MSN 2.0

In 1996, in response to the increasing relevancy and growth of the Internet, the existing MSN service was renamed "MSN Classic" and a new version was created, known as "MSN 2.0," which combined access to the Internet with web-based proprietary content in a new program known as the "MSN Program Viewer."

Microsoft promoted MSN 2.0 with a series of advertisements and promotional materials describing the service as the "next big bang." The company offered a preview release of the service on CD-ROM in the fall of 1996, which contained an MSN Preview video that described the new features of the MSN 2.0 software. The video was formatted as a guided tour of a premiere event for the new MSN. It included a handful of actors and its own music score that played during the installation process.^[2]

Once installed, the MSN Program Viewer was essentially an animated, stylized and streamlined interface on top of an Internet Explorer 3.0 web browser. When members signed in, they would be presented with a several different "Channels," which were essentially categories for the various types of content available on MSN.

Accompanying the MSN Program Viewer was MSN Quick Launch, an icon inside the Windows notification area. Both programs had menus that could be dynamically updated to guide members to MSN content and services.

The new content made extensive use of multimedia and interactive features, including Visual Basic scripting and early implementations of Macromedia Shockwave Flash (originally called "FutureSplash") for animations. Interactive multimedia content was presented in a TV-like format, dubbed "MSN shows," as part of a section called "On Stage."

The many "shows" and content sites included an interactive online week nightly game show called "Netwits," a snarky web site addressing women's issues called "UnderWire," and a regular celebrity interview and web-surfing session called "One Click Away." These new destinations supplemented web-based MSN services such as CarPoint and Expedia, which were branded as "Essentials."

While the "MSN shows" approach was unique and innovative, the content was not easily accessible by members with low-end computers and slower dial-up connections, and high-speed Internet access was not widely available at the time. An entire web site, "MSNot: The MSN2 Hate Site," originated as a negative response to the slow speed and unreliability of the software. The site also mocked the music score that repeated the phrase "too stupid to stop" during the MSN 2.0 installation process.^[3]

Ultimately, the ambitious use of multimedia content on the Internet during 1996 and 1997 proved to be ahead of its time, and the MSN 2.0 service was not as successful as Microsoft initially hoped. The company returned to the drawing board for its next MSN release.