When it announced Soapbox back in 2006, Microsoft had hopes of competing with the hugely-popular video-sharing service YouTube.
However, Microsoft's alternative entered a public beta almost three years ago and, having remained there to this day, is now set to be discontinued.
Although offering a user-generated video service similar to YouTube, Soapbox has failed to rival the Google-owned service in terms of market share. Last month, Microsoft vice president Erik Jorgensen stated that the software giant would scale back Soapbox due to "a tough economic environment".
Just weeks later, it has now been confirmed that Soapbox uploads will end on July 29th, and all Soapbox content will become unavailable as of August 31st. An email sent to Soapbox users, with advice on how to download and backup content, reads:
Attention Soapbox Users,
MSN will no longer offer Soapbox, the user generated video service within MSN Video, as of August 31, 2009. Beginning on July 29, you will no longer be able to upload videos to Soapbox. People who have uploaded videos to Soapbox will have until August 31, 2009 to download them. Please make sure you download your videos by this date if you would like to keep them. We will have a notice running in the Soapbox service to remind you to download your videos. It is our goal that you download and keep all of the videos you uploaded that are important to you. Online video is a key part of the MSN experience and we will continue to offer a rich experience on MSN Video. We will also continue to invest in delivering great customer experiences, while keeping a keen eye on our business objectives during this tough economic climate. Thank you for your support of MSN Video. More details and download instructions are available at: http://video.msn.com/shutdown.html
Thank you for using Soapbox.
The MSN Video Team
