously.
>
>-
>"Microsoft said it plans to end support for more than 4,000 old-style
>newsgroups starting next month, pushing users instead to discussion
>forums such as those found on the Microsoft Answers, TechNet and MSDN
>sites.
>
>Although venerable, Microsoft said that so-called NNTP newsgroups have
>past their time in terms of being usable and secure."
>
>More at
>
>http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20004109-56.htm



I'm curious. How is MS going to remove these newsgroups? The way I
was told, years ago, is that newsgroups CAN NOT be removed. Once
they're created, they're there forever. In some ways this is a good
thing. On the other hand there are many newsgoups that are completely
useless, something like alt.david.smith.sucks.his.mothers.tits. If
you look at the list, there are many such groups. So, I have often
wished they could be removed.

Anyhow, since MS can not remove newsgroups, what effect will that have
on these groups? Does MS ever really post to these groups? From what
I've seen, I can not recall even one time I saw a response from MS,
unless some MS employee replies to posts under their own handle. With
that in mind, what will stop any of us from continuing to use these
newsgroups?

I'll say this much, if I had to rely on web forums to communicate with
others about (any topic), I'd likely stop helping others, and only go
to these sites when I can not find help anywhere else. On newsgroups,
I can quickly go thru a list of posts, filtrer out the spam, and in
minutes, read the whole days posts that are interesting to me.

Try that on web forums. I signed up for some of those Yahoo Groups.
First, I need to give out personal info to sign up to use their
services at all. Then I have to enter a user name and password
everytime I want to use their groups. Even though I always click
"Keep me connected", it seems that I have to re-enter my user name and
password everytime I post a message. Then, to post the message, I
have to enter some string of characters, which is in graphic form, and
often unreadable, which means I have to enter it over and over. Then,
there's always a huge delay in sending my post, and another long delay
to read each and every message. The end result is this: I could have
read an entire newsgroup's weekly posts in the time it took to read
and respond to just one post on Yahoo or Google groups.

If this is what it comes to, I will have no part of these web based
groups. I'm too busy to spend a half hour on one post, and many hours
if I'm trying to get some information.

Finally, I wonder how much MS will charge for their groups? Will they
charge money, or just steal our identity which they can sell at a
profit so they can spam our email boxes with all sorts of junk
advertising.

No thanks. I'll stick here on the newsgroups, and will continue to
help others as well as ask questions. If the day ever comes where the
entire internet is web based, I'll likely cancel my internet account.
Personally, I strongly dislike the web in most cases. There was once
a time when the web was a valuable source of information, like an
encyclopedia. While some of those sites still exist, finding them is
only half the battle, since google caters to certain sites that pay
them big$. Then you get to these sites and get all the annoying
popups and ads, and flashing content and flash garbage which makes
some sites take forever to load. And if this is not bad enough, more
and more sites these days want you to register to even use their site.
Some even want money. How the hell anyone can register for all these
sites and remember all the passwords is beyond me. All I know, is
that when the day comes and all we have is the web, I'll save the $29
a month I pay my ISP and buy the "World Book" encyclopedia.
 
M

Michael

Flightless Bird
<mister_friendly@the-newzgroups.com> wrote in message
news:sgi3u51l3qbbotjr01oib5t532foqv12dn@4ax.com...
> On Tue, 04 May 2010 15:06:41 -0700, Dhu Pin Yoo
> <dhu.pin.yoo@ethereal.broadband.taipei.tw> wrote:
>
>>
>>Joining the leagues of censorship activists, obviously.
>>
>>-
>>"Microsoft said it plans to end support for more than 4,000 old-style
>>newsgroups starting next month, pushing users instead to discussion
>>forums such as those found on the Microsoft Answers, TechNet and MSDN
>>sites.
>>
>>Although venerable, Microsoft said that so-called NNTP newsgroups have
>>past their time in terms of being usable and secure."
>>
>>More at
>>
>>http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20004109-56.htm

>
>
> I'm curious. How is MS going to remove these newsgroups? The way I
> was told, years ago, is that newsgroups CAN NOT be removed. Once
> they're created, they're there forever. In some ways this is a good
> thing. On the other hand there are many newsgoups that are completely
> useless, something like alt.david.smith.sucks.his.mothers.tits. If
> you look at the list, there are many such groups. So, I have often
> wished they could be removed.
>
> Anyhow, since MS can not remove newsgroups, what effect will that have
> on these groups? Does MS ever really post to these groups? From what
> I've seen, I can not recall even one time I saw a response from MS,
> unless some MS employee replies to posts under their own handle. With
> that in mind, what will stop any of us from continuing to use these
> newsgroups?
>
> I'll say this much, if I had to rely on web forums to communicate with
> others about (any topic), I'd likely stop helping others, and only go
> to these sites when I can not find help anywhere else. On newsgroups,
> I can quickly go thru a list of posts, filtrer out the spam, and in
> minutes, read the whole days posts that are interesting to me.
>
> Try that on web forums. I signed up for some of those Yahoo Groups.
> First, I need to give out personal info to sign up to use their
> services at all. Then I have to enter a user name and password
> everytime I want to use their groups. Even though I always click
> "Keep me connected", it seems that I have to re-enter my user name and
> password everytime I post a message. Then, to post the message, I
> have to enter some string of characters, which is in graphic form, and
> often unreadable, which means I have to enter it over and over. Then,
> there's always a huge delay in sending my post, and another long delay
> to read each and every message. The end result is this: I could have
> read an entire newsgroup's weekly posts in the time it took to read
> and respond to just one post on Yahoo or Google groups.
>
> If this is what it comes to, I will have no part of these web based
> groups. I'm too busy to spend a half hour on one post, and many hours
> if I'm trying to get some information.
>
> Finally, I wonder how much MS will charge for their groups? Will they
> charge money, or just steal our identity which they can sell at a
> profit so they can spam our email boxes with all sorts of junk
> advertising.
>
> No thanks. I'll stick here on the newsgroups, and will continue to
> help others as well as ask questions. If the day ever comes where the
> entire internet is web based, I'll likely cancel my internet account.
> Personally, I strongly dislike the web in most cases. There was once
> a time when the web was a valuable source of information, like an
> encyclopedia. While some of those sites still exist, finding them is
> only half the battle, since google caters to certain sites that pay
> them big$. Then you get to these sites and get all the annoying
> popups and ads, and flashing content and flash garbage which makes
> some sites take forever to load. And if this is not bad enough, more
> and more sites these days want you to register to even use their site.
> Some even want money. How the hell anyone can register for all these
> sites and remember all the passwords is beyond me. All I know, is
> that when the day comes and all we have is the web, I'll save the $29
> a month I pay my ISP and buy the "World Book" encyclopedia.


These newsgroups are on Microsoft servers. All they need to do is pull the
plug.

--


"Don't pick a fight with an old man.
If he is too old to fight, he'll just kill you."
 
P

pip22

Flightless Bird
I agree with MS for once. The NNTP system is now archaic. Having to
download headers is a pain, followed by downloading the posts you want
to read, especially on slow, rural connections.

Web-based forums are much easier to access and navigate, and far less
littered with cr*p whereas NNTP is awash with it.
 
L

Leythos

Flightless Bird
In article <pip22.4aijp6@no.email.invalid>, pip22.4aijp6
@no.email.invalid says...
> I agree with MS for once. The NNTP system is now archaic. Having to
> download headers is a pain, followed by downloading the posts you want
> to read, especially on slow, rural connections.
>


NNTP was designed for SLOW connections, it's perfect for it.

If you think that NNTP was slow on slow connections I can't imagine how
you will find web groups interfaces - they will be even slower.

--
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.
spam999free@rrohio.com (remove 999 for proper email address)
 
E

El Kot

Flightless Bird
Michael wrote:
> <mister_friendly@the-newzgroups.com> wrote in message
>> Dhu Pin Yoo <dhu.pin.yoo@ethereal.broadband.taipei.tw> wrote:
>>
>>>
>>> Joining the leagues of censorship activists, obviously.
>>>
>>> -
>>> "Microsoft said it plans to end support for more than 4,000 old-style
>>> newsgroups starting next month, pushing users instead to discussion
>>> forums such as those found on the Microsoft Answers, TechNet and MSDN
>>> sites.
>>>
>>> Although venerable, Microsoft said that so-called NNTP newsgroups have
>>> past their time in terms of being usable and secure."
>>>
>>> More at
>>>
>>> http://news.cnet.com/8301-13860_3-20004109-56.htm

>>
>>
>> I'm curious. How is MS going to remove these newsgroups? The way I
>> was told, years ago, is that newsgroups CAN NOT be removed. Once
>> they're created, they're there forever. In some ways this is a good
>> thing. On the other hand there are many newsgoups that are completely
>> useless, something like alt.david.smith.sucks.his.mothers.tits. If
>> you look at the list, there are many such groups. So, I have often
>> wished they could be removed.
>>
>> Anyhow, since MS can not remove newsgroups, what effect will that have
>> on these groups? Does MS ever really post to these groups? From what
>> I've seen, I can not recall even one time I saw a response from MS,
>> unless some MS employee replies to posts under their own handle. With
>> that in mind, what will stop any of us from continuing to use these
>> newsgroups?


Nothing. We'll continue using them, just like we do now.


> These newsgroups are on Microsoft servers. All they need to do is pull
> the plug.


No they're not. They got started on M$ servers, but now they are
all over the place. Pulling the plug of the M$ servers will stop just
these servers, and nothing else. The groups will live on.

--
No, no, you can't e-mail me with no no.
 
J

John John - MVP

Flightless Bird
pip22 wrote:
> ... Having to download headers is a pain, followed by downloading the
> posts you want to read, especially on slow, rural connections.
>
> Web-based forums are much easier to access and navigate, and far less
> littered with cr*p whereas NNTP is awash with it.


Now that is quite an oxymoronic statement! Who's leg are you trying to
pull telling us that web forums are faster than text based newsgroups?
 
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