MSN
collection of Internet sites by Microsoft
MSN is a web portal and related collection of Internet services and apps provided by Microsoft. The main home page provides news, weather, sports, finance and other content curated from hundreds of different sources that Microsoft has partnered with. MSN is based in the United States and offers international versions of its portal for dozens of countries around the world. Its dedicated app is currently available for iOS and Android systems.
The first version of MSN launched on August 24, 1995, with the release of Windows 95, as a subscription-based dial-up online service called The Microsoft Network; it later became an Internet service provider named MSN Dial-Up Internet Access. Also around this time, the company launched a new web portal named Microsoft Internet Start and set it as the default home page of Internet Explorer, its web browser. In 1998, Microsoft renamed and moved this web portal to the domain name msn.com, where it has remained since.
Microsoft subsequently used the "MSN" brand name for a wide variety of products and services over the years, notably MSN Hotmail (later Outlook.com), MSN Messenger (which was once synonymous with "MSN" in Internet slang), its web search engine (which became Bing), and several other rebranded and discontinued services. In 2014, Microsoft reworked and relaunched the MSN website and suite of apps offered. Following a partial rebranding of the website to Microsoft Start beginning in 2021, the company reversed course in 2024 and kept "MSN" as the name of the website.
This brief starts where responsible research should: with the source description of “MSN” as collection of Internet sites by Microsoft. Everything that follows is an evidence route, not borrowed authority.
Why this record matters
The subject matters to the general reference register because the source frames it as collection of Internet sites by Microsoft. Its deeper value depends on whether names, dates, institutions and citations support that framing.
Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Sep 22, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q192845. 1 of 2 selected statements include explicit references; 1 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1995, 1998, 2014 and 2021.
Overview language is designed for orientation and should not be treated as a substitute for the evidence cited beneath it. The lead is largely declarative, so disagreement and counter-evidence require a deliberate search beyond the opening account. Authority statements aid reconciliation but still require their own references, qualifiers and ranks to be checked.
How to read it
Use the entry as an orientation point, then follow its citations and revision history. Names, dates and institutional relationships should be checked against the original record.
- Subject orientation
- Search vocabulary
- Locating named sources
The closest primary source, responsible institution and strongest cited specialist reference.
Three-step research path
- Establish the record: confirm the title “MSN”, its source revision and the description used here.
- Expand the search: follow MSN primary sources, MSN archive and Internet research across catalogues and specialist indexes.
- Test the account: compare the strongest cited source with the responsible institution’s current record and note any disagreement.
Questions for further research
- Which source most directly establishes the central claim about “MSN”?
- Which institution is responsible for the underlying evidence?
- Which cited source is closest to the event, object or claim?
Search terms from this dossier
This entry incorporates text from “MSN” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.