Microsoft Pulls Plug on MSN for Mac

By Ed Oswald | Published March 14, 2005, 12:51 PM

Microsoft announced Friday that it is no longer supporting the Mac OS X version of MSN after May 31. The company said it will send a notice to all of its Mac-based subscribers through the next several weeks. While MSN is ending its run on the Mac, Microsoft said it still intends to support Apple's flaghsip OS and points to updates to MSN Messenger and Office:mac that are due later this year.

"Instead of accessing MSN services using the MSN for Mac OS X Internet software, customers will access MSN services and features with their preferred browser and by setting up a My MSN page as a portal to their favorite online destinations," Microsoft said in a statement.

Comments

Apple computers have held less than 3% of the desktop market for some time. It's no surprise Microsoft has decided to take Apple off life support !

Eventually, Apple will be a music company. Macs shall go the way of the Amiga.

The DataRat

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Just a music company? That's a rather interesting thought, but their usage in professional video editing is still serious. On top of that the Mac OSX is amazing compared to XP.

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Come on, you like what you are use too. I probably wouldn't like a mac interface because I am not used to it.

As for professional video editing, wouldn't that be about 3% of the computer market? No, probably .03% or .01%

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Let's be real here.

There are no tasks I am aware of, that a PC cannot do equally as well, but there are many things A PC can do that a MAC simply cannot. (please don't spout Virtual PC stuff in responses...)

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Windows is horribly insecure, much as they've tried to fix that in recent years. Linux can be secure, but it's often harder to use, especially for newbies (at the current time). Meanwhile, OS X is both secure and easy to use.

What can a PC do that a Mac can't? I don't think it's a matter of PCs vs. Macs, which implies hardware differences. It's more along the lines of software differences, which isn't really either platform's fault. But even at that I don't see anything show-stopping.

(Except I guess Windows can get infected with viruses better, but let's not go there. And it's not just because OS X has a lower market share--that's not always how it works [take Apache vs. IIS for an example]. Windows runs as an *administrator* by default, which is just asking for it. And unfortunately, some programs don't work any other way--bad, bad, bad.)

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Depens what you consider "equally as well." Everything is about personal preference. Spyware, viruses aside, IE is a good browser and Safari isn't as fast in my usage. But iTunes and Apple Mail are better than Windows Media Player and Outlook in my opinion.

It's also nice to have an IM client not filled with ads, as all of them are on Windows. And iPhoto makes managing picutres a snap compared to Windows offerings (although the recent Picasa update isn't bad).

So, in the end, both platforms can do essentially the same tasks. But when I'm working on a Mac I tend to get more accomplished with less hassle than when I'm working on my Windows machine. But again, everyone's mileage will vary.

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As a developer, the Mac platform is essentially very poor.

I think, personally, if all you do is email, browse, and office tasks, and graphics/multimedia Macs are great, but if you do anything else then you will very soon be limited in what you can achieve with a mac.

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As a mother, I think the war on terror is very good idea. Those evil terrists should be wiped off the face of the planet for threatening my children.

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"As a mother, I think the war on terror is very good idea. Those evil terrists should be wiped off the face of the planet for threatening my children."

Quite so !

We know for a fact that most terrorists use Mac's.

When Microsoft pulls the plug on Apple it's a defeat for the worldwide terrorist infrastructure !

The DataRat

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Who wouldn't want to use a mac to edit video?

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Isn't a surprise, you're right on that. The surprise would be that any Mac user could be a M$N subscriber. There are plenty of better services to subscribe for Mac users.
As for Apple becoming a music company, well, that's not true. Just look around. The best movies are edited with final cut pro, most of the soundtracks are produced with Pro Tools, the best presentations you can see are made with keynote. Most of the photos you look passed trough a Mac photoshop. Well, I could continue, the pros use Macs because you can do more with less effort. That's the Apple point of view and I totally agree.
But your windows connection could not established because the wrong version of the sarasasa.dll and the DCOM could no be started because you didn't registered the last installed MDAC and the dark side of your registry became corrupt blah blah blah blah blah blah blah blah. I love Macs!!

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