For other meanings of the TLA MSN, see MSN (disambiguation).

MSN (or Microsoft Network) is an internet service provider and web portal (initially meant to be a parallel net to the Internet) created by Microsoft on August 24, 1995, coinciding with the release of Windows 95. The MSN moniker has since been extended to Microsoft's Hotmail webmail service and the MSN Messenger instant messaging client, as well as other Microsoft-branded websites.

With 9 million subscribers, MSN is the second largest ISP in the United States behind Time Warner's America Online service with 26.5 million.

MSN.com is now the #2 most visited English website on the internet, behind #1 competitor Yahoo!'s Yahoo.com, due in no small part to the page being the default home page for the Internet Explorer web browser.

Recently the word "MSN" has come to be synonymous with "MSN Messenger" in internet slang. I.E people use phrases like: "I'll send it to you on MSN" "To use MSN Messenger, the users must have a Microsoft .NET Passport.

Affiliates

Microsoft has collaborated with many other big-business companies to create better features on MSN.

• MSN Match - affiliated with Match.com, dating service
• MSNBC - affiliated with NBC, news service
• MSN Sports by FOX Sports - affiliated with News Corporation, sports news service
• MSN Auctions by eBay - affiliated with eBay Inc, auctions
• MSN Overstock - affiliated with www.Overstock.com, shopping service
• MSN VirusScan - affiliated with Trend Micro, virus services for MSN Hotmail and MSN Premium services
• MSN Money - affiliated with the CNBC cable network.

See also

• MSN Direct
• Opera and the MSN website
• MSN Maps

External links

• MSN.com
• My MSN
• MSN Groups
• MSN Hotmail
• MSN Calendar
• MSN Spaces
• MSN Messenger
• MSN Search