Channel 9 is a Microsoft

Microsoft

Microsoft Corporation is an American public multinational corporation headquartered in Redmond, Washington, USA that develops, manufactures, licenses, and supports a wide range of products and services predominantly related to computing through its various product divisions...

 community site used to promote conversations among Microsoft's customers targeted at Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows

Microsoft Windows is a series of operating systems produced by Microsoft.Microsoft introduced an operating environment named Windows on November 20, 1985 as an add-on to MS-DOS in response to the growing interest in graphical user interfaces . Microsoft Windows came to dominate the world's personal...

 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, the name was inspired by the ability to listen in and get to know the pilots on United Airlines

United Airlines

United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees United Air Lines, Inc., is the world's largest airline with 86,852 employees (which includes the entire holding company United Continental...

' 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

Air traffic control

Air traffic control is a service provided by ground-based controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and in the air. The primary purpose of ATC systems worldwide is to separate aircraft to prevent collisions, to organize and expedite the flow of traffic, and to provide information and other...

.

History

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.

Microsoft Employees

Microsoft Developers and Employees routinely converse with users on Channel 9 forums and its wiki — even some senior employees such as Larry Osterman. The Channel 9 team have produced interviews with Bill Gates

Bill Gates

William Henry "Bill" Gates III is an American business magnate, investor, philanthropist, and author. Gates is the former CEO and current chairman of Microsoft, the software company he founded with Paul Allen...

, Erik Meijer (computer scientist)

Erik Meijer (computer scientist)

Erik Meijer is a Dutch computer scientist who is currently a software architect for Microsoft SQL Server, Visual Studio and the .NET Framework. At Microsoft he heads the Cloud Programmability Team....

, Mark Russinovich

Mark Russinovich

Mark E. Russinovich is a Technical Fellow in the Platform and Services Division at Microsoft. He was a cofounder of software producers Winternals before it was acquired by Microsoft in 2006.-Early life and education:...

 and others.

Doctrine

Channel 9 has the following doctrine:

1. 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.
2. 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.
3. 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.
4. Be smart. Think before you speak. There are some conversations which have no benefit other than to reinforce stereotypes or create negative situations.
5. 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.
6. Don't shock the system. Lasting change only happens in baby steps.
7. 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.
8. Don't be a jerk. Nobody likes mean people.
9. 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.

Wiki

Channel 9 formerly featured a wiki

Wiki

A wiki is a website that allows the creation and editing of any number of interlinked web pages via a web browser using a simplified markup language or a WYSIWYG text editor. Wikis are typically powered by wiki software and are often used collaboratively by multiple users. Examples include...

 based on Microsoft's own FlexWiki

FlexWiki

FlexWiki was a wiki engine written primarily by David Ornstein. The code was first released in September 2004. Development ceased sometime in 2009.The engine is open source, licensed under IBM's Common Public License...

. The wiki had been used to provide ad-hoc feedback to various Microsoft teams such as the Internet Explorer team as well as for teams such as Patterns & Practices to promote discussion, although some teams have migrated to CodePlex.

Shows

Silverlight TV
Hot Apps
Inside Xbox
Ping!
Russ' ToolShed
This Week On Channel 9
Inside Windows Phone
Behind The Code

The Sandbox

The Channel 9 site, via The SandBox, gives its users the ability to create and host their own projects.