Board index » Windows Vista » Microsoft Communities = msnews.microsoft.com?

Windows Vista13
My new computer (Vista Ultimate) came with Windows Mail and

within Windows Mail there is "Microsoft Communities". From

my previous computer I imported two sets of news groups, one

of them being msnews.microsoft.com. Microsoft Communities

seems to be just a different heading for

msnews.microsoft.com - right? Any reason not to delete one

or the other? Can one delete Microsoft Communities without

problems?



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CWLee

Former slayer of dragons; practice now limited to sacred

cows. Believing we should hire for quality, not quotas, and

promote for performance, not preferences.


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"CWLee" <cdubyalee@post.harvard.edu>wrote:



Right. It is also the underlying server for the web front-end at

www.microsoft.com/communities/newsgroups.



Well, you do not need to have two instances of the same ng in your client.



Yes. You can always set it back up in Tools>Accounts if you want so at a

later time. However, I recommend you stop the MS newsgroups subscriptions at

your other server instead, because when you use the default setup in Windows

Mail you will have access to the Communities functions.



Charlie42



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I have detected no difference. I have used them both, together, and each

separately. They performed the same to me.



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Was this helpful? Then click the "Yes" Ratings button. Voting helps the web

interface.

www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales/help/help_en-us.htm" >www.microsoft.com/wn3/locales/help/help_en-us.htm



Mark L. Ferguson



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"CWLee" <cdubyalee@post.harvard.edu>wrote in message

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"CWLee" <cdubyalee@post.harvard.edu>wrote:



Oh, and msnews.microsoft.com displays news posts pretty quickly, other nntp

servers may not because the posts have to be distributed to them first.



Charlie42



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"CWLee" <cdubyalee@post.harvard.edu>wrote in message

Yes.



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I find MC is somewhat erratic. Since switching to Microsoft Communities I've

noticed, with this NG in particular, that many new messages are not being

forwarded to me, including ones I've posted myself. Some new threads appear

already in progress but with the initial messages missing. Checking the NG

in the web interface confirms that the messages are present but certain ones

never show up in the newsreader. Never saw that problem when connecting

directly to the MS news servers using OE.



"Mark L. Ferguson" <MarkLFerguson@discussions.microsoft.com>wrote in

message news:E06FA0F6-21D1-445D-99DC-BBE478496E06@microsoft.com...

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"Charlie42" <Charlie42@spam.me.not>wrote



What are "Communities functions"? Are you suggesting there

are news groups or other information sources available via

"Microsoft Communities" that are not available through

"msnews.microsoft.com? If so, please elaborate, since I

have not found any difference.



Thanks.



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"CWLee" <cdubyalee@post.harvard.edu>wrote:



No. Depending on what NNTP provider you use, you can probably access all the

public Microsoft newsgroups.



Microsoft Communities' NNTP server is msnews.microsoft.com. If you access

this server with Windows Mail, you have the option to log on with a LiveID

and classify posts in the newsgroups ("Communities functions"). This you

cannot do if you use any different news server.



The Communities' server only offers Microsoft newsgroups, you need a second

NNTP server in order to access the rest of Usenet.



Charlie42



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I haven't bothered to check into all the Community features but one of the

added functions available in Communities is a "Rate this Post" button when

you preview or open posts.



"CWLee" <cdubyalee@post.harvard.edu>wrote in message

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Hi, Charlie42.



I agree - except for a couple of quibbles.



OE, WM and WLM are newsreaders or news clients, not news servers. And WLM -

as well as WM - will allow the Communities functions, such as Rate this

Post.



And, to anyone reading along (I know you know this, Charlie, but others may

not):



Usenet offers well over 100,000 newsgroups now, in just about every language

in the world. ALL of these newsgroups are available to anyone with

OE/WM/WLM or any other newsreader and access to a news server that carries

Usenet. Each ISP I've used has included access to a free Usenet news server

as part of their subscription bundle. (And Google gets over 70,000 hits on

"free news server".) Microsoft public newsgroups - also known as Microsoft

Communities and sometimes called discussion groups or even forums - number

over 2,000, also in many different languages. ALL of these newsgroups are

available free to anyone with OE/WM/WLM and access is installed

automatically when Windows/Vista is installed. Most of these MS public NGs

are also "slurped" by other news servers and furnished to those servers'

subscribers (usually without credit to Microsoft), but the messages and

responses are relayed back and forth to the MS server, often resulting in

posts that are delayed or out of sequence or just plain lost. Its best to

subscribe to the MS server for these NGs and to your ISP's news server for

the rest of Usenet.



Most newbies who post questions seem to prefer the Communities interface.

Most experienced newsgroup users prefer the newsreader interface. You can

decide for yourself which suits you better.



For a first look at the NNTP interface, if you are not familiar with it,

just click here to start OE/WM/WLM and read this same message in that

format:





RC

--

R. C. White, CPA

San Marcos, TX

rc@grandecom.net

Microsoft Windows MVP

(Running Windows Live Mail 2008 in Vista Ultimate x64 SP1)



"Charlie42" <Charlie42@spam.me.not>wrote in message

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"R. C. White" <rc@grandecom.net>wrote:



I am sorry if my post was unclear about WM being client-side software. Thank

you for mentioning Windows Live Mail, I forgot, and for an informative post

on accessing the Usenet. More should know!



Windows Live Mail download:

get.live.com/" >get.live.com/



Charlie42





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