Microsoft.com Community Resources
Share Knowledge and News with Technical Experts and Peers
At Microsoft.com, we aim to provide clear and comprehensive information to enrich each customer's experience with Microsoft® products. We know it's important that technical product and support information is readily accessible to answer customer questions. While many customers are aware of the online help, published documentation, and technical support options available to them directly from Microsoft, fewer people are aware of the support expertise available through Microsoft technical communities. The community resources we provide on Microsoft.com are customized to help connect Microsoft customers to worldwide technical information.
The Microsoft Technical Communities portal site links visitors to a global network of community websites that focus on product and technology information. Resources available through these sites allow interactive communication between developers, IT professionals, product experts, business and IT decision makers, and a growing number of home users.
In this article, we will discuss the community resources available through Microsoft.com, including newsgroups, online chats, user groups, and Microsoft events and webcasts. We'll also take a look at some of the technologies we use to make them work.
Community Resources
From the Technical Communities portal site, visitors can access product-specific community resources. These resources include:
| • | Newsgroups |
| • | Technical chats |
| • | Community sites outside the Microsoft network |
| • | Product user groups |
| • | Technical conferences and events |
| • | Webcasts |
Whether customers need help with a specific product or want advice on how best to implement a Microsoft solution, the Technical Communities portal site strives to connect them to high quality technical information and support from some of our most knowledgeable and experienced product experts from within Microsoft and the global community.
Newsgroups
Newsgroups are open-ended, peer-to-peer discussions. These informal online forums make it possible for participants to get help from others who have experience using a specific technology as well as to share their knowledge. Accessible around the clock, newsgroups typically engender discussions of best practice implementations, scripting techniques, and business value propositions. A newsgroup discussion may also include suggestions about ways to build a better product or improve existing implementations of Microsoft products.
In response to customer feedback, we built the Microsoft.com newsgroup infrastructure using enhanced Web technology, so newsgroups are easier to access. Whereas previously, participants needed to use a Network News Transfer Protocol (NNTP) newsreader, such as Microsoft Outlook® Express, to access newsgroups, Microsoft.com now hosts newsgroups on Web pages that can be accessed using Microsoft Internet Explorer. Participants can post a new topic for discussion, reply to previously posted issues, or search for a specific posting from an easy-to-use Web page.
This Web-based newsreader extends the reach of the newsgroups to include individuals who cannot access NNTP Usenet features from their desktop computer, whether they're unfamiliar with NNTP technology or limited in their access to it. (Some computer infrastructures limit direct access to NNTP client application protocols.) With our Web-based newsreader, newsgroups are accessible to anyone who has an Internet connection.
See a newsgroup in action; take part in the Windows Server newsgroup.
Technical Chats
While newsgroups allow participants to interact with each other in an open-ended asynchronous forum, chats bring product experts and customers together in real-time synchronous conversations. Technical chats are geared to all levels of technical expertise and provide expert information from people who have extensive knowledge of a particular technology or Microsoft product. Product experts (Microsoft and non-Microsoft) lead the discussions and respond to questions.
Microsoft typically hosts more than 30 technical chats each month. Like the newsgroups, the chat service is a Web-based feature, hosted on the Microsoft.com network and accessed through Microsoft Internet Explorer.
For a list of upcoming chats, check out Technical Chats. Chat transcripts can be found on MSDN, TechNet, and the Windows Expert Zone for future reference.
Community Sites
The growing number of communities dedicated to specific Microsoft products and technologies can be found at Microsoft Product Communities. Customers around the world can find resources for interacting with one another through Worldwide Microsoft Communities.
Microsoft.com isn't the only source for helpful information about Microsoft products, technologies, and services. We've partnered with a rich network of community sites outside the Microsoft.com network to increase the depth of information available to the technical communities. We strive to work with community partners that have a reputation for providing sound technical advice, information, and answers to many frequently asked questions (FAQs).
Partner community sites offer a range of options including discussion groups, technical articles, book reviews, FAQs, and best practices. Originating from all parts of the globe, partner community sites deliver help in a variety of languages. You can get started finding a community site for a specific Microsoft product, as well as worldwide or non-Microsoft community sites, at Microsoft Community sites.
User Groups
Community resources extend beyond the Web, in the form of face-to-face networking opportunities. Microsoft supports thousands of user groups around the world. Group members meet in person on a regular basis to discuss and learn about specific product-related issues.
Microsoft.com provides community user groups with a quick and simple way to connect to other individuals in the same geographical location who are interested in joining a user group. Microsoft regularly supports, and has information about, more than 2,000 user groups around the world. Microsoft actively participates in many of the user group meetings, providing technical presentation materials and support. The user group resources on Microsoft.com help newly created user groups in a local software community gain exposure and attract new members. Find out how to get involved with a local user group, or how to start a user group in your area, by visiting User Groups.
Technical Conferences and Events
Microsoft engages directly with various product communities through Microsoft-sponsored technical conferences and events. With hundreds of events each month, attendees can select from a wide selection of topics including product launch events, regularly-scheduled gatherings, and conferences designed specifically for developers, IT professionals, or business decision makers. These events also provide a great opportunity for attendees to network with their peers. To locate an event in your area, visit Microsoft Events.
Webcasts
Users who are unable to attend a Microsoft technical conference or event can often participate by viewing a webcast of the event. Using software available free of charge on the Microsoft Webcasts page, customers can view Microsoft-sponsored events from their own computer. Live webcasts, which can capture events worldwide, are helping to bring more product information to more people in more places. Webcasts are also archived for those who miss the live event. Get information on upcoming events and view webcasts of past events at Microsoft Webcasts.
Community Participants
A vibrant community relies on active participants helping peers in a particular area of expertise. Participation in community forums is free, and online community resources are available to anyone with access to the Web. Community members include people seeking help, people interested in peer discussions, and credible product and technology experts who are passionate about addressing important issues. They range from developers to IT professionals to business users and home users—all interacting to find and provide answers to a wide variety of technical issues.
Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals
Nearly 1,900 individuals out of the millions of participants active in Microsoft communities worldwide are currently recognized by the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) program for their outstanding efforts to help people around the world do amazing things with technology. Known as Microsoft MVPs, these individuals are both credible and accessible; they possess expert-level knowledge of a Microsoft service or product and share their knowledge freely with peers and other participants in technical communities. Microsoft MVPs include top developers, IT professionals, and technology enthusiasts. The group is diverse, ranging from doctors to firefighters to college students, and varying in age from teenage Web gurus to senior citizen computer whizzes. MVP advice is available in 70 technical areas from members in 57 countries and in 23 different languages.
Microsoft holds an annual MVP summit at the Microsoft campus in Redmond, Washington. Last year's event featured appearances by top Microsoft senior executives, including Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer, and Jim Allchin,. This summit event provides MVPs the opportunity to engage with Microsoft directly, sharing and developing ideas and discussing issues. The event helps MVPs build relationships with each other, with Microsoft, and with Microsoft product communities around the world.
In addition, the MVP Program offers a variety of local events for MVPs to stay connected with Microsoft. For example, we offer MVP Open Days, where MVPs have the opportunity to meet with each other and their local Microsoft communities in subsidiaries around the world; MVP exclusive chats; and webcasts of other global MVP events. At industry events, like the Microsoft Professional Developers Conference or COMDEX, we sponsor MVP activities in which members can meet with Microsoft employees and each other to discuss favorite "hot" topics and product features. By connecting with the MVPs, we can learn what community members would like see in the next generation of Microsoft technologies and we can thank the MVPs for their contributions to the technical communities.
Microsoft Experts
Along with experienced MVPs, many Microsoft employees participate in the Microsoft technical communities. Microsoft product managers, developers, testers, documentation specialists, and support personnel regularly join in community forums. This voluntary participation by Microsoft employees gives community members the opportunity to discuss technical issues with the people who know the current Microsoft products and who will have a hand in creating the next generation of products. We know that community members value this type of interaction and we plan to increase these opportunities in the future.
Community Web Services
Because there's such an abundance of information available through the technical communities, we are focused on making it easier for customers to find the community content that is most pertinent to them. One of the first ways we have done this is by delivering a set of community XML Web services that allow site managers to deliver product-specific and audience-specific community content to their Microsoft.com sites. Each of these Web services can be focused to the particular product or technology most relevant to each website. For example, when you're on the Windows Server™ Community site, the community content is related to Microsoft Windows Server; the Microsoft Exchange Server Community site provides community content about Microsoft Exchange Server.
The first set of community Web services we released allows Microsoft.com sites to provide listings of the most active newsgroups, most active discussions, most popular downloads, and recent knowledge base articles related to a specific topic or technology. The content is dynamically updated through XML data feeds, providing the most current community content, no matter where on Microsoft.com the Web service is used.
For worldwide customers, the community Web service provides localized content to 14 Microsoft international websites in more than 30 languages.
As we continue to look for ways to make it easier for our customers to access the abundance of technical information available in our communities, we will explore new ways to leverage the community Web services. We expect to extend the number of Web services providing dynamic data feeds and we expect to deploy them on more sites in the Microsoft.com worldwide network.
Encouraging Community Participation
We're developing technologies to make it easier for people to access technical communities because we recognize the value these communities provide to customers looking for technical product support and forums for peer discussions. But the success of a community ultimately depends on the people who participate. Our goal is to provide the resources to help facilitate as much community interaction as possible.
Whether a developer needs help implementing a solution or a home user needs help formatting a document in Word, the Microsoft technical community websites can help them find the information they're looking for. Technical communities provide accessible forums for participants to share ideas, provide solutions, and brainstorm new ideas with Microsoft customers and experts from all over the world.