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From: Cliff Galiher - MVP on 21 Jun 2010 03:56
Good evening everyone,

I wanted to take a moment and let anybody who is still participating know
that MS is moving away from support on Usenet. Some of you may already know
this, some of you may not be aware of what exactly this means. Here is a
quick summary from my perspective and to the extend of my knowledge at this
time:

First, MS does host this group on its "communities" servers and when they
pull support, it will be removed from those servers completely. Many connect
through the Microsoft Communities servers, which do offer extra "features"
such as the ability to mark a post as a comment, question, or suggestion. If
you are one of these, you will find that the group will be deleted soon,
with all access to the posts and information.

Secondly, some will tell you that Usenet is decentralized so this newsgroup
will continue to exist. This is technically true, however it will exist in a
very different way than it does now. I do believe that when MS pulls the
plug, some of the larger Usenet carriers will do so as well, as there is not
a motivating factor to continue to carry this group. Manyh ISPs that offer
Usenet actually contract out with these larger groups, so you may see the
group disappear as well. This is purely prognostication on my part, but I
think it is a "safe" speculation. I don't think I'm swinging at a wild pitch
with this one.

For those of you that remain after this happens, the group will become
strictly a "peer" support group. I've met many great peers here, so this is
by no means a bad thing. However, one nice thing about the newsgroup is that
Microsoft employees did monitor the group and when a thread stalled or when
they had extra information to offer, you'd often see a reply. Having that
access and added level of feedback and support is nice to have...and it will
be going away.

Well, that's the bad news out of the way. Now for a bit of good news.

MS didn't abandon the idea of a support process that involved peers, the
community, and MS employees collaborating to offer solutions. They only
decided that Usenet was no longer the most efficient avenue. To fill the
void, they've set up web forums that offer almost the same experience. Maybe
you agree with their decision, and maybe not, but nonetheless, it has been
made. The web forums do offer some key advantages though. They are more
easily searchable. A conversation can now have a response marked as an
"answer" and makes finding solutions much easier. By being centralized, spam
is going to be much less of a problem. And some of the colleauges you may
have gotten to know and respect here are moderators over there to help keep
the spammers out, the flame wars stamped, and the conversation flowing.

We are actually quite lucky in the SBS community because we already have
great participants, so I don't anticipate many problems of the latter sort,
but it is nice to know that some people I truly respect are on the case if
havoc were to break out.

So, how can you participate? There are three ways:

First, is the web interface. You can find that here:
http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/smallbusinessserver/

I find it very useable and friendly, and as MS continues to evolve the
platform, I suspect it will only get better. I use it roughly 50% of the
time I'm participating in the new forum. Obviously each person is different,
but I thought I'd share that tidbit...it is useful enough that I find myself
in it and it is worth giving a real chance. Explore it. Explore the
settings in your profile. It grows on you.

The second way, for those addicted to your NNTP reader, is through the "NNTP
bridge." MS has written a small translator that you can run locally on your
machine that will bridge the gap between the NNTP reader you already use and
the web interface. There isn't a whole lot to say here. That's what it does,
that's how it works, and it does its job. Very utilitarian, but very
effective. It isn't Usenet, but it is NNTP, and it works very well.

The third way is through the "community bridge." This still allows you to
use your NNTP/newsgroup reader, but targets the power user. It offers some
advanced features that the MS version does not. As the name implies, it was
not written by MS, but is supported by volunteer programmers in the
community. It offers some great extra features, but comes at a cost in that
it is updated often so maintenance is higher, and as MS evolves the
platform, you may find a gap in compatibility until the community
programmers catch up. It is a trade-off I am willing to make, so this is the
way I access the forum the 50% of the time I'm not in the web, but I accept
that maintenance is not everyone's cup of tea. The official MS bridge may be
more to your liking.

If you really love NNTP, I recommend either of the latter two options. In
fact, I'd encourage you to try them both before deciding. I have
intentionally left out *where* to find these bridges though because I do
believe everyone should at least experience the web interface, know it is
here, and understand that it offers a few things that NNTP simply cannot
because of the age of its protocol; such as sticky posts and announcements.

So please, visit the forum, explore, and read. One of the announcements is
about using the forum with NNTP readers. There you can find all you need to
know about downloading the bridges. I look forward to hopefully seeing all
of you over there.

As far as the fate of this newsgroup, the rumor I'm hearing kicked around is
that MS will pull the plug on this newsgroup around July 8th. If this proves
to be true, that gives you a couple of weeks to decide what forum interface
you like best, start posting your questions there, and let this newsgroup
die a graceful and dignified death. It has been a great way to meet some SBS
family and I sincerely hope that you will all follow me to the forums where
we can continue that trend and get involved with a new generation.

Thanks for reading,

--
Cliff Galiher


From: Russ (SBITS.Biz) [SBS-MVP] on 21 Jun 2010 06:21
Just as a FYI:
I have created a Short URL link called http://www.SBSRepair.com
That redirects to the SBS Forum

Russ

--
Russell Grover - SBITS.Biz [SBS-MVP]
MCP, MCPS, MCNPS, SBSC
Remote Small Business Server/Computer Support - www.SBITS.Biz
BPOS - Microsoft Online Services - www.BPOSMadeEasy.com
Easy Redirect to Microsoft's New SBS Public Forum - www.SBSRepair.com

"Cliff Galiher - MVP" <cgaliher(a)gmail.com> wrote in message
news:B146E950-C591-4696-9C2B-294B662ED110(a)microsoft.com...
> Good evening everyone,
>
> I wanted to take a moment and let anybody who is still participating know
> that MS is moving away from support on Usenet. Some of you may already
> know this, some of you may not be aware of what exactly this means. Here
> is a quick summary from my perspective and to the extend of my knowledge
> at this time:
>
> First, MS does host this group on its "communities" servers and when they
> pull support, it will be removed from those servers completely. Many
> connect through the Microsoft Communities servers, which do offer extra
> "features" such as the ability to mark a post as a comment, question, or
> suggestion. If you are one of these, you will find that the group will be
> deleted soon, with all access to the posts and information.
>
> Secondly, some will tell you that Usenet is decentralized so this
> newsgroup will continue to exist. This is technically true, however it
> will exist in a very different way than it does now. I do believe that
> when MS pulls the plug, some of the larger Usenet carriers will do so as
> well, as there is not a motivating factor to continue to carry this group.
> Manyh ISPs that offer Usenet actually contract out with these larger
> groups, so you may see the group disappear as well. This is purely
> prognostication on my part, but I think it is a "safe" speculation. I
> don't think I'm swinging at a wild pitch with this one.
>
> For those of you that remain after this happens, the group will become
> strictly a "peer" support group. I've met many great peers here, so this
> is by no means a bad thing. However, one nice thing about the newsgroup is
> that Microsoft employees did monitor the group and when a thread stalled
> or when they had extra information to offer, you'd often see a reply.
> Having that access and added level of feedback and support is nice to
> have...and it will be going away.
>
> Well, that's the bad news out of the way. Now for a bit of good news.
>
> MS didn't abandon the idea of a support process that involved peers, the
> community, and MS employees collaborating to offer solutions. They only
> decided that Usenet was no longer the most efficient avenue. To fill the
> void, they've set up web forums that offer almost the same experience.
> Maybe you agree with their decision, and maybe not, but nonetheless, it
> has been made. The web forums do offer some key advantages though. They
> are more easily searchable. A conversation can now have a response marked
> as an "answer" and makes finding solutions much easier. By being
> centralized, spam is going to be much less of a problem. And some of the
> colleauges you may have gotten to know and respect here are moderators
> over there to help keep the spammers out, the flame wars stamped, and the
> conversation flowing.
>
> We are actually quite lucky in the SBS community because we already have
> great participants, so I don't anticipate many problems of the latter
> sort, but it is nice to know that some people I truly respect are on the
> case if havoc were to break out.
>
> So, how can you participate? There are three ways:
>
> First, is the web interface. You can find that here:
> http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/smallbusinessserver/
>
> I find it very useable and friendly, and as MS continues to evolve the
> platform, I suspect it will only get better. I use it roughly 50% of the
> time I'm participating in the new forum. Obviously each person is
> different, but I thought I'd share that tidbit...it is useful enough that
> I find myself in it and it is worth giving a real chance. Explore it.
> Explore the settings in your profile. It grows on you.
>
> The second way, for those addicted to your NNTP reader, is through the
> "NNTP bridge." MS has written a small translator that you can run locally
> on your machine that will bridge the gap between the NNTP reader you
> already use and the web interface. There isn't a whole lot to say here.
> That's what it does, that's how it works, and it does its job. Very
> utilitarian, but very effective. It isn't Usenet, but it is NNTP, and it
> works very well.
>
> The third way is through the "community bridge." This still allows you to
> use your NNTP/newsgroup reader, but targets the power user. It offers some
> advanced features that the MS version does not. As the name implies, it
> was not written by MS, but is supported by volunteer programmers in the
> community. It offers some great extra features, but comes at a cost in
> that it is updated often so maintenance is higher, and as MS evolves the
> platform, you may find a gap in compatibility until the community
> programmers catch up. It is a trade-off I am willing to make, so this is
> the way I access the forum the 50% of the time I'm not in the web, but I
> accept that maintenance is not everyone's cup of tea. The official MS
> bridge may be more to your liking.
>
> If you really love NNTP, I recommend either of the latter two options. In
> fact, I'd encourage you to try them both before deciding. I have
> intentionally left out *where* to find these bridges though because I do
> believe everyone should at least experience the web interface, know it is
> here, and understand that it offers a few things that NNTP simply cannot
> because of the age of its protocol; such as sticky posts and
> announcements.
>
> So please, visit the forum, explore, and read. One of the announcements is
> about using the forum with NNTP readers. There you can find all you need
> to know about downloading the bridges. I look forward to hopefully seeing
> all of you over there.
>
> As far as the fate of this newsgroup, the rumor I'm hearing kicked around
> is that MS will pull the plug on this newsgroup around July 8th. If this
> proves to be true, that gives you a couple of weeks to decide what forum
> interface you like best, start posting your questions there, and let this
> newsgroup die a graceful and dignified death. It has been a great way to
> meet some SBS family and I sincerely hope that you will all follow me to
> the forums where we can continue that trend and get involved with a new
> generation.
>
> Thanks for reading,
>
> --
> Cliff Galiher
>
>
From: Ace Fekay [MVP - Directory Services, MCT] on 21 Jun 2010 21:37
So does anyone know when it's closing? End of month?

Ace



On Mon, 21 Jun 2010 01:56:44 -0600, "Cliff Galiher - MVP"
<cgaliher(a)gmail.com> wrote:

>Good evening everyone,
>
>I wanted to take a moment and let anybody who is still participating know
>that MS is moving away from support on Usenet. Some of you may already know
>this, some of you may not be aware of what exactly this means. Here is a
>quick summary from my perspective and to the extend of my knowledge at this
>time:
>
>First, MS does host this group on its "communities" servers and when they
>pull support, it will be removed from those servers completely. Many connect
>through the Microsoft Communities servers, which do offer extra "features"
>such as the ability to mark a post as a comment, question, or suggestion. If
>you are one of these, you will find that the group will be deleted soon,
>with all access to the posts and information.
>
>Secondly, some will tell you that Usenet is decentralized so this newsgroup
>will continue to exist. This is technically true, however it will exist in a
>very different way than it does now. I do believe that when MS pulls the
>plug, some of the larger Usenet carriers will do so as well, as there is not
>a motivating factor to continue to carry this group. Manyh ISPs that offer
>Usenet actually contract out with these larger groups, so you may see the
>group disappear as well. This is purely prognostication on my part, but I
>think it is a "safe" speculation. I don't think I'm swinging at a wild pitch
>with this one.
>
>For those of you that remain after this happens, the group will become
>strictly a "peer" support group. I've met many great peers here, so this is
>by no means a bad thing. However, one nice thing about the newsgroup is that
>Microsoft employees did monitor the group and when a thread stalled or when
>they had extra information to offer, you'd often see a reply. Having that
>access and added level of feedback and support is nice to have...and it will
>be going away.
>
>Well, that's the bad news out of the way. Now for a bit of good news.
>
>MS didn't abandon the idea of a support process that involved peers, the
>community, and MS employees collaborating to offer solutions. They only
>decided that Usenet was no longer the most efficient avenue. To fill the
>void, they've set up web forums that offer almost the same experience. Maybe
>you agree with their decision, and maybe not, but nonetheless, it has been
>made. The web forums do offer some key advantages though. They are more
>easily searchable. A conversation can now have a response marked as an
>"answer" and makes finding solutions much easier. By being centralized, spam
>is going to be much less of a problem. And some of the colleauges you may
>have gotten to know and respect here are moderators over there to help keep
>the spammers out, the flame wars stamped, and the conversation flowing.
>
>We are actually quite lucky in the SBS community because we already have
>great participants, so I don't anticipate many problems of the latter sort,
>but it is nice to know that some people I truly respect are on the case if
>havoc were to break out.
>
>So, how can you participate? There are three ways:
>
>First, is the web interface. You can find that here:
>http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/smallbusinessserver/
>
>I find it very useable and friendly, and as MS continues to evolve the
>platform, I suspect it will only get better. I use it roughly 50% of the
>time I'm participating in the new forum. Obviously each person is different,
>but I thought I'd share that tidbit...it is useful enough that I find myself
>in it and it is worth giving a real chance. Explore it. Explore the
>settings in your profile. It grows on you.
>
>The second way, for those addicted to your NNTP reader, is through the "NNTP
>bridge." MS has written a small translator that you can run locally on your
>machine that will bridge the gap between the NNTP reader you already use and
>the web interface. There isn't a whole lot to say here. That's what it does,
>that's how it works, and it does its job. Very utilitarian, but very
>effective. It isn't Usenet, but it is NNTP, and it works very well.
>
>The third way is through the "community bridge." This still allows you to
>use your NNTP/newsgroup reader, but targets the power user. It offers some
>advanced features that the MS version does not. As the name implies, it was
>not written by MS, but is supported by volunteer programmers in the
>community. It offers some great extra features, but comes at a cost in that
>it is updated often so maintenance is higher, and as MS evolves the
>platform, you may find a gap in compatibility until the community
>programmers catch up. It is a trade-off I am willing to make, so this is the
>way I access the forum the 50% of the time I'm not in the web, but I accept
>that maintenance is not everyone's cup of tea. The official MS bridge may be
>more to your liking.
>
>If you really love NNTP, I recommend either of the latter two options. In
>fact, I'd encourage you to try them both before deciding. I have
>intentionally left out *where* to find these bridges though because I do
>believe everyone should at least experience the web interface, know it is
>here, and understand that it offers a few things that NNTP simply cannot
>because of the age of its protocol; such as sticky posts and announcements.
>
>So please, visit the forum, explore, and read. One of the announcements is
>about using the forum with NNTP readers. There you can find all you need to
>know about downloading the bridges. I look forward to hopefully seeing all
>of you over there.
>
>As far as the fate of this newsgroup, the rumor I'm hearing kicked around is
>that MS will pull the plug on this newsgroup around July 8th. If this proves
>to be true, that gives you a couple of weeks to decide what forum interface
>you like best, start posting your questions there, and let this newsgroup
>die a graceful and dignified death. It has been a great way to meet some SBS
>family and I sincerely hope that you will all follow me to the forums where
>we can continue that trend and get involved with a new generation.
>
>Thanks for reading,
From: kj [SBS MVP] on 22 Jun 2010 01:22
Ace Fekay [MVP - Directory Services, MCT] wrote:
> So does anyone know when it's closing? End of month?
>
> Ace

No guarantees, but (shortly) after the end of the first week of July.

>
>
>
> On Mon, 21 Jun 2010 01:56:44 -0600, "Cliff Galiher - MVP"
> <cgaliher(a)gmail.com> wrote:
>
>> Good evening everyone,
>>
>> I wanted to take a moment and let anybody who is still participating
>> know that MS is moving away from support on Usenet. Some of you may
>> already know this, some of you may not be aware of what exactly this
>> means. Here is a quick summary from my perspective and to the
>> extend of my knowledge at this time:
>>
>> First, MS does host this group on its "communities" servers and when
>> they pull support, it will be removed from those servers completely.
>> Many connect through the Microsoft Communities servers, which do
>> offer extra "features" such as the ability to mark a post as a
>> comment, question, or suggestion. If you are one of these, you will
>> find that the group will be deleted soon, with all access to the
>> posts and information.
>>
>> Secondly, some will tell you that Usenet is decentralized so this
>> newsgroup will continue to exist. This is technically true, however
>> it will exist in a very different way than it does now. I do believe
>> that when MS pulls the plug, some of the larger Usenet carriers will
>> do so as well, as there is not a motivating factor to continue to
>> carry this group. Manyh ISPs that offer Usenet actually contract out
>> with these larger groups, so you may see the group disappear as
>> well. This is purely prognostication on my part, but I think it is a
>> "safe" speculation. I don't think I'm swinging at a wild pitch with
>> this one.
>>
>> For those of you that remain after this happens, the group will
>> become strictly a "peer" support group. I've met many great peers
>> here, so this is by no means a bad thing. However, one nice thing
>> about the newsgroup is that Microsoft employees did monitor the
>> group and when a thread stalled or when they had extra information
>> to offer, you'd often see a reply. Having that access and added
>> level of feedback and support is nice to have...and it will be going
>> away.
>>
>> Well, that's the bad news out of the way. Now for a bit of good
>> news.
>>
>> MS didn't abandon the idea of a support process that involved peers,
>> the community, and MS employees collaborating to offer solutions.
>> They only decided that Usenet was no longer the most efficient
>> avenue. To fill the void, they've set up web forums that offer
>> almost the same experience. Maybe you agree with their decision, and
>> maybe not, but nonetheless, it has been made. The web forums do
>> offer some key advantages though. They are more easily searchable. A
>> conversation can now have a response marked as an "answer" and makes
>> finding solutions much easier. By being centralized, spam is going
>> to be much less of a problem. And some of the colleauges you may
>> have gotten to know and respect here are moderators over there to
>> help keep the spammers out, the flame wars stamped, and the
>> conversation flowing.
>>
>> We are actually quite lucky in the SBS community because we already
>> have great participants, so I don't anticipate many problems of the
>> latter sort, but it is nice to know that some people I truly respect
>> are on the case if havoc were to break out.
>>
>> So, how can you participate? There are three ways:
>>
>> First, is the web interface. You can find that here:
>> http://social.technet.microsoft.com/Forums/en-US/smallbusinessserver/
>>
>> I find it very useable and friendly, and as MS continues to evolve
>> the platform, I suspect it will only get better. I use it roughly
>> 50% of the time I'm participating in the new forum. Obviously each
>> person is different, but I thought I'd share that tidbit...it is
>> useful enough that I find myself in it and it is worth giving a real
>> chance. Explore it. Explore the settings in your profile. It grows
>> on you.
>>
>> The second way, for those addicted to your NNTP reader, is through
>> the "NNTP bridge." MS has written a small translator that you can
>> run locally on your machine that will bridge the gap between the
>> NNTP reader you already use and the web interface. There isn't a
>> whole lot to say here. That's what it does, that's how it works, and
>> it does its job. Very utilitarian, but very effective. It isn't
>> Usenet, but it is NNTP, and it works very well.
>>
>> The third way is through the "community bridge." This still allows
>> you to use your NNTP/newsgroup reader, but targets the power user.
>> It offers some advanced features that the MS version does not. As
>> the name implies, it was not written by MS, but is supported by
>> volunteer programmers in the community. It offers some great extra
>> features, but comes at a cost in that it is updated often so
>> maintenance is higher, and as MS evolves the platform, you may find
>> a gap in compatibility until the community programmers catch up. It
>> is a trade-off I am willing to make, so this is the way I access the
>> forum the 50% of the time I'm not in the web, but I accept that
>> maintenance is not everyone's cup of tea. The official MS bridge may
>> be more to your liking.
>>
>> If you really love NNTP, I recommend either of the latter two
>> options. In fact, I'd encourage you to try them both before
>> deciding. I have intentionally left out *where* to find these
>> bridges though because I do believe everyone should at least
>> experience the web interface, know it is here, and understand that
>> it offers a few things that NNTP simply cannot because of the age of
>> its protocol; such as sticky posts and announcements.
>>
>> So please, visit the forum, explore, and read. One of the
>> announcements is about using the forum with NNTP readers. There you
>> can find all you need to know about downloading the bridges. I look
>> forward to hopefully seeing all of you over there.
>>
>> As far as the fate of this newsgroup, the rumor I'm hearing kicked
>> around is that MS will pull the plug on this newsgroup around July
>> 8th. If this proves to be true, that gives you a couple of weeks to
>> decide what forum interface you like best, start posting your
>> questions there, and let this newsgroup die a graceful and dignified
>> death. It has been a great way to meet some SBS family and I
>> sincerely hope that you will all follow me to the forums where we
>> can continue that trend and get involved with a new generation.
>>
>> Thanks for reading,

--
/kj


From: Steve Foster on 22 Jun 2010 08:38
kj [SBS MVP] wrote:

> Ace Fekay [MVP - Directory Services, MCT] wrote:
> > So does anyone know when it's closing? End of month?
> >
> > Ace
>
> No guarantees, but (shortly) after the end of the first week of July.
>

AFAIK, Microsoft haven't announced a closure date for this group yet (I
might have missed it, of course).

If it were closing in early July, I'd have expected to see an
announcement post from Microsoft (I've seen ones in other groups
earlier this week announcing July closures).

--
Steve Foster
For SSL Certificates, Domains, etc, visit.:
https://netshop.virtual-isp.net
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