With the aim of drawing more users to its search engine Bing, Microsoft, placing its Microsoft Network, MSN, on a high priority, is finally giving the Web portal a long-awaited and much-overdue overhaul.

The top of the revamped, 'cleaner, simpler, white-background' home page of the MSN Web portal - which graduated from a dial-up Internet access provider to an entertainment-inclined site, before finally shaping itself as an Internet threshold - now features colorful links for 'News,' 'Sports,' 'Entertainment,' 'Money,' 'Lifestyle' and 'More.'

The less cluttered MSN site, which takes shape November 4, will now, for the first time, enable users to access Twitter and Facebook feeds, without having to leave the page.

Noting that the redesigned MSN reflects Microsoft's growing interest in teaming up with operators of other popular sites, Scott Moore, MSN's executive producer for the US, said the site's key objective is to boost the search market share of the June-launched Bing.

Furthermore, though MSN still remains essentially a portal packed with blocks of headlines, the addition of the MSN Local Edition section will provide user-location-based local news pertaining to weather, concerts, and restaurant reviews, as well as traffic reports.

Appreciating the Microsoft move to add the 'Local' section, analyst Jeremiah Owyang at Altimeter Group said: "This is a much needed update to a site that hasn't been given much attention in a long time."