MSN9 Hits The Web

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Thanks to Tech-Critic.com tonight an early build of MSN Explorer 9.0 leaked onto the internet. The build compiled on the 17th of June with the build number 9.00.0006.1700 and is still very similar to MSN Explorer 8 and 8.5.

Promised features revealed to Neowin from sources close to MSN are an anti pop-up blocker, tight intergration with Windows Explorer, Alerts intergrated into Dashboard and a Traffic Report summary intergrated into the dashboard. Neowin has obtained a copy of MSN9 and we installed it for review purposes. From the start setting up MSN9 the installer is focussed on "MSN Family". MSN Family and MSN Personal are the two old names for the new tiers of MSN 9. The new tiers will be called MSN Plus and MSN Premium. The idea behind the changes is so that the premium service will include more software for the MSN 9 subscription.

Included in this build is the pop-up blocker, alerts intergrated into the dashboard but the traffic report summary and Windows Explorer intergration is lacking at the moment. Apart from the addition of better parental controls, a popup blocker and dashboard tweaks there isn't a huge difference from MSN8 itself or MSN8.5. For the future of MSN9, there is a new feature that currently doesn't respond to user interaction. It seems users will be able to customize MSN Explorer better than ever, with the ability to remove any or all of the big top level buttons. It seems Microsoft is being more flexible with their current versions of MSN8, with 8.5 allowing users to specify their own homepage. Mail support has been improved with the addition of backing up and exporting/importing mail to and from MSN9 and flags marking when a user has recieved mail from someone outside of their address book.

Screenshots removed, requested by Microsoft

Mr magoo asks, move over the X-box?

#1 d1301 on 04 Jul 2003 - 02:59

Cool.

#2 empty on 04 Jul 2003 - 02:59

Sexy! Time to find it :shifty:

(2 replies) #3 gameguy on 04 Jul 2003 - 03:00

the link "thumbnail of blocked pop-up" doesn't work cream

anyway, looks cool

#3.1 d1301 on 04 Jul 2003 - 03:02

yea, this one... http://ttp://www.neowin.net/staff/creamhackered/articles/msn9/popupblocker3.png

titled Thumbnail Of Blocked Pop-up

Edit: seems fixed now

#3.2 creamhackered on 04 Jul 2003 - 03:03

Fixed, my bad

(1 reply) #4 Mr. Black on 04 Jul 2003 - 03:08

Geez...it seems like 8.0 just came out, and here's 9 already...

#4.1 d1301 on 04 Jul 2003 - 03:10

Still in very early stages of MSN 9, but, i like what i see.

#5 empty on 04 Jul 2003 - 03:10

8s been out since september/october, 8.5 was just finished and now 9.0.

(1 reply) #6 y_notm on 04 Jul 2003 - 03:25

: anyone else think msn8s ui is much nicer than this one? maybe i just like the corona style... i dunno

one of these days im gonna have to get an msn8/9 subscription tho

#6.1 d1301 on 04 Jul 2003 - 03:27

QUOTE (#6.0)

one of these days im gonna have to get an msn8/9 subscription tho

(1 reply) #7 DrOmango on 04 Jul 2003 - 03:33

its nice
but the gui is too huge

im not gonna buy bigger screen for this gui!

#7.1 Trade Wind on 04 Jul 2003 - 03:54

fwiw...you can dynamically shrink the size of the MSN Navigation Bar with all the main icons on it. I personally like it slightly smaller than default so I can get more viewing space while not having to squint to see how many contacts are online, or how many emails I have unread. MSN 9 adds the ability to add/remove/reorder those icons too...tho it doesn't work yet in the pre-beta version.

#8 b3njo on 04 Jul 2003 - 03:38

wow..i like this new version compared to msn8..unfortunately i dont live in States to use this program...

#9 NIMASoft on 04 Jul 2003 - 03:54

thats really nice, downloading it right now heheh

(2 replies) #10 empty on 04 Jul 2003 - 04:07

eh, nothing special, pop up blocker is useless if you already have one and the extra dashboard features arent impressive but i do like the new colour

#10.1 Trade Wind on 04 Jul 2003 - 06:30

hey empty,

I was most looking forward to the pop-up blocker (in addition to shared calendars, 3° integration, additional Messenger features etc that are still yet to come)...but you have a pop-up blocker that works with MSN 8/8.5 that is free? I could pass it on to some of my family and friends that still use MSN 8 and won't be in the beta.

#10.2 empty on 04 Jul 2003 - 16:35

Zone Alarm Pro has an awesome one if you have it, if not install one of the free beta clients for it

(2 replies) #11 Goalie_CA on 04 Jul 2003 - 04:23

Anyone else think this is ugly, bulky, and all that crap takes up half the screen. IMHO they're getting rid of IE6 because they want everyone to switch to msn. By strategic position of buttons and links to microsoft services, they have more control over what you do.

#11.1 gameguy on 04 Jul 2003 - 20:44

they're not getting rid of ie. they're getting rid of the stand-alone ie, so you can't download it anymore. from now on it's completely part of windows, and you'll get updates for it just like windows updates, and they might not even be called ie updates anymore. all future versions of windows will have ie, but you can't download ie by itself.

#11.2 intensityx on 04 Jul 2003 - 23:44

The will still have downloads available of I.E., they are just not going to produce new versions of I.E. for old versions of windows (i.e. 95,98,ME).

#12 philmcneal on 04 Jul 2003 - 04:40

number 11 that is why microsoft is evil

#13 DrOmango on 04 Jul 2003 - 05:28

i like ie tho i dont want it to die

(1 reply) #14 evilecho on 04 Jul 2003 - 07:16

*edited*

Don't think so...

Last edited by 52 on 04 Jul 2003 - 09:24

#14.1 Quick Reply on 04 Jul 2003 - 09:21

please remove the link

#15 hobsgrg on 04 Jul 2003 - 09:56

awesome i didn't expect a release of this to be leaked so soon, downloading it now

#16 Scorbing on 04 Jul 2003 - 13:10

It still sucks. This is nothing but a bloated memory hog. A bad copy of Internet Explorer for kids.

#17 Spectre on 04 Jul 2003 - 13:23

you need a MSN subscription to use it you know ... unfortunately

#18 Klownicle on 04 Jul 2003 - 14:25

I want 10... LOL j/k Will be at 20 in no time at all.

#19 Serpentuk on 04 Jul 2003 - 17:55

its very good using it now.....mmm cant wait for 10

(1 reply) #20 hao2lian on 05 Jul 2003 - 00:26

It's strange. With MSN 8 and 8.5, there was a lot of hatred towards it but now it seems to have died off into a trickle. If MSN ever supported exterior mail client compatibility, web standards, ability to use it without subscription, and tab support, I'd put it on my list of browsers to try. I guess Microsoft is taking a leaf from other browsers and adding Popup Controls. Well, at least it's learning.

#20.1 Avenger on 05 Jul 2003 - 02:07

A Pop Up Blocker will be in IE7 (which'll be only available in Longhorn) in 2005. The blocker will be based up the blocker in MSN 9 of course.

#21 jameseuk on 05 Jul 2003 - 23:16

http://www.neowin.net/staff/creamhackered/articles/msn9/popupblocker2.png <Loving that screenshot, why would anyone want a MSN 8 CD when you already have version 9?

#22 Jish on 06 Jul 2003 - 02:10

My list of wanted features...

1) Built-in popup blocker (ADDED)
2) Tabbed browsing (NA)

One down, one to go and Mozilla gets uninstalled.

(2 replies) #23 deinabog on 06 Jul 2003 - 11:47

Does anyone know when it's due for release?

#23.1 Trade Wind on 06 Jul 2003 - 18:28

beta release this month...final release in October.

#23.2 hockeymac88 on 02 Aug 2003 - 04:46

Do you really know when the Beta release will be? It's now August and still no new word on MSN9! Let me know if you've heard anything new about the release dates.

#24 alanzeino2002 on 08 Jul 2003 - 02:25

But u need an account and why would u pay 4 dis

#25 darkforce on 24 Jul 2003 - 09:52

Nice screenshot but it lacks one feature which is included in MSN 8.5. I noticed that it does not have the Money Plus Icon. Additionally, the icon for Parental Control is somewhat like pasted because it does not have the shadow below it like the other icons in the Navigation bar. Is this the actual menu for MSN 9? Would you also be kind enough to at least provide us with the download site for this beta release as we also would like to have a grasp of this new version of MSN?

#26 stabish on 01 Sep 2004 - 20:51

[SIZE=7][COLOR=blue][QUOTE]tabish_raza@hotmail.com[U][I][B]

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MSN9 Hits The Web

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