For most users even with the availability of alternative servers, as far as
Office products are concerned they will die, as most people coming for help
will not be aware of the alternatives - nor for that matter of the whole
world of Usenet. They are coming here from the forums that Microsoft has
directed them to. It is primarily we, the respondents, who access the
servers directly.
The reason that "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."
is simply attributable to the fact that Microsoft has made no attempt to
publicise the presence of the NNTP server as a source of information. It
prefers to use the web forums - a triumph of presentation over content. By
killing off the connection to the NNTP server, they will effectively kill
off most of the traffic as users will not find their way here.
I do however agree with Doug that the bridge will (for those of us who
respond to questions) enable us to continue to participate. If this means a
break from plain text to html, I can live with that. The greater area of
concern is the nominated forums to take the place of the current
newsgroups - especially those related to vba.
I am now looking for a new server to continue supporting the newsgroups. One
thing is for certain, I won't be going to the web pages. Life is simply too
short.
--
Graham Mayor - Word MVP
My web site
www.gmayor.com
Word MVP web site
http://word.mvps.org
"Yves Dhondt" wrote in message
...
With the current status of the NNTP bridge, I wouldn't say "hardly
notice". Especially the plain text / HTML switch is annoying. I guess next
to all caps messages, we can now also expect all bold size 72 caps
brightly pink messages.
Next to the fact that the message contains plain lies (Microsoft is
currently not closing down localized newsgroups which are much less used
than the 'general' ones for example) I wonder if it is actually possible
to kill a newsgroup. The structure of NNTP doesn't define a hierarchy.
Right now, most local ISPs offer direct access to these newsgroups. In
turn, they probably connect to a major player like Giganews or Supernews.
Pulling the plug on Microsoft's side will only influence people directly
connecting through Microsoft. And they could easily migrate. Add to that
the dozens of sites already mirroring the groups through a forum
(http://www.tech-archive.net/, http://groups.google.com/,
http://www.vistaheads.com/forums/, http://www.officefrustration.com/, ...)
and I doubt it will be an easy takedown.
Yves
"Doug Robbins - Word MVP" wrote in message
...
Using the NNTP Bridge, as referred to in the article, to access the
forums from Outlook Express, Windows Mail or Windows Live Mail, you would
hardly notice the fact that you were not accessing an NNTP newsgroup.
The real issue is the forums that have been nominated as the replacement
in the case of some newsgroups.
--
Hope this helps.
Please reply to the newsgroup unless you wish to avail yourself of my
services on a paid consulting basis.
Doug Robbins - Word MVP, originally posted via msnews.microsoft.com
"Dave Symes" wrote in message
...
In article ,
wrote:
What is Happening? This message is to inform you that Microsoft will
soon begin discontinuing newsgroups and transitioning users to
Microsoft
forums.
Grief... Forums are appalling and tedious places, and I only go there as
a
very last resort, and from my experience over many years, not an
evolution
but the opposite.
Dave
--
Dave Triffid