Redmond isn't yet ready to give up on its portal

Mar 14, 2015 15:31 GMT  ·  By

Microsoft's MSN portal is no longer what it used to be, but although the number of users who actually access the website declined in the last years, the Redmond-based tech giant continues to invest huge amounts of money not only to keep the service alive but also to roll out new features and designs to get it in line with other products, such as Windows 8.

This time, Microsoft has made another surprising move that confirms that MSN is here to stay and, what's more, could play a key part in the upcoming Windows 10 operating system.

Microsoft's CEO Satya Nadella sent an email to company employees this morning to inform that MSN became a part of the Windows division, reiterating that the portal is very likely to remain the default homepage in Windows 10's upcoming browser.

Internal disputes caused by MSN

The internal struggle to keep MSN relevant made the headlines last year, when Qi Lu, Microsoft executive vice president, and Terry Myerson, head of the Operating Systems Group, were fighting over the future of the portal. GeekWire writes that Myerson wanted to make MSN the default Windows 10 homepage, while Lu tried to convince Satya to stick to Bing.

Now it appears that Myerson has more or less won the dispute, and in a statement released today, Microsoft confirms the move, saying that MSN will play an important role in the future of Windows.

“MSN has long been an important part of the Windows experience via Internet Explorer so expanding the Operating System Group (OSG) group to include the MSN team is very much in line with our goal to deliver the best and most relevant content to our customers,” the company says.

“We recently redesigned the MSN user experience to include a vast array of content from the world’s leading media outlets and we’re excited about the possibility of bringing this content into the Windows experience in even better ways.”

Windows 10 will come with a new browser called Spartan, so if MSN continues to be part of Microsoft's long-term plans, chances are that the new app will come with the famous portal as the default homepage.