Microsoft's Knowledgebase Changes *Today*

Heads Up: Microsoft's Knowledgebase Changes *Today*


Source: Langa List Newsletter...........


Microsoft's Knowledgebase is a tool you love to hate: On the one hand,
Microsoft has done an amazing job in opening up a huge amount of free
information about its products--- more so than any other company I know
of. That's truly commendable.

But the flip side is that the Knowledgebase can be a beast to navigate:
You very rapidly can go from no hits at all on a topic to a uselessly
huge number of hits. That's one of the reasons why I've long advocated
using a better external search engine (like Google) to plumb the depths
of the Knowledgebase: Let Microsoft provide the content, but let Google
provide the search power:
http://www.langa.com/newsletters/2001/2001-03-15.htm#3

But if you use the Knowledgebase--- and I hope you do--- you need to
know that it's changing as of TODAY, Nov 7th, as this note from reader
Dan Bailey states:

Fred, I love your newsletter - the Plus edition is a bargain
at (almost) any price!

I just ran into this note about an upcoming change in the
Microsoft Knowledge Base that will affect a lot of people who
have links to specific articles there. They will be getting
rid of the alpha prefix in the reference number ("Q123456"
will become "123456") and making the numbers agree across
languages. The old references will work for two years, but no
new kb articles will be added under the old numbering
system.(!)

"As of November 7, 2002, prefix letters will be phased out of
all Knowledge Base (KB) articles worldwide making it easier
for you to request an article in a language other than your
browser settings. Today, KB articles are published in 21
languages, each with an unrelated number scheme and prefix
letter. By eliminating the prefix and changing the numbers of
some articles, we will make sure that all translations of any
article will have exactly the same content number. Customers
worldwide can view localized versions of articles by passing
an internet standard for language locale and the content
number.... Existing URLs to KB articles will continue to
function for two years, but new articles will no longer be
published to the old naming conventions. [On] November 7,
2002 U.S. English KB articles will lose the Q prefix but
retain the same numbers. November 18, 2002 through December
31, 2002 all other languages will lose their prefix letters
and in many cases be renumbered to line up with the US source
numbers. In January 2005 the old content numbers will no
longer function...."

Full info: http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=fh;[ln];kbnumb

Source: Langa List Newsletter...........