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Thread: Microsoft's Knowledgebase Changes *Today*

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    Titanium Member Tinker's Avatar
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    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...........
    Last edited by Tinker; November 7th, 2002 at 06:23 AM.

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