Microsoft Redesigns MSN Home Page

Microsoft is set to roll out a new version of its popular portal page, MSN.com, which will be available over the next few weeks to more than 100 million customers in the US, starting from today.

The software giant has yet to formally commit to releasing the update to the tens of millions of non-US users.

To mark the event, Microsoft's first major MSN change in a decade, an updated "Butterfly" logo has been unveiled which will be feature prominently alongside that of BING at the top of the page.

Erik Jorgensen, Microsoft's corporate VP for MSN, explained in a blog post that the new homepage will "cut through the clutter with a clean, new design and offers search, news, local and social networking, all in one place".

MSN users have been actively offering feedback during the design process of the new homepage with more than 70,000 pieces of customer feedback which have generated 30 new updates.

The new homepage design, which you can view here, discards the blue background, opting instead for a white one. Compared to the existing ones, there is more space and clearly labelled sections.

Two other distinctive features are the absence of any spot for leaderboard ads and the presence of a new feature called TrendWatch which is similar to Google's Real Time Search but concentrates on what's hot on Twitter.