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'Microsoft Start' is the new name for MSN and Microsoft News

by Mark Tyson on 8 September 2021, 10:11

Tags: Microsoft (NASDAQ:MSFT), Windows 10

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Microsoft Start, a news service rolling together the firm's MSN and Microsoft News services, went live on Tuesday. Characterised by the corporation as delivering "the content you care about, simplified and reinvented," Microsoft Start will be made available via multiple digital means including feeds straight into the Windows UI. Hopefully having multiple 'Start' things in the Windows UI (Start Menu, Start Button, and Microsoft Start) won't confuse anyone.

In its blog post, Microsoft tries to pitch its new Microsoft Start news service as being a catch-all news destination, meaning you won't have to waste time checking out various news sites, even more nice ones. Thus, the Microsoft Start news feed is personalised, and sourced from 'premium publishers', mixing breaking news with nuggets of info tailored for your interests. It uses the news personalisation engines of its previous news sites and adds the latest advancements in AI and machine learning, as well as human moderation, to create a news mix for you. Overall, Microsoft's buzz word marketers want you to "Start with the information you need. Stay for the content you love."

In order to cover as many digital news consumption vectors as possible, Microsoft Start is available now via the following routes:

  • As a standalone website (available on Microsoft Edge and Chrome) – MicrosoftStart.com
  • As a mobile app on both Android and iOS
  • From the News and Interests experience on the Windows 10 taskbar
  • From the Widgets experience in Windows 11
  • From the Microsoft Edge new tab page

This wouldn't be a proper Microsoft news story without some non sequitur, or bug, to talk about. Firstly, I must comment that Microsoft isn't doing away with the 25-year-old+ MSN news. It is keeping MSN available for some reason – to serve people of habit, and/or as a backup position in case Microsoft Start isn't well received, perhaps. Secondly, it has been noticed that the new Microsoft Start app for Android has trashed the Surface Duo split screen UI niceties that users of this device waited so long to be implemented. Windows's Central editor Daniel Rubino quipped that "even Microsoft has to beg Microsoft for Duo support".

HEXUS readers, please share your verdict on Microsoft Start as a web news service, and as a feed which connects so closely to Windows.



HEXUS Forums :: 21 Comments

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There is nothing of interest for me at MSN, and i do hate when i log out of my live mail i am forwarded to MSN.
I do not like things forced upon me, so please quit this BS Microsoft.
I can't think of another company that's failed to read the room as badly as Microsoft are, not only are they telling people there's never been a better time to buy a new PC during a global pandemic and semiconductor shortage, but they're now pushing ‘news’ feeds onto people.
Yay, more unnecessary junk being added to the operating system…. doesn't seem I can have the website on firefox either lol

Supposedly people have been requesting ‘news’ etc to be added to the desktop, yet I can't say I know anyone that actually wants it and I'd expect most businesses will disable it too.
This junk is nothing more than MS trying to ‘inflate’ usage numbers of bing and edge (forced opening etc) and increase profits from that side of their business.

Instead of focusing on stuff like ‘news’, which lets be honest we can get easily enough on a browser, how about MS offer up good alternatives to iPhoto, iVideo etc….
LSG501
Supposedly people have been requesting ‘news’ etc to be added to the desktop, yet I can't say I know anyone that actually wants it and I'd expect most businesses will disable it too.

Well now you know one: I want it :)

I actually quite liked the old tiles which showed me stock prices, weather, news headlines, traffic etc.

The recent taskbar based app was kind of an improvement in some areas, but not others. But if done well, this Start app might be just what I'm looking for.
I don't mind the idea of the feed, but it's ****. Every time I've told it I don't want to see news from x publication, I still get it. Every time I've told it I don't want sports news, I still get sports news. Every time I've told it I don't want to hear about celebrities, I still get what whats-her-face is wearing. What's the point of saying I don't want this **** if you still throw it at me.
And the cherry on top was yesterday, an amazon advert with a picture of a woman holding up sex toys. Decided to see what people had been searching to pull up such a result by following the advert - it opens amazon with the search terms vacuum cleaner henry.

Maybe if I start clicking all the crap I don't want, it'll get rid of it all and I'll get stuff I actually want :wallbash: