Channel9
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Channel 9 is a Microsoft website aimed at developers. The major goal of Channel 9 is to embrace and extend some of the ideas in the Cluetrain Manifesto; "market are conversations", not a one-way road paved by advertisers. Channel 9 features interviews with Microsoft developers about their products, a forum to discuss the videos and other topics, and a wiki ([1] (http://channel9.msdn.com/wiki/default.aspx)), which has been adopted by various Microsoft teams as a way to aggregate feedback and respond to issues.
Many will claim that this is a direct response by Microsoft to the claim that they are not 'loved' despite the belief that those whom they employ share many of the same enthusiasms as the rest of the software development community.
Microsoft seems to be conducting a public scan to find out what it is doing wrong, and try to fix some of the problems.
Bill Gates's own philosophy ('Success is the worst teacher') and Microsoft's fears of the encroachment of the open source movement are probably a reflection of this, which seems to represent an opening up of the source (developers) of Microsoft's souce code, rather than the source code itself.
Channel 9 has the following doctrine:
- Channel 9 is all about the conversation. Channel 9 should inspire Microsoft and our customers to talk in an honest and human voice. Channel 9 is not a marketing tool, not a PR tool, not a lead generation tool.
- Be a human being. Channel 9 is a place for us to be ourselves, to share who we are, and for us to learn who our customers are.
- Learn by listening. When our customers speak, learn from them. Don't get defensive, don't argue for the sake of argument. Listen and take what benefits you to heart.
- Be smart. Think before you speak, there are some conversations which have no benefit other than to reinforce stereotypes or create negative situations.
- Marketing has no place on Channel 9. When we spend money on Channel 9 the goal is to surprise and delight, not to promote or preach.
- Don't shock the system. Lasting change only happens in baby steps.
- Know when to turn the mic off. There are some topics which will only result in problems when you discuss them. This has nothing to do with censorship, but with working within the reality of the system that exists in our world today. You will not change anything by taking on legal or financial issues, you will only shock the system, spook the passengers, and create a negative situation.
- Don't be a jerk. Nobody likes mean people.
- Commit to the conversation. Don't stop listening just because you are busy. Don't stop participating because you don't agree with someone. Relationships are not built in a day, be in it for the long haul and we will all reap the benefits as an industry.
External Links
Channel9 (http://channel9.msdn.com)