MSN

MSNis aweb portaland related collection ofInternetservices andappsprovided byMicrosoft. The main webpage provides news, weather, sports, finance and other content curated from hundreds of different sources that Microsoft has partnered with.MSN is based in the United States and offers international versions of its portal for dozens of countries around the world;its dedicated app is currently available forAndroidandiOSsystems.
MSN originally launched on August 24, 1995, alongside the release ofWindows 95,as a subscription-baseddial-uponline servicecalled The Microsoft Network; this later became anInternet service providernamedMSN Dial-up. At the same time, the company launched a new web portal namedMicrosoft Internet Startand set it as the first defaulthome pageofInternet Explorer, itsweb browser. In 1998, Microsoft renamed and moved this web portal to thedomain namewww.msn.com, where it has remained since.Microsoft subsequently used the 'MSN' brand name fora wide variety of products and servicesover the years, notablyHotmail(laterOutlook.com),Messenger(which was once synonymous with 'MSN' inInternet slang), and itsweb search engine, which is nowBing, and several other rebranded and discontinued services. In 2014, Microsoft reworked and relaunched the MSN website and suite of apps offered.
From 1995 to 1998, the MSN.com domain was used by Microsoft primarily to promote MSN as an online service and Internet service provider. At the time, MSN.com also offered a custom start page and an Internet tutorial, but Microsoft's majorweb portalwas known as "Microsoft Internet Start", and was located athome.microsoft.com.
Internet Start served as the defaulthome pagefor Internet Explorer and offered basic information such as news, weather, sports, stocks, entertainment reports, links to other websites on the Internet, articles by Microsoft staff members, and software updates for Windows. Microsoft'soriginal news website(nowNBCNews.com) which launched in 1996, was also tied closely to the Internet Start portal.
In 1998, the largely underutilized 'MSN.com'domain namewas combined with Microsoft Internet Start and reinvented as both aweb portaland as the brand for a family of sites produced inside Microsoft's Interactive Media Group. The new website put MSN in direct competition with sites such asYahoo!,Excite, andGo Network. Because the new format opened up MSN's content to the world for free, the Internet service provider and subscription service were renamed to MSN Internet Access at that time. (That service eventually became known as MSN Dial-up.)
The relaunched MSN.com contained a whole family of sites, including original content, channels that were carried over from 'web shows' that were part of Microsoft'sMSN 2.0experiment withits Internet service providerin 1996–97, and new features that were rapidly added. MSN.com became the successor to the default Internet Explorer start page, as all of the previous 'Microsoft Internet Start' website was merged with MSN.com.
Some of the original websites that Microsoft launched during that era remain active in some form today. Microsoft Investor, abusiness newsandinvestmentsservice that was once produced in conjunction withCNBC, is now MSN Money;CarPoint, anautomobilecomparison and shopping service, is now MSN Autos; and the Internet Gaming Zone, a website offering onlinecasual games, is nowMSN Games. Other websites since divested by Microsoft include the travel websiteExpedia, the online magazineSlate, and the local event and city search websiteSidewalk.com.
In the late 1990s, Microsoft collaborated with many other service providers, as well as other Microsoft departments, to expand the range of MSN's services. Some examples includeMSN adCenter,MSN Shopping(affiliated witheBay,PriceGrabberandShopping.com), and theEncartaencyclopedia with various levels of access to information.
Since then, MSN.com has remained a popular destination, launching many new services and content sites. MSN'sHotmailandMessengerservices were promoted from the MSN.com portal, which provided a central place for all of MSN's content.MSN Search(now Bing), a dedicatedsearch engine, launched in 1999. The single sign-in service for Microsoft's online services,Microsoft Passport(nowMicrosoft account), also launched across all MSN services in 1999. The MSN.com portal and related group of services under the 'MSN' umbrella remained largely the same in the early 2000s.
The sports section of the MSN portal wasESPN.comfrom 2001 to 2004, andFoxSports.comfrom 2004 to 2014.MSN had an exclusive partnership withMSNBC.comfor news content from 1996 until 2012, when Microsoft sold its remaining stake in msnbc.com toNBCUniversaland the website was renamedNBCNews.com. Since then, MSN has launched 'MSN News', an in-house news operation.
As of May 2005, MSN.com was the second most visited portal website in the United States with a share of 23.2 percent, behindYahoo!which held a majority.
MSN released a preview of an updated home page and logo on November 3, 2009.It was originally expected to be widely available to over 100 million U.S. customers by early 2010.MSN rolled out the newer logo, together with a redesign of the overall website, on December 25, 2009.
In 2012, MSN announced on its blog that it would be unveiling a new version of the MSN.comhome pageon October 26, exclusively forWindows 8, saying that the new version would be "clean, simple, and built for touch".Microsoft said it would be more app-like due to the speed ofInternet Explorer 10. More new features included 'Flip Ahead', which allowed users to swipe from one article to the next. MSN for Windows 8 also had new deals with theAPandReuters.
Many ofMSN's serviceswere reorganized in 2005 and 2006 under a new brand name that Microsoft championed at the time, Windows Live. This move was part of Microsoft's strategy to improve its online offerings using theWindowsbrand name. The company also overhauled its onlinesoftwareand services due to increasing competition from rivals such as Yahoo! andGoogle. The new name was introduced one service at a time. The group of Windows Live services usedWeb 2.0technology to offer features and functionality through a web browser that were traditionally only available through dedicated software programs.
Some of the MSN services affected by the rebranding includedMSN Hotmail, which becameWindows Live Hotmail(nowOutlook.com);MSN Messenger, which becameWindows Live Messenger(now integrated intoSkype);MSN Search, which becameLive Search(now known as Bing);MSN Virtual Earth, which becameLive Search Maps(nowBing Maps);MSN Spaces, which becameWindows Live Spaces;MSN Alerts, which becameWindows Live Alerts; andMSN Groups, which becameWindows Live Groups. Some other services, such asMSN Direct, remained a part of the MSN family without transitioning to Windows Live.
Following the launch of Windows Live, the MSN brand took on a different focus. MSN became primarily an online content provider of news, entertainment, and common interest topics through its web portal, MSN.com, while Windows Live provided most of Microsoft's online software and services. In 2012, Microsoft began to phase out the Windows Live brand, referring to each service separately by its individual brand name without any 'Windows' prefix or association.
Microsoft launched a completely rewritten and redesigned MSN website, making use of the company'smodern design language, on September 30, 2014.The new MSN portal features a new version of the logo that follows a style similar to other current Microsoft products. The website no longer offers original content, instead of employing editors to repurpose existing content from partners at popular and trusted organizations. Much of the existing content on MSN was eliminated as the website was simplified into a newhome pageand categories, some of which havecorresponding apps:
The top of the home page provides access to Microsoft servicesBing,Outlook.com,Skype,Office Online,OneNote,OneDrive,Bing Maps, andGroove Music, as well as popularsocial mediaservicesFacebookandTwitter.Signing into MSN with aMicrosoft accountallows for personalized content to appear and to be synchronized across devices on the website and in thecorresponding apps. The redesign of the website led to the closure of MSN's longtime personalized home page service 'My MSN', which was made up of customizedRSS feeds, as the new website no longer supports user-specified RSS content. However, it added some customizability, allowing each category on the home page to be reordered or hidden.
With the 2014 relaunch, MSN now supportsresponsive designand eliminates the need for a separatemobile website. The redesign of MSN proved positive and helped increase traffic with an additional 10 million daily visitors after two months.
In 2022, Microsoft began phasing out MSN for Microsoft Start, with news pages being moved to Start, and ads for the website appearing on the homepage. This was reversed in November 2024, with the Microsoft Start page redirecting back to MSN.
Microsoft brought back the MSN app in November 2024.
The MSNweb-based appsprovides users information from sources that publish to MSN.
Microsoft launched these apps along with the 2014 redesign of the MSN web portal, rebranding many of theBingapps that originally shipped withWindowsandWindows Phone. News, Weather, Sports, Money, and Travel first shipped withWindows 8, while Health & Fitness and Food & Drink first appeared inWindows 8.1.In December 2014, the apps became available across all the other majormobile deviceplatforms as well:iOS,Android, andFire OS.
The apps allow users a reasonable amount of freedom to decide which sources provide information. Each app has its own color code that is used on the live tile and internally. Originally, each app brought a unified experience with the MSN website and synchronized preferences across devices.
There are currently four apps in the suite: Start (previously News), Weather, Sports, and Money.In July 2015, Microsoft announced the discontinuation of the Food & Drink, Health & Fitness, and Travel apps on all platforms, and that they will not be bundled withWindows 10; those three apps are no longer offered.
AfterMicrosoft's acquisition ofNokia's mobile phone division, Microsoft also started bundling MSN services with itsNokia-branded feature phones, though the only supported model was theNokia 215.In addition to these apps, Microsoft developed aseparate set of mobile appsspecifically forMSN China.
Microsoft Start(previously namedMicrosoft News) was anews aggregatorand service that featured news headlines and articles chosen by editors. The app includes sections for top stories, U.S., world, money, technology, entertainment, opinion, sports, and crime, along with other miscellaneous stories. It allows users to set their own personalized favorite topics and sources, receive notifications of breaking news through alerts, filter preferred news sources, and alter font sizes to make articles easier to read.
Originally, Start included an RSS feed, but that capability was removed; Microsoft currently only allows users to subscribe to specified news sources, thereby curating news.Start uses the chaseable live tile feature introduced in theWindows 10 Anniversary Update. If a user clicks on the Microsoft News Start menu tile when a particular story is shown, the user will see a link to that story at the top of the app when it launches.
MSN Weather(originally namedBing Weather) shows weather from a user's current location or any other location worldwide, and it allows users to define their favorite places, which will synchronize back to the Microsoft Start and across devices. Users can pin Weather tiles to theStart menuto see local weather conditions from multiple locations at a glance. It also offers satellite maps and has information regardingski resorts.The app receives its weather conditions andforecastsfrom a variety of sources internationally.Weather uses weather conditions as the background, making it the only app that does not have a light/dark switch in Windows 10. Weather is not available for iOS; however, it comes preinstalled on theNokia 215phone fromMicrosoft Mobilethat runsSeries 30+; it is currently the onlyfeature phoneto have the app built-in.
MSN Money(originallyMoneyCentral, thenMSN Moneycentral, before being rebranded asMSN Moneyin the mid-2000s - prior to being relaunched as a spin-off ofBing Finance) allows users to set up lists of publicly listed companies to watch, follow certaincorporationsand receive stock updates, get the latest headlines regarding international markets, view real-time trading figures with a 30-minute delay, track their ownpersonal finances, calculatemortgages, get information onbondsand other financial assets, andconvert currency.
MSN Esports(often referred to asMSN Esports Hub) is a Bing intelligenceAIcurated webpage for the growingesportsindustry. Users can watch integrated streams fromYouTubeorTwitch.Microsoft's advanced AI called "Watch For", the algorithm originally made for Microsoft'sMixeris an artificial intelligence that uses computer vision algorithms on livestreams so that it can alert the viewer of significant moments. This algorithm is implemented in the MSN Esports Hub.Users can also check the calendar for dates of upcoming e-sport events and tournaments or the news for updates on games and their tournament. After the creation of the MSN Esports Hub,Microsoftacquired Smash.gg; an e-sport tournament platform.
MSN Food & Drink(originally namedBing Food & Drink) is a discontinuedrecipeapp that offers news related to foods and drinks, a personalshopping listthat synchronizes across devices and the web, and awineencyclopedia that contains information on over 1.5millionbottles of wine, over 3.3milliontasting notes, and hundreds ofcocktailrecipes.Users can control the app hands-free, add their own recipes from physicalcookbooksor personal recipes by snapping a photo, add notes to recipes, and sort the recipes into collections.The app also collects information from famouschefsand lists them according to their style of cuisine.
MSN Health & Fitness(originally namedBing Health & Fitness) allowed users to track their intake ofcalories, look up nutritional information for hundreds of thousands of different foods, use a built-inGPStracker, view step-by-stepworkoutsandexerciseswith images and videos, checksymptomsfor various health conditions, and synchronize their health data to third-party devices such asactivity trackers.MSN Health & Fitness formerly connected data with theMicrosoft HealthVault, but it started using aMicrosoft accountwith MSN's owncloud serviceto synchronize data when it was rebranded from Bing to MSN.The app is not related in any way to Microsoft'sXbox Fitnessor Microsoft Health (the companion app for theMicrosoft Band), despite being similar in function.
MSN Sports(originally namedBing Sports) displayed varioussportsscores and standings from hundreds of leagues around the world, as well as aggregated sports-related articles and news headlines.Sports also allowed the user to view slideshows and photo galleries, look up information about individual players andfantasy leagues, and set and track their favorite teams by selecting various topics from the hamburger menu.It also powered various predictive features within Microsoft'sCortanavirtual assistant.
It was discontinued on July 20, 2021, in favor of the web portal.
MSN Travel(originally namedBing Travel) was atravel search enginethat allows users to bookhotelsandflights, aggregates travel-related headlines, and offers detailed information about thousands of travel destinations.Data in the app is powered by various travel websites, includingExpedia, formerly owned by Microsoft.Other features include finding information on localrestaurants, viewing pictures (includingpanoramas) and historical data about destinations, and reading reviews by previous travelers.If the user is signed in,Cortanacan track flights and get hotel information through the app.MSN Travel was the only app in the suite that was exclusive to Windows. The app was discontinued in September 2015 but can still be accessed via the web.
Previously, Microsoft had acquiredFarecastin 2008, a website in thecomputer reservations systemindustry that offered predictions regarding the best time to purchase airline tickets.Farecast was founded in 2003 and collected over 175 billion airfare observations by 2007.Farecast's team ofdata minersused these airfare observations to build algorithms to predict future airfare price movements.Microsoft integrated it as part of its Live Search group of tools in May 2008 asLive Search Farecast; Microsoft rebranded it asBing Travelon June 3, 2009, as part of its efforts to create a new search identity.In 2009, there were allegations that Bing Travel had copied its layouts fromKayak.com; Microsoft denied the allegations.By January 2013, Bing Travel results were powered by Kayak.com. As of January 2014, the fare prediction feature had been removed. As of May 2015, Microsoft rebranded the service toMSN Travel.In August 2015, MSN Travel flight search pages changed from being powered by Kayak.com to its competitorSkyscanner.
Microsoft first offered content from its MSN web portal onmobile devicesin the early 2000s, through a service calledPocket MSN(in line with itsPocket PCproducts of the era) and later renamedMSN Mobile. The original MSN Mobile software was preloaded on manycell phonesandPDAs, and usually provided access to legacy MSN services like blogs (MSN Spaces), email (Hotmail), instant messaging (MSN Messenger), and web search (now calledBing). Somewireless carrierscharged a premium to access it.As many former MSN properties were spun off toBing,Windows Live, and other successors in the late 2000s, theMicrosoft Mobile Servicesdivision took over the development of mobile apps related to those services.
In the meantime, Microsoft's MSN apps took on a more content-related focus,  as did the web portal itself. Previous versions of MSN apps that were bundled withWindows Mobileand early versions ofWindows Phone,as well as MSN apps forAndroidandiOSdevices in the early 2010s, were primarily repositories for news articles found on MSN.com.Other earlier MSN mobile apps included versions of MSN Weather and MSN Money forWindows Mobile 6.5,MSN Money Stocks, and amen's magazinecalled 'MSN OnIt' forWindows Phone 7.
Microsoft's world headquarters is in the United States, so the main MSN website is based there. However, MSN has offered various international versions of its portal since its inception in 1995 for dozens of countries around the world.A list of international MSN affiliates is available at MSN Worldwide.
Following the redesign and relaunch of the MSN web portal in 2014, most international MSN websites share the same layout as the U.S. version and are largely indistinguishable from it, aside from their content. There were two exceptions:ninemsn, a longtime partnership between Microsoft and theNine Networkin Australia that launched in 1997 (Microsoft sold its stake in the venture in 2013 and ended its co-branding with Nine in 2016);andMSN China, an entirely customized version of MSN for China (Microsoft discontinued the portal in 2016, replacing it with a page that links to a number of other Chinese websites).