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Heads Up: Microsoft's Knowledgebase Changes *Today*
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

Thanks, Dan!

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