microsoft.nn.ru was a Nizhny Novgorod server about Microsoft Corporation's products, programs and events, known from archived snapshots taken between September 25, 2000 and January 21, 2002[1][3]. The site was titled "Microsoft in Nizhny Novgorod" and stated its position on the front page: "This server is not an official Microsoft website," and the initiative to create it, the same page said, belonged to an official corporate partner — OAO "Computer Center - NN"[1]. The copyright notice at the bottom of the home page was in the name of the same company and dated 2000[1][2].

What the site looked like

The 2000-version top menu had seven items: "About the company," "News," "Products," "For dealers," "Knowledge base," "Technical support" and "Search"[1]. The sidebar listed sections in more detail: "About the server"; a news block of three feeds — "Microsoft News," "Computer Review" and "KTsNN News"; a products block with the lines "Product catalog," "Services," "Solutions"; a technical-support section with the line "Server technologies"[1]. In the May 2001 snapshot the menu and sidebar are the same[2]. At the bottom of the home page a subscription to the "ComputerReview" mailing list was offered[1][2].

Besides the news feed, the home page also carried two standing pieces — "Time to switch to Microsoft Office 2000," about a Microsoft special offer for users of earlier versions of the suite, and a note on choosing a computer titled "How to avoid 'hardware' that 'doesn't work'?"[1][2]. In the 2000 snapshot, between them stood another announcement under the slogan "One OFFICE is good, but two is better" — about a joint press conference of the companies "Intellect-Service" and Microsoft held on May 23 and devoted to the release of a new small-business management system, "BEST-OFFICE"; the venue was named as the Marriott Grand Hotel, the city was not specified in the snapshot[1].

News feed

Most of the home page was taken up by a news feed about Microsoft and its partners, each entry dated. In the September 25, 2000 snapshot, the four topmost entries are dated September 24: about Forbes magazine's list of the wealthiest Americans, about the launch of an ASP by Cable & Wireless, Microsoft and Compaq, about the release timing of an operating system codenamed Whistler, and about 250,000 copies of Windows Me sold in four days[1]. Below were entries from September 22 through September 6 — among them a report on the MS Works Suite 2001 package for home use, a Microsoft warning that licensed software is "almost twice as cheap" as "pirated" software, a report on a major charity project by the corporation and its partners in Russia's regions, and a note titled "Microsoft Corporation turns 25!"[1].

In the May 16, 2001 snapshot the home page layout is the same, but the feed's content has changed: it covers February 15 – May 3, 2001, from a demonstration of a business-management system by Microsoft, EMC, Knosys and Unisys to a document-workflow-automation seminar held by the Scientific and Technological Center of the Institute for the Development of Moscow together with Microsoft's representative office[2]. It also carries the appointment of Belluzzo as the corporation's president and chief operating officer (February 20), a note "Microsoft changes president" (February 26), and the release of Windows XP Beta 2 (March 26)[2].

The Nizhny Novgorod part

There was not much actual local content on the home page. One of the three news feeds in the sidebar was called "KTsNN News" — apparently after the abbreviated name of "Computer Center - NN"[1]. In the May 16, 2001 snapshot, above the standing pieces there is an announcement, "Microsoft training in Nizhny continues," explaining that the corporation was continuing to train IT specialists[2].

The home page showed no address, phone number or registration details of the owner in any of the three surviving snapshots — only the partner's name and the copyright notice[1][2][3].

In the directory and ratings

In the Nizhny Novgorod Internet, the site was represented by a card in the nn.ru directory, in the category "Projects: Computers and software." The directory described it as a "selective mirror of www.microsoft.com/rus" with information on Microsoft's events in the region, and the card's rating field read "none"[4]. The address microsoft.nn.ru does not appear in the surviving samples of the Counter.nn.ru counter, and no votes for it are recorded in our data — more on the completeness of these samples in the Archival study of the Nizhny Novgorod internet from the counter.nn.ru rating. The site does not appear in the results of the 2004 Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day vote[5].

The 2002 redesign and closure

The last surviving snapshot, from January 21, 2002, shows a redesigned site. The menu had shrunk to four items — "Home," "About the server," "News," "Technical support" — with the product catalog, knowledge base and dealer section gone, but a "Special offers" block had appeared[3]. At the bottom of the page is the credit "© Design: MAXAOH art Studio," and in the disclaimer about the site's unofficial status the initiative to create it is now attributed to two parties: alongside OAO "Computer Center - NN," the magazine "Computer Review" is named — a feed of the same name had been in the sidebar of the earlier version[1][3]. The most recent feed entries are dated December 18 and 24, 2001[3].

The web archive holds no later snapshots of the home page: its index for the address contains seven entries in all, the last of which is the January 2002 snapshot. According to our survey of defunct Nizhny Novgorod websites, the domain microsoft.nn.ru no longer exists today.

Sources

  1. web.archive.org — Home page, 2000 (archive)
  2. web.archive.org — Home page, 2001 (archive)
  3. web.archive.org — Home page, 2002 (archive)
  4. web.archive.org — nn.ru directory, category «Computers and software», 2002 (archive)
  5. web.archive.org — Nizhny Novgorod Internet Day voting results, 2004 (archive)