The microsoft.public.* groups

Microsoft ran its own public news server, and the microsoft.public.* hierarchy on it was peered widely enough to appear alongside Usenet’s own groups. These were product support groups, answered largely by volunteers; Microsoft retired the public newsgroups at the end of the 2000s in favour of web forums. The groups the gateway carried are listed below.

• microsoft.public.dotnet.framework.wmi
• microsoft.public.excel.programming
• microsoft.public.fr.scripting.ie-oe-animation
• microsoft.public.platformsdk.security
• microsoft.public.scripting.vbscript
• microsoft.public.win32.programmer.wmi
• microsoft.public.windows.mediacenter.hometheaterpc
• microsoft.public.windowsupdate
• microsoft.public.windowsxp.wmi
• microsoft.public.word.numbering