Microsoft Turns On Channel 9
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On Tuesday, Microsoft quietly went live with a new Web site called "Channel 9" that is designed to facilitate communication between Microsoft and its developer and customer constituencies. The site, which was built using Microsoft's ASP.Net Forums Web-based discussion technology, uses video clips, moblog technology, RSS feeds; wikis and forums to reach out to users. Channel 9 is named in honor of the United Airlines in-flight channel which allows passengers to listen in on the cockpit. "We think developers need their own Channel 9, a way to listen in to the cockpit at Microsoft, an opportunity to learn how we fly, a chance to get to know our pilots," according to the Channel 9 Web site. " Five of us in Redmond are crazy enough to think we just might learn something from getting to know each other. Were we wrong? Time will tell.
The "five guys" behind the site include Longhorn evangelists Robert Scoble and Jeff Sandquist. "We believe that we will all benefit from a little dialogue these days," according to text on the Web site. "This is our first attempt to move beyond the newsgroup, the blog, and the press release to talk with each other, human to human." Microsoft 300 or so unofficial bloggers have helped put a more human face on Microsoft. With Channel 9, the Microsoft Developer Network team seems to be seeking to further that goal. On a more official level, Microsoft has been experimenting with a variety of these kinds of social-computing technologies across the company. Its research division has shown off its "Wallop" social-computing environment and "Aura" autoblogging pilot project. The company's academic developer division recently launched a hub called The Spoke, which employs blogs, forums and other related technologies to increase communication between Microsoft and the academic community. And Microsoft's MSN division officials said recently that the company is working on a blog-search tool called Blogbot.
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