• Welcome to Tux Reports: Where Penguins Fly. We hope you find the topics varied, interesting, and worthy of your time. Please become a member and join in the discussions.

Where are all the old sites on "news microsoft.com"?

P

Peter Foldes

Flightless Bird
Alias

Yep. That is so true. I encountered a lot of people with these issues in the
newsgroups. That was a move by MS which was really not needed

--
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

"Alias" <aka@hewhoismasked&anonymous.com> wrote in message
news:hv7hng$it1$1@news.eternal-september.org...
> On 06/14/2010 06:27 PM, Tim Slattery wrote:
>> I have to agree with that one. It may have been critically important
>> for Microsoft, but definitely NOT for their users.
>>
>
> It was just another of Microsoft's sneaky moves. As I was running a legit copy of
> XP and had some good luck, it didn't affect me but a lot of people got false
> positives from WGA/N. Another sneaky thing they do is make it so that Auto Updates
> are MUCH slower if you haven't got WGA/N installed.
>
> --
> Alias
 
A

Alias

Flightless Bird
Peter Foldes wrote:
> Alias
>
> Yep. That is so true. I encountered a lot of people with these issues in
> the newsgroups. That was a move by MS which was really not needed
>

In all fairness, though, WGA was done under Ballmer's watch, not Gates'.

Alias



"Alias" <aka@hewhoismasked&anonymous.com> wrote in message
news:hv7hng$it1$1@news.eternal-september.org...
> On 06/14/2010 06:27 PM, Tim Slattery wrote:
>> I have to agree with that one. It may have been critically important
>> for Microsoft, but definitely NOT for their users.
>>
>
> It was just another of Microsoft's sneaky moves. As I was running a
legit copy of XP and had some good luck, it didn't affect me but a lot
of people got false positives from WGA/N. Another sneaky thing they do
is make it so that Auto Updates are MUCH slower if you haven't got WGA/N
installed.
>
> --
> Alias
 
K

Ken Blake

Flightless Bird
On Mon, 14 Jun 2010 09:20:44 -0500, milt
<theatre_nospam_guy@miltsweb.com> wrote:

> On 6/14/2010 8:54 AM, Tim Slattery wrote:
> > "LVTravel"<none@nothere.com> wrote:
> >
> >> And the forums absolutely SUCK even with the Answers NNTP and the Forum NNTP
> >> bridges working to be able to "mimic" a newsgroup (you can see the posts and
> >> all follow-ups just like a newsgroup. But boy is it ever slow.
> >
> > You should be aware that there are alternatives to the Microsoft
> > bridges. MVP Jochen Kalmbach developed an NNTP bridge that handles
> > both sets of forums with a single application:
> >
> >
> > http://blog.kalmbach-software.de/2010/05/26/ann-community-forums-nntp-bridge/
> > http://communitybridge.codeplex.com/
> >
> > I've seen lots of favorable comments about this.
> >
> > Then there's another one by Hector Santos. Here's its announcement:
> >
>
> Gee, all these ways of connecting to the forums with NNTP should be a
> bit of a hint that people prefer NNTP over the forums. Of course, once
> again, its Microsoft doing what they want, when they want and how they
> want to do it because they are Microsoft.



Unfortunately, only *some* people prefer NNTP. Many, if not most, of
us who are here to help others may prefer newsgroups, but I think the
great majority of those looking for help prefer web-based forums. They
know how to use the web, but most of them don't even know NNTP exists,
let alone how to use it.

I think what Microsoft is doing is catering to the users looking for
help, not those giving help. Unfortunately that don't realize that by
doing that (unless they provide outstanding bridge software) results
in those needing help getting poorer help.


Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
 
R

Roland Schweiger \(eternal september / motzarella\

Flightless Bird
I am also one of those people who definately prefer newsgroups and rather
dislike "forums".
Sure i know that i might sound "old" but i simply think that newsgroups are
easier to use -
i don't have to click on a website, scroll up and down, low in etc etc.

Similar delelopments are sometimes seen when writing eMails:
i have a number of friends who don't even know what an eMail client (like
Windows Live Mail, OutlookExpress, Thunderbird or whatever) is,
they believe that you can only send or receive emakils whon logging onto the
www-site of the email provider, logging in, scrolling around etc.
Then when i tell them about an email client and when i set one up for them,
they are totally surprised how easy it is to use. :)

And similar, in everyday public life, nowsgroups seem to become forgotten,
many people don't even know they exist.

But i dislike this development and find it sad that MS obays to it.

Certainly i enjoy every new development but some "old" systems are well
established,
the NNTP protocol is a very good one and it works generally with little
traffic load.

Hope newsgroups have a future.

greetings

Roland Schweiger
 
G

Gordon

Flightless Bird
"Roland Schweiger (eternal september / motzarella)"
<roland_schweiger@web.de> wrote in message
news:hviv1o$ed7$1@news.eternal-september.org...
>
> But i dislike this development and find it sad that MS obays to it.
>

I think one of the main driving forces that persuaded MS to close the news
server was the proliferation of flames and plain stupid off-topic posts in
the Vista General newsgroup - there is far tighter control over that sort of
behaviour in a web-based forum...
 
K

Ken Blake

Flightless Bird
On Sat, 19 Jun 2010 19:33:46 +0200, "Roland Schweiger \(eternal
september / motzarella\)" <roland_schweiger@web.de> wrote:

> I am also one of those people who definately prefer newsgroups and rather
> dislike "forums".


Me too.


> Sure i know that i might sound "old" but i simply think that newsgroups are
> easier to use -



I think they are much easier to use for those of us who answer
questions. But I think the forums are easier to use for those who are
looking for answers to questions.

Unfortunately Microsoft put the desires and needs of the latter group
over that of the former. In my view that was a big mistake, and they
should have been greatly concerned with the needs of both groups.
Making it harder for those who answer means that those looking for
help will get poorer help.


> i don't have to click on a website, scroll up and down, low in etc etc.


You are perhaps unaware of the NNTP bridges. They let you use your
newsreader to participate in the forums. They are far from perfect,
and have their problems, but I use them, since in my view they are
much better than using the web-based forum interface. They are free
and you can download them.



> Similar delelopments are sometimes seen when writing eMails:
> i have a number of friends who don't even know what an eMail client (like
> Windows Live Mail, OutlookExpress, Thunderbird or whatever) is,
> they believe that you can only send or receive emakils whon logging onto the
> www-site of the email provider, logging in, scrolling around etc.
> Then when i tell them about an email client and when i set one up for them,
> they are totally surprised how easy it is to use. :)


I'm completely with you here too.


> And similar, in everyday public life, nowsgroups seem to become forgotten,
> many people don't even know they exist.


Yes, but unfortunately that really isn't a new development. Rather
then forgetting them, most people never knew they existed. It's always
been a small percentage of computers users who used them (unless
perhaps you go way back to the very first days of the internet).



> But i dislike this development and find it sad that MS obays to it.
>
> Certainly i enjoy every new development but some "old" systems are well
> established,
> the NNTP protocol is a very good one and it works generally with little
> traffic load.
>
> Hope newsgroups have a future.


Alas, they almost certainly have a tiny future, if any.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
 
K

Ken Blake

Flightless Bird
On Sat, 19 Jun 2010 18:52:53 +0100, "Gordon" <gordonbparker@yahoo.com>
wrote:


> "Roland Schweiger (eternal september / motzarella)"
> <roland_schweiger@web.de> wrote in message
> news:hviv1o$ed7$1@news.eternal-september.org...
> >
> > But i dislike this development and find it sad that MS obays to it.
> >
>
> I think one of the main driving forces that persuaded MS to close the news
> server was the proliferation of flames


You are probably right about that.


> and plain stupid off-topic posts in
> the Vista General newsgroup - there is far tighter control over that sort of
> behaviour in a web-based forum...



Tighter control over flaming, but in my view, there is *more*
off-topic posting in the forums than there was in the newsgroups.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
 
M

milt

Flightless Bird
On 6/19/2010 12:33 PM, Roland Schweiger (eternal september / motzarella)
wrote:
>
> Hope newsgroups have a future.
>
> greetings
>
> Roland Schweiger
>
>

Oh, I'm sure they do, but only among us more technically minded people
that actually know there is more to the internet than www.
 
R

Roland Schweiger \(eternal september / motzarella\

Flightless Bird
"Ken Blake"
> You are perhaps unaware of the NNTP bridges. They let you use your
> newsreader to participate in the forums. They are far from perfect,
> and have their problems, but I use them, since in my view they are
> much better than using the web-based forum interface. They are free
> and you can download them.

True, i was / am relatively unaware of the NNTP bridges,
so to use them i thought i would just have to set up a newsgroup account
with a host name that sounds something like a news server,
but in reality acts as a bridge, didn't know that you must download and
install some application to perform the job.

greetings

Roland Schweiger
 
K

Ken Blake

Flightless Bird
On Sun, 20 Jun 2010 03:18:14 +0200, "Roland Schweiger \(eternal
september / motzarella\)" <roland_schweiger@web.de> wrote:

> "Ken Blake"
> > You are perhaps unaware of the NNTP bridges. They let you use your
> > newsreader to participate in the forums. They are far from perfect,
> > and have their problems, but I use them, since in my view they are
> > much better than using the web-based forum interface. They are free
> > and you can download them.
>
> True, i was / am relatively unaware of the NNTP bridges,
> so to use them i thought i would just have to set up a newsgroup account
> with a host name that sounds something like a news server,
> but in reality acts as a bridge, didn't know that you must download and
> install some application to perform the job.


Yes, the application has to be installed, but it's a light-weight
application and doesn't hurt overall performance. I recommend that you
at least give it a try.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
 
R

Roy Smith

Flightless Bird
On 6/20/2010 9:11 AM, Ken Blake wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Jun 2010 03:18:14 +0200, "Roland Schweiger \(eternal
> september / motzarella\)" <roland_schweiger@web.de> wrote:
>
>> "Ken Blake"
>>> You are perhaps unaware of the NNTP bridges. They let you use your
>>> newsreader to participate in the forums. They are far from perfect,
>>> and have their problems, but I use them, since in my view they are
>>> much better than using the web-based forum interface. They are free
>>> and you can download them.
>>
>> True, i was / am relatively unaware of the NNTP bridges,
>> so to use them i thought i would just have to set up a newsgroup account
>> with a host name that sounds something like a news server,
>> but in reality acts as a bridge, didn't know that you must download and
>> install some application to perform the job.
>
>
> Yes, the application has to be installed, but it's a light-weight
> application and doesn't hurt overall performance. I recommend that you
> at least give it a try.

I use them too... I just wish that there was a way to have them
automatically start and log me in when I start my mail/newsreader program.

--

Roy Smith
Windows XP Professional SP3

Timestamp: Sunday, June 20, 2010 8:33:28 PM
 
K

Ken Blake

Flightless Bird
On Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:33:29 -0500, Roy Smith <rasmith1959@live.com>
wrote:

> On 6/20/2010 9:11 AM, Ken Blake wrote:
> > On Sun, 20 Jun 2010 03:18:14 +0200, "Roland Schweiger \(eternal
> > september / motzarella\)" <roland_schweiger@web.de> wrote:
> >
> >> "Ken Blake"
> >>> You are perhaps unaware of the NNTP bridges. They let you use your
> >>> newsreader to participate in the forums. They are far from perfect,
> >>> and have their problems, but I use them, since in my view they are
> >>> much better than using the web-based forum interface. They are free
> >>> and you can download them.
> >>
> >> True, i was / am relatively unaware of the NNTP bridges,
> >> so to use them i thought i would just have to set up a newsgroup account
> >> with a host name that sounds something like a news server,
> >> but in reality acts as a bridge, didn't know that you must download and
> >> install some application to perform the job.
> >
> >
> > Yes, the application has to be installed, but it's a light-weight
> > application and doesn't hurt overall performance. I recommend that you
> > at least give it a try.
>
> I use them too... I just wish that there was a way to have them
> automatically start and log me in when I start my mail/newsreader program.


You can easily have them start automatically. Start your newsreader
from a batch file, and have the bridges start in the same batch file.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
 
Z

Zaidy036

Flightless Bird
Ken Blake <kblake@this.is.invalid.com> wrote:
> On Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:33:29 -0500, Roy Smith <rasmith1959@live.com>
> wrote:
>
>> On 6/20/2010 9:11 AM, Ken Blake wrote:
>>> On Sun, 20 Jun 2010 03:18:14 +0200, "Roland Schweiger \(eternal
>>> september / motzarella\)" <roland_schweiger@web.de> wrote:
>>>
>>>> "Ken Blake"
>>>>> You are perhaps unaware of the NNTP bridges. They let you use your
>>>>> newsreader to participate in the forums. They are far from
> > > > > perfect,
>>>>> and have their problems, but I use them, since in my view they are
>>>>> much better than using the web-based forum interface. They are
> > > > > free
>>>>> and you can download them.
>>>>
>>>> True, i was / am relatively unaware of the NNTP bridges,
>>>> so to use them i thought i would just have to set up a newsgroup
> > > > account
>>>> with a host name that sounds something like a news server,
>>>> but in reality acts as a bridge, didn't know that you must download
> > > > and
>>>> install some application to perform the job.
>>>
>>>
>>> Yes, the application has to be installed, but it's a light-weight
>>> application and doesn't hurt overall performance. I recommend that
> > > you
>>> at least give it a try.
>>
>> I use them too... I just wish that there was a way to have them
>> automatically start and log me in when I start my mail/newsreader
> > program.
>
>
> You can easily have them start automatically. Start your newsreader
> from a batch file, and have the bridges start in the same batch file.
>
> Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003

And how can one do that using an iPad?
 
K

Ken Blake

Flightless Bird
On Mon, 21 Jun 2010 23:38:04 +0000 (UTC), Zaidy036
<Zaidy036NoSpam@optonline.com> wrote:

> Ken Blake <kblake@this.is.invalid.com> wrote:
> > On Sun, 20 Jun 2010 20:33:29 -0500, Roy Smith <rasmith1959@live.com>
> > wrote:
> >
> >> On 6/20/2010 9:11 AM, Ken Blake wrote:
> >>> On Sun, 20 Jun 2010 03:18:14 +0200, "Roland Schweiger \(eternal
> >>> september / motzarella\)" <roland_schweiger@web.de> wrote:
> >>>
> >>>> "Ken Blake"
> >>>>> You are perhaps unaware of the NNTP bridges. They let you use your
> >>>>> newsreader to participate in the forums. They are far from
> > > > > > perfect,
> >>>>> and have their problems, but I use them, since in my view they are
> >>>>> much better than using the web-based forum interface. They are
> > > > > > free
> >>>>> and you can download them.
> >>>>
> >>>> True, i was / am relatively unaware of the NNTP bridges,
> >>>> so to use them i thought i would just have to set up a newsgroup
> > > > > account
> >>>> with a host name that sounds something like a news server,
> >>>> but in reality acts as a bridge, didn't know that you must download
> > > > > and
> >>>> install some application to perform the job.
> >>>
> >>>
> >>> Yes, the application has to be installed, but it's a light-weight
> >>> application and doesn't hurt overall performance. I recommend that
> > > > you
> >>> at least give it a try.
> >>
> >> I use them too... I just wish that there was a way to have them
> >> automatically start and log me in when I start my mail/newsreader
> > > program.
> >
> >
> > You can easily have them start automatically. Start your newsreader
> > from a batch file, and have the bridges start in the same batch file.
> >
> > Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
>
> And how can one do that using an iPad?



No idea. I can't help with any iPad questions.

Ken Blake, Microsoft MVP (Windows Desktop Experience) since 2003
 
You must log in or register to reply here.
Top