Reminder - Microsoft Responds to the Evolution of Community

Let me rephrase: When I use Outlook Express to add an account, it asks for
the name of the News (NNTP) Server. I want the one where I would find
comp.databases.ms-access and other USENET groups. What is the name of that
server?

"Larry Linson" wrote in message
...
You will need a news server that carries them; then you can access them
through Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail, or other news readers.

The server I am using is "news.individual.net", on the recommendation of a
friend and colleague, it is operated by the Free University of Berlin, and
costs 10 euro per year. I have not used it for long enough to give an
opinion, other than in more than a week of use, I have not had a problem.

Other colleagues whose opinions I trust, use the free server you can
access via http://www.eternalseptember.org. I haven't used it at all, but
they seem happy with it. According to one of the references found on a
search, this one may have its own news reader, also.

Both of these, and most of the other free news servers, are text-only, no
images/graphics. But searching at bing or google on "news server" should
retrieve you a lot of information. If I recall correctly, GigaNews (which
is somewhat more expensive) does allow access to graphics / image
newsgroups.
--
Larry Linson, Microsoft Office Access MVP
Co-author: "Microsoft Access Small Business Solutions", published by Wiley
Access newsgroup support is alive and well in USENET
comp.databases.ms-access

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
How do you access those groups - Outlook Express? a URL?

"Larry Linson" wrote in message
...
Newsgroup support (not Microsoft-sponsored) is still available in the
USENET newsgroup comp.databases.ms-access, which pre-dates the
Microsoft-sponsored newsgroups (back then, Microsoft's support was on
the for-fee service CompuServe). Many ISPs have discontinued news
server support, but there are quite a number of news servers available,
free and fee.

As a final note, quite a number of Access MVPs, whose names you will
recognize from the Microsoft-sponsored newsgroups, have posted in
comp.database.ms-access that they "are back". It's almost like a
"Homecoming".

--
Larry Linson, Microsoft Office Access MVP
Co-author: "Microsoft Access Small Business Solutions", published by
Wiley
Access newsgroup support is alive and well in USENET
comp.databases.ms-access


wrote in message
...

Microsoft Office Evolves Community as Part of Office 2010 Launch:
As you know, this is a big year for Microsoft as we are launching the
latest version of Office. Office 2010 is all about making it easy for
you to get and use Office on your terms. Office 2010 lets you work
from the office, from home, or at school across the PC, the Phone, and
the Browser. You can purchase Office 2010 from retail, from our OEM
manufactures when you purchase a new PC, or get it direct from
Microsoft, faster than ever via a new software delivery mechanism
called Click-To-Run.

And, we're working hard to provide you the customer support you want,
when you want it. We are offering 1-year of technical support
included in our Office Professional 2010 SKU. We are expanding and
improving our community to provide free, 24/7 support. The details of
this evolution are outlined below, but suffice it to say, we're really
excited about this as it aligns with our Office 2010 vision of Office
on your terms

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 he http://connect.microsoft.com/MicrosoftForums/


When will this Happen?
Effective June 1, 2010 this newsgroup will be closed.

Where Should I go with the Closure of this Newsgroup?
Microsoft has a large selection of forums, many of which cover either
the
same or closely related technologies to the ones found in the
newsgroups.
The forums have seen amazing growth and are an excellent place to
continue
the discussion. We recommend that you start with:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/...addbuz/threads

Should you want to visit the other Microsoft Forums, please go to
http://www.microsoft.com/communities...s/default.mspx

Who Should I Contact with any Questions?
Send any questions about the process, recommended forums and timing to

On 5/20/10 11:14 AM, M Skabialka wrote:
Let me rephrase: When I use Outlook Express to add an account, it asks for
the name of the News (NNTP) Server. I want the one where I would find
comp.databases.ms-access and other USENET groups. What is the name of that
server?

Larry & John both gave you URLs to the servers where you can sign up for
account. Once you've done that, they will give you the information
needed to log in to the server from the OE.

There are other servers, of course, but the same idea remains - you have
to sign up with one of them for either free or pay a fee before you can
use their servers to access the UseNet.

Unless your ISP still offers a news server, you will have to subscribe to
one -- that's what I thought I was describing in my previous post. The news
server to which I subscribe, and use is "news.individual.net" and that is
what I enter into Outlook Express. But, unless your ISP provides it (and
few do, at this date), you will first need to have subscribed and obtained a
userid and password from the news server.

--
Larry Linson, Microsoft Office Access MVP
Co-author: "Microsoft Access Small Business Solutions", published by Wiley
Access newsgroup support is alive and well in USENET
comp.databases.ms-access


"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
Let me rephrase: When I use Outlook Express to add an account, it asks
for the name of the News (NNTP) Server. I want the one where I would find
comp.databases.ms-access and other USENET groups. What is the name of
that server?

"Larry Linson" wrote in message
...
You will need a news server that carries them; then you can access them
through Outlook Express, Windows Live Mail, or other news readers.

The server I am using is "news.individual.net", on the recommendation of
a friend and colleague, it is operated by the Free University of Berlin,
and costs 10 euro per year. I have not used it for long enough to give an
opinion, other than in more than a week of use, I have not had a problem.

Other colleagues whose opinions I trust, use the free server you can
access via http://www.eternalseptember.org. I haven't used it at all, but
they seem happy with it. According to one of the references found on a
search, this one may have its own news reader, also.

Both of these, and most of the other free news servers, are text-only, no
images/graphics. But searching at bing or google on "news server" should
retrieve you a lot of information. If I recall correctly, GigaNews
(which is somewhat more expensive) does allow access to graphics / image
newsgroups.
--
Larry Linson, Microsoft Office Access MVP
Co-author: "Microsoft Access Small Business Solutions", published by
Wiley
Access newsgroup support is alive and well in USENET
comp.databases.ms-access

"M Skabialka" wrote in message
...
How do you access those groups - Outlook Express? a URL?

"Larry Linson" wrote in message
...
Newsgroup support (not Microsoft-sponsored) is still available in the
USENET newsgroup comp.databases.ms-access, which pre-dates the
Microsoft-sponsored newsgroups (back then, Microsoft's support was on
the for-fee service CompuServe). Many ISPs have discontinued news
server support, but there are quite a number of news servers available,
free and fee.

As a final note, quite a number of Access MVPs, whose names you will
recognize from the Microsoft-sponsored newsgroups, have posted in
comp.database.ms-access that they "are back". It's almost like a
"Homecoming".

--
Larry Linson, Microsoft Office Access MVP
Co-author: "Microsoft Access Small Business Solutions", published by
Wiley
Access newsgroup support is alive and well in USENET
comp.databases.ms-access


wrote in message
...

Microsoft Office Evolves Community as Part of Office 2010 Launch:
As you know, this is a big year for Microsoft as we are launching the
latest version of Office. Office 2010 is all about making it easy
for you to get and use Office on your terms. Office 2010 lets you
work from the office, from home, or at school across the PC, the
Phone, and the Browser. You can purchase Office 2010 from retail,
from our OEM manufactures when you purchase a new PC, or get it direct
from Microsoft, faster than ever via a new software delivery mechanism
called Click-To-Run.

And, we're working hard to provide you the customer support you want,
when you want it. We are offering 1-year of technical support
included in our Office Professional 2010 SKU. We are expanding and
improving our community to provide free, 24/7 support. The details of
this evolution are outlined below, but suffice it to say, we're really
excited about this as it aligns with our Office 2010 vision of Office
on your terms

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 he http://connect.microsoft.com/MicrosoftForums/


When will this Happen?
Effective June 1, 2010 this newsgroup will be closed.

Where Should I go with the Closure of this Newsgroup?
Microsoft has a large selection of forums, many of which cover either
the
same or closely related technologies to the ones found in the
newsgroups.
The forums have seen amazing growth and are an excellent place to
continue
the discussion. We recommend that you start with:
http://social.answers.microsoft.com/...addbuz/threads

Should you want to visit the other Microsoft Forums, please go to
http://www.microsoft.com/communities...s/default.mspx

Who Should I Contact with any Questions?
Send any questions about the process, recommended forums and timing to

On Thu, 20 May 2010 13:14:54 -0500, "M Skabialka"
wrote:

Let me rephrase: When I use Outlook Express to add an account, it asks for
the name of the News (NNTP) Server. I want the one where I would find
comp.databases.ms-access and other USENET groups. What is the name of that
server?

Try

aioe.org

They don't require a userid or a password (or of course money).
--

John W. Vinson [MVP]

John W. Vinson wrote:

heresyAlternatively, if you are the sort to prefer web interface,
AccessMonster has pretty good interface./heresy

Will we still be able to access the NG through AccessMonster? The MS
implementation of the NG was AWFUL. The NGs were better like 12 years ago -
lumping all the application questions in a single newsgroup isn't terribly
helpful.

--
Message posted via AccessMonster.com
http://www.accessmonster.com/Uwe/For...ccess/201005/1

On Thu, 20 May 2010 20:05:37 GMT, "PieterLinden via AccessMonster.com"
u49887@uwe wrote:

Will we still be able to access the NG through AccessMonster? The MS
implementation of the NG was AWFUL. The NGs were better like 12 years ago -
lumping all the application questions in a single newsgroup isn't terribly
helpful.

The Answers web forum will not be propagated outside Microsoft, it seems; it
will certainly not be put on Usenet/NNTP etc., so posts will not be on Google
Groups, AccessMonster, or much of anyplace else (at least as currently
structured).

The msnews.microsoft.com server, the originating point for all newsgroup
posts, will *cease to exist*. Any service (such as AccessMonster) which relies
on posts to this server for their information will stop getting anything.

The newsgroups microsoft.public.access.* may or may not continue to be
available on other news servers (aioe.org, eternalseptember.com, etc.) - it
depends on how aggressively Microsoft pushes other ISP's to remove the groups
from their servers and to what extent they comply. Newsgroups are like
vampires... VERY hard to kill... so I suspect they'll be around for a long
while, but will stop getting any input directed to them by Microsoft; the vast
majority of questions come through the support.microsoft.com website and this
source will cease. I suspect that volume of legitimate questions will go way
down and the volume of spam and flamewars will go way up.

The non-Microsoft forum comp.databases.ms-access is available and apparently
some old friends of mine are reestablishing a presence there.

How this will all play out is hard to predict; we'll just see over the summer
how Answers, the newsgroups, and other alternatives shake down!

--

John W. Vinson [MVP]

"PieterLinden via AccessMonster.com" u49887@uwe wrote:

Will we still be able to access the NG through AccessMonster? The MS
implementation of the NG was AWFUL. The NGs were better like 12 years ago -
lumping all the application questions in a single newsgroup isn't terribly
helpful.

Possibly. There are many newsgroup servers out there which carry the
MS hierarchy of newsgroups. Speculation is high that they will
continue to carry the MS newsgroups. So if AccessMonster peers with
non MS newsgroup server you should be fine.

Also some/many of us MVPs will continue to be active in the MS
newsgroups as well as comp.databases.ms-access.

Tony
--
Tony Toews, Microsoft Access MVP
Tony's Main MS Access pages - http://www.granite.ab.ca/accsmstr.htm
Tony's Microsoft Access Blog - http://msmvps.com/blogs/access/
For a convenient utility to keep your users FEs and other files
updated see http://www.autofeupdater.com/
Granite Fleet Manager http://www.granitefleet.com/

"Larry Linson" wrote in
:

Newsgroup support (not Microsoft-sponsored) is still available in
the USENET newsgroup comp.databases.ms-access, which pre-dates the
Microsoft-sponsored newsgroups (back then, Microsoft's support was
on the for-fee service CompuServe). Many ISPs have discontinued
news server support, but there are quite a number of news servers
available, free and fee.

For instance:

http://www.eternal-september.org/

As a final note, quite a number of Access MVPs, whose names you
will recognize from the Microsoft-sponsored newsgroups, have
posted in comp.database.ms-access that they "are back". It's
almost like a "Homecoming".

I haven't seen much in the way of a traffic spike there.

--
David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/
usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/

John W. Vinson wrote in
:

OE, Windows Mail, Windows Live Mail all have NNTP support. There
are of course many newsreader programs available, Agent
(www.forteinc.com) is my favorite.

xNews is a good one, too, but it does not fare well with the MS
newsgroups because the MS web-based interface creates posts that are
non-conformant with accepted Usenet RFCs. You can get around some of
it with MIME-Proxy, but I have problems running that on my WinXP
laptop, so I put up with the gibberish inserted in the headers.

It's a shame what has happened with Usenet. It's one of those
non-sexy, but very efficient infrastructures that for some reason
just never made the transition, perhaps because its RFCs stopped
getting the attention of the heavyweights on the Internet side. That
is, it never got Unicode support (or any real kind of proper
foreign-language character support), and I think that's because the
people who develop and test those kinds of solutions had moved on to
other things.

In a recent run-in with a SQL Server bigot, I was told that nobody
in the SQL Server world uses the MS newsgroups, but instead uses
various web-based forums (that I looked at and they were uniformly
horrid, as are all web-based forums when compared to the simplicity
and efficiency of Usenet).

--
David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/
usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/

"PieterLinden via AccessMonster.com" u49887@uwe wrote in
news:a84d2042977b2@uwe:

The NGs were better like 12 years ago -
lumping all the application questions in a single newsgroup isn't
terribly helpful.

I disagree. I find the breakdown of all the Access questions into a
bunch of overlapping issues to be quite unhelpful. Where do you post
a question that overlaps more than one of the groups? I think it's
better to have one big newsgroup with lots of daily traffic.

I *could* see breaking it down into a main newsgroup and some
specialized newsgroups for, say, queries, forms/reports and maybe
client/server. But a breakdown more granular than that soon runs
into major problems. I thought about including VBA as one of the
topics, but realized that it would overlap the forms/reports group
(not to mention the client/server one).

I don't think one large active group is a problem at all, but I read
with a newsreader that makes it easy for me to keep track of what
I've read and what I haven't. Search is accomplished through Google
Groups (such as it is -- they've really screwed it up by not
actually limiting your search to the terms you put in, especially in
regard to limiting to particular newsgroups). I do admit that I read
nearly every day, so there's never that big of an accumulation to
get through. And I don't begin to read everything. I scan topics and
see what's hot, and see what the people whose names I've chosen to
follow are discussion and read what they're talking about.

Trying to read everything even every day would be way too much!

--
David W. Fenton http://www.dfenton.com/
usenet at dfenton dot com http://www.dfenton.com/DFA/