I’ve been ‘rolling my own’ web parts for a while now like the Daily Dilbert, Local Radar, Bert&Ernie Terror Alert, Traffic Cam web parts, etc. So it’s sad for me to see the default MSNBC Web Parts that are baked in to http://companyweb get the pink slip. It’s kind of like watching Clippit die, but at least these web parts were useful.
On January 25, 2007, the following MSNBC Web Parts will no longer be offered through the online Web Part gallery for Windows SharePoint Services:
- MSNBC Business News
- MSNBC Entertainment News
- MSNBC News
- MSNBC Sports News
- MSNBC Stock News
- MSNBC Stock Quotes
- MSNBC Technology News
- MSNBC Weather
Personally, I think it’s bad form for Microsoft to nuke those and not replace them with something else that is just as easy to deploy. MS suggests using RSS feeds instead. But displaying RSS inside SharePoint 2.0 isn’t a cake walk for your average SBSer. I’ve seen more than a few installs of Smiling Goat tank.
Obviously the MSNBC parts aren’t ‘specific’ to SBS, but they are in the Online Gallery of every SBS 2003 install. That’s a LOT of broken links. Millions.
There’s currently an open thread on SharePoint University asking for alternative web parts. So, you might want to check that thread periodically or just go ahead and delete web parts from your SBS installs before they timebomb.