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MSN Screen Saverupdated for Vista and IE 7 ! May 07 May 2007 updateUnfortunately, we have not found the time on the development team to really dig into the issues and fully resolve them. The good news is that we're working with a few groups within Microsoft, and hope to ultimately transition the MSN Screensaver over to one of them. Today, the Screensaver is "owned" by a team based in London, and our primary responsibilities are to build web solutions for the 41 markets around the world with an MSN presence. The MSN Screen Saver was a "project" we took on a few years ago when we had some capacity. The response has been positive, so we'd like to transition it to a group that can keep this alive and make sure to keep it updated as new versions of IE and Windows are released.
We are NOT taking new beta participants right now. We will examine the staus of the program again in early June and will post an updated blog entry. If you would like an UNSUPPORTED version of the Screen Saver, you can download it from a non-Microsoft server as indicated below. Please note that this is a unfinished version and does have known issues, especially in certain combinations of Vista. However, early indications are that it does work for the majority of users, including Windows XP, Vista, and with Internet Explorer 6 and 7. You can download the version at your own risk at http://hyperurl.com/BETA/MSN-ScreenSaver-BETA-2007-Mar-03.exe.
March 08 MARCH 2007 UpdateHere is a long overdue update on what's going on! Thanks for your patience.
The released version of the MSN Screen Saver is not compatible with IE7 or with Vista. We have a new version of the screen saver and it’s in the final stages of testing and then will go through a final review before releasing it publicly. Although I can’t promise a specific date, it looks promising for a public release in late March or early April. I will make sure we let everyone know the moment it’s available for download.
If you are dying to get the new version of the MSN Screen Saver before we release it publicly, we have a limited number of beta test positions available. Please email us at msnssfb@microsoft.com stating your desire to beta test the new version. Please do realize that we know there are some issues with the beta version (specifically, a few reports of it not installing properly under certain configurations of Vista).
Here are some recent FAQs that people have asked:
Q: MSN Screen Saver isn't working properly using IE7
A: You are exactly right. The public version of MSN Screen Saver was created to work with an earlier version of Internet Explorer. We have updated the MSN Screen Saver product to work with IE7, and our vendor company is in the final stages of testing it. Although I can't promise an exact date, I expect that the new version of MSN Screen Saver will be available shortly.
Q: How will I know when the new version is available?
A: We'll post the info on this blog site. In addition, the web page for the Screen Saver will be updated (http://screensaver.msn.com).
Q: Why is this called a Beta?
A: The MSN Screen Saver is a "project" by the MSN International Development Team, based in London. Our core jobs are to develop the technologies used by the MSN Channels around the world, such as the News and Movies sites. As such, there is not a formal product team that actively develops the screen saver. When customers ask questions or have problems, there is no dedicated support team. We want to call this a beta product very specifically to imply that it's not a fully-released and support product by Microsoft.
Q: Are there additional features in the new version of the Screen Saver?
A: Yes, absolutely. The compatibility with IE7 has been fixed, and we've added support for dual monitors, integration with Windows Live Spaces, and given the user more granular control over things like picture rotation frequency.
Q: Will the Screen Saver support more than US-English?
A: Due to this being a project and not a formal product, the team does not have resources to formally support additional languages. Extended character sets most likely will have some problems displaying. We hope to formalize this into a true product, but until/unless that happens, US English is the only formally-supported language.
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