As you know, most of us at LiveSide are Microsoft MVPs, and attended the MVP Summit last week. It was an interesting experience, to say the least.
We're enthusiasts. We all use Windows Live products. We follow it incessantly, spend most of our free time reading, searching, talking, and writing about Windows Live. We're excited about the possibilities. Of course we're also a little disappointed about the state of affairs we find Windows Live in today.
That's why we were anxious and excited to attend the Summit, to see what was new, to bring some of your feedback to Microsoft, to meet with each other, and to learn about just where Windows Live is, and where its going.
We learned a lot about Windows Live. It isn't dead, not even close. We've talked here about a re-org, and indeed there is new management in place, with new focus. It sounds to us like Windows Live is doing the right things, getting back on track. We were excited to hear it.
One of our writers, Matthew Weyer, posted about that enthusiasm, and what appeared to be a quoted statement from the Summit. Well that didn't go over too well. Matthew issued a clarification in a comment:
A correction note to everyone, Microsoft did not say "we're in it to win", and even if they did, I would not be able to disclose discussions since they're under NDA. However, I can say that the "feeling" I got from Microsoft is "we're in it to win" as in a sense of commitment, nothing more. As I said in the beginning of the post, I cannot say anything about what we did or didn't see. I did go, but that's all I'll admit too.
The point of this post was to convey a positive feeling I took back from Microsoft. I think a little bit of positiveness about Microsoft would be nice for a change.
@Matthew
We're going to continue to be enthusiastic about Windows Live. We're going to continue to be critical, too. And we're going to remain independent, bringing you all that we can about this new, exciting, evolving set of services. We don't understand completely what it is, and we know you don't either. We think Microsoft awarded us MVPs precisely for helping to make sense of Windows Live as it grows and changes. We aren't able to tell you all we know, and in a way that's too bad. We think it's a good story.
In a way we never thought we'd be in this situation, as "the" source of news and information about Windows Live, but here we are. It's a situation we're learning to take seriously, as we find ourselves thrust from being mere enthusiasts to credible and professional (as if we were making any money at this, hah) journalists. We've made some mistakes, and will continue to make a few more, I'm sure. We hope you'll stick with us. Things are going to get better, sooner rather than later, and on a lot of fronts. We can't wait.