Microsoft Launches Answers Beta Website
The Web is a great place to go for help, especially for things computer-related. But it’s not always easy to find exactly the right answers to your questions. Now, there’s a new forum for Windows Vista users that should help provide some answers to questions related to the OS. This forum, called Microsoft Answers, is currently in beta mode. And while the address for the site, answers.microsoft.com, is generic, the answers are specific to Windows Vista. Content is available in a Q&A format.
There are three ways to use the site: You can use the search bar at the top of the page to find existing answers to your questions. You can also browse category pages under the Find Answers section. Finally, if you can’t find an answer, you can ask the community of users how they fixed a problem or how to do something.
You can also subscribe to a question and receive notifications via a browser, email, or RSS when an answer has been posted. To use the service, you must subscribe; there is no way to see questions and answers without signing in.
While we applaud the idea of an official forum for Windows tech support that is actually run by the company who produces the software, we don’t understand why Microsoft is limiting the website to Vista-related questions and answers. Perhaps it’s because this site is in beta mode and will expand later? Only time will tell.
Forums and communities such as these can be a good way to get the word out and help users adopt products. We can only hope that if this iteration of Microsoft Answers takes off that Microsoft will expand the site to include support and answers for Windows 7 when it is released.
