Microsoft Channel 9 in the news... Think &quot;A look behind the C9 camera...&quot; or &quot;What is that Channel 9 thing anyway...?&quot;

Thursday, September 08, 2011

Microsoft Channel 9 in the news... Think "A look behind the C9 camera..." or "What is that Channel 9 thing anyway...?"

Microsoft News Center - Developers Tune In to Microsoft’s Channel 9

"Passengers on United Airlines flights have long turned their in-flight entertainment dials to Channel 9 to hear what’s happening in the cockpit. For more than seven years, developers have had a similar opportunity to get inside the mind of Microsoft.

Channel 9 tries "to create a place where developers want to hang out, learn from the people at Microsoft, and hopefully have a lot of fun while they do it," said Jeff Sandquist, senior director of Channel 9.

Microsoft’s Channel 9 – named for United’s cockpit channel – has been broadcasting since 2004 from inside the company’s offices and labs. Be it quirky Halloween videos that get hundreds of thousands of hits or hour-long interviews with the company’s most talented engineers, Channel 9 pulls back the curtain at Microsoft to reveal its human side.

From the moment Channel 9 went live in April 2004, developers worldwide have embraced the often offbeat outlet. Today the site attracts more than six million visitors per month, with videos routinely getting thousands of views and sparking pages of comments. And while times have certainly changed since 2004 – Twitter and YouTube didn’t exist yet – the Channel 9 mission remains the same, said Jeff Sandquist, senior director of Channel 9.

..."

CNET - Behind the scenes at Microsoft's Channel 9

"REDMOND, Wash.--Microsoft's June rollout of a niche software development kit that lets developers create PC applications for its Kinect motion-sensing game was a breaking news moment for the tech evangelists of the tiny Channel 9 unit.

Channel 9 is a group of 10 full-time employees and dozens of volunteers from within Microsoft, who produce video programming for the Web to connect the company with the folks who write software applications that run on its platforms. When the Kinect for Windows SDK debuted, it was an all-hands-on-deck moment.

Channel 9 aired four hours of live video with how-to sessions for its coding followers. It ran features on the creations of teams at a code-camp, a 24-hour hack-a-thon where groups cobbled together new creations using the new Kinect SDK. Microsoft experts even answered questions posted via Twitter live on the air. All of this aired in the middle of a weekday morning and still 5,000 people watched it live online. Another 300,000 viewers caught it later, on-demand. It wasn't quite the Royal Wedding, but for the folks who run Channel 9, it was close.

..."

CNET - Making videos at Microsoft's Channel 9 (photos)"