Channel 9 homepage |
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| URL | channel9.msdn.com |
|---|---|
| Type of site | Video / Forum / Wiki |
| Registration | Optional |
| Available language(s) | English |
| Owner | Microsoft Corp. |
| Created by | Microsoft employees |
| Launched | April, 2004 |
| Current status | Active |
Channel 9 is a Microsoft community site used to promote conversations among Microsoft's customers targeted at Microsoft Windows users and developers. Channel 9 features video channels, discussions, podcasts and screencasts including interviews with Microsoft developers about their products which has been adopted by various Microsoft teams as a way to aggregate feedback and respond to issues.
According to the first video ever posted on the site,[1] the name was inspired by the ability to listen in and get to know the pilots on United Airlines' on-board entertainment system's channel nine, branded "From the Flight Deck," on which passengers can listen to the radio conversations between the flight crew and air traffic control.
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Channel 9 was created in 2004 by a group of Microsoft employees to provide unfiltered access to the development teams outside of the control of marketing and PR. It was the first such project within Microsoft, starting before any official Microsoft blogs.[2]
Microsoft Developers and Employees routinely converse with users on Channel 9 forums and its wiki — even some senior employees such as Larry Osterman.[3] The Channel 9 team have produced interviews with Bill Gates, Erik Meijer (computer scientist), Mark Russinovich and others.
Channel 9 has the following doctrine:[4]
Channel 9 formerly featured a wiki based on Microsoft's own FlexWiki. The wiki had been used to provide ad-hoc feedback to various Microsoft teams such as the Internet Explorer team[5] as well as for teams such as Patterns & Practices to promote discussion,[6] although some teams have migrated to CodePlex.
The Channel 9 site, via The SandBox, gives its users the ability to create and host their own projects.