Neowin.net

This little program will display the latest news on your system tray, and it will check news updates every 20 minutes on the Neowin site, incase it finds will it will pop-up a windows 2000/xp style balloon notifying you. You canselect which type of news you want by right clicking on the tray icon and by clicking on the desired type and the pressing refresh to save the change to the config file and so it can update it.

If you double click on the icon it will go to the latest headline listed. If you click on a headline in the menu it will open the selected headline you wanted.

Note: Neowin NewsTray v1.0 BETA is for Windows ME/2000/XP

Download: Neowin NewsTray v1.0 BETA
News source: Neowin NewsTray v1.0 Forum Thread

This is BETA software!, please use caution when installing it on your system

Below is a quote taken from Microsoft Settlement Program Milestones August 2002, nowhere in the document is suggested that Windows Messenger will be removed or "dis-associated" from Windows XP.

Microsoft's new feature is called "Set Program Access and Defaults." Consumers may launch this feature from the Start menu and from the existing Add or Remove Programs utility in Windows XP and Windows 2000 Pro. It will allow OEMs and consumers to enable or remove access to the Windows components designated as "Microsoft Middleware Products" under the consent decree (Internet Explorer, Windows Media Player, Windows Messenger, Outlook Express and the Microsoft Java VM) and to competing third-party programs that choose to take advantage of this feature. It will also enable OEMs and consumers to set the default programs they want to launch in certain instances where the Windows components would otherwise launch. For example, when a consumer clicks to open certain media files or a Web site address from within an email message, the respective default media player or default browser program will launch.

Source: Microsoft Settlement Program Milestones August 2002

Here David Cole defends the Windows Messenger service in Windows XP and compares it to another IM service that actually requires registration while Passport does not. Civil Action No. 98-1233 (CKK)

47. Windows XP does not require the user to have or use a Passport. Nor is a Passport required to access the Internet through a Windows XP-based Internet connec­tion. Windows XP does offer users the choice to sign up for a Passport to take advantage of several optional services offered by Windows XP that require user authentication. Those services include the Windows Messenger instant messaging service and some aspects of Windows XP online product support. Similarly, America Online’s instant messaging service, AOL Instant Messenger or “AIM,” requires users to register for America Online’s Screen Name Service.

54. Mr. Borthwick testified that “if the user initially declines to sign up for Passport, Microsoft will repeatedly prompt the user with the ‘Add your .NET Passport to Windows’ message in the lower right corner of the desktop.” (Borthwick Direct ¶ 83.) That testimony is an overstatement. If the user ignores the balloon the first time it appears, the balloon will soon disappear (about 20 seconds) from the desktop. The user then will see the balloon again on the next four connections to the Internet. That is it. After a user sees the Passport wizard the first time, either by clicking on the balloon or by launching Windows Messenger, the balloon tip will never appear again. This is true even if the user cancels out of the Passport wizard and chooses not to create a Passport.

59. Lastly, users do not have to register for a Passport to use Windows XP, and connections to the Internet using Windows XP likewise do not require a Passport. Windows XP simply offers users the choice to sign up for a Passport to take advantage of certain services offered by Windows XP, such as the Windows Messenger instant messaging service, that require user authentication.

Source: STATE OF NEW YORK ex. rel. Attorney General ELIOT SPITZER, et al., v. MICROSOFT CORPORATION

and here we have the Civil Action No. 98-1232 (CKK) FINAL JUDGMENT (November 12, 2002). I couldn't find anything in this recent document that says Windows Messenger should be dis-continued.