In 1997, after abandoning the "shows" format, the MSN service was again rebranded, this time as a more traditional Internet access service. With the MSN 2.5 release in late 1997, some exclusive content was still offered through the MSN Program Viewer, but the service mainly directed members to "normal" web sites. With the MSN Internet Access 2.6 release in 1998, the MSN Program Viewer was abandoned entirely in favor of the more familiar Internet Explorer interface. Another new version of the service, MSN Internet Access 5.0, was released along with Internet Explorer 5.0 in 1999. MSN 5.0 was largely identical to MSN 2.6.
Around this time, MSN began focusing more on being an Internet portal to users of other Internet service providers. Building on the success of MSN's web-based email service, Hotmail, which launched in 1996, the MSN Messenger service for instant messaging was launched in 1999.
By the release of Windows XP in 2001 (which also brought with it Internet Explorer 6.0), content for MSN Internet Access subscribers was offered through a program called MSN Explorer (MSN 6.0). This was similar to the MSN Program Viewer in that it provided MSN web sites and content through a customized interface on top of Internet Explorer. The program was rebranded as simply "MSN" for versions 7, 8, and 9, which were released throughout the next few years. MSN 9 was the last version of MSN's special software for dial-up Internet access.
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