[German]A short info for the colleagues who were still awarded the title "Windows Insider MVP" by Microsoft. December 31, 2023 is finito, the program will be discontinued then. A spokesperson confirmed this to The Register. Microsoft's goal, according to the spokesperson, is to consolidate MVP-like programs at Microsoft. Nice twist, since the Windows Insider MVPs were only kicked out of the "normal MVP program" at the end of 2016.
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What is an MVP?
A little background information for readers who are not so familiar with the topic. The abbreviation MVP stands for Most Valuable Professional and is an award from Microsoft to external persons who have made a special contribution to the community with certain products. The award is valid annually and aspirants have to apply and explain what they have done in the past year in this regard. This ranges from lectures to collaboration in forums (MS Answers) to reports about products (blogs, books, etc.).
Candidates for the Microsoft Most Valuable Professional are nominated by other MPVs or by Microsoft employees. The award is intended as a candy for exceptional commitment to Microsoft, its products and communities. MVPs can travel once in the award year (at their own expense) to the Microsoft MVP Summit in Redmond. In addition, there is usually a free MSDN / Visual Studio subscription – how it currently handled – I do not know. Whether there are still regional Windows Insider MVP meetings, I do not know, just as little, how well the MVPs still have access to the developer groups.
The Windows Insider MVP is dead
So, as of December 31, 2023, Microsoft is now discontinuing the Windows Insider MVP program – there will be no more nominations for 2024. The whole thing comes shortly after the departure of Panos Panay and shows that Windows is somehow becoming Microsoft's stepchild. The whole thing, especially participation in the Windows Insider program and thus the Windows Insider MVP, hasn't made sense in my eyes for a long time.
However, there is still one carrot from Microsoft: Windows Insider MVPs are nominated, according to the Microsoft spokesperson, for participation in the Microsoft MVP program, which offers similar benefits and opportunities to continue networking with Redmond and interacting with many other Microsoft MVPs worldwide, according to the Microsoft spokesperson in the statement to The Register.
Some "insights"
Personally, however, I'm slightly amused by these volte-face from Redmond. From 2013 to 2016, I received several awards from Microsoft as a Windows Consumer MVP. The MSDN license had the advantage that I could easily get downloads for various Microsoft products and test licenses.
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In addition, there was an MVP lead at the time who you could contact with questions and ask to report bugs and problems to the developers. Some MVPs maintain intensive contacts with Microsoft's developers and are also often in the USA. But was never really my thing – I stand on the point of view "this has to be done via internet, keep a channel open where an MVP can communicate problems". Never really worked out well in my case.
Then, at the end of 2016, the Windows Consumer MVP was "slaughtered", the previous MVPs (in Germany there were 6 people, if memory serves) were moved over to the newly created Windows Insider MVP program. The possibility to keep in contact with the developers with the MVP lead was removed, the whole "MVP infrastructure" was gone as well. I overheard that the (then already external) supervisor at Microsoft had to knit his solutions to manage the Windows Insider MVPs with Excel spreadsheets. Must have been "a stepchild at the cat table" back then.
My observation was that the Windows Insider MVP program was getting a bit more absurd each year, but no longer offered any real benefits. I had mentioned it in some of my German blog posts that after 2019, Redmond believed that existing Windows Insider MVPs had to apply with a video every year telling why they are the right person for this award. Previous an application for an MVP award was ok. There was a web page where you entered your activities for the last 12 months and that was it. Then a panel decided if it was enough to renew the MVP award or not. In the last 2 years I have noticed that some MVPs were no longer awarded, although they did a lot for the products and the community.
In the Windows Insider MVP program, we also had to submit the activities in the first years after 2016, but in the Excel spreadsheet mentioned above – the website was only available for "real MVPs". That was fine for me as far as it went. But when the "decision-makers" then said that an application video of the candidate with a statement as to why one was exactly the right person for such a thing was absolutely necessary, that was enough for me.
Since I no longer saw any point in this program, I had send my list of activities and told them "take it, or leave it", and they decided for the latter. From that time on I was freed from non disclosure agreement (NDA) – which were pointless anyway, because we got information at times when it was publicly known a good 2-3 weeks beforehand, but we weren't allowed to talk or write about it.
And now we've come full circle: The failing Windows Insider MVP program is being terminated – maybe some of the Windows Insider MVPs can save themselves into other MVP programs. But that move suggests that Windows consumers (and especially Windows Insiders) are no longer really of interest to Microsoft.
In 2020, the thought "once the MVP is gone, it's fine, you can blog without further 'self censorship'" crossed my mind. Because the NDAs (non-disclosure agreements) and the MVP award also represent a piece of "carrot and stick" for Microsoft. The honorees have to "behave well" towards Microsoft. I know of a few cases where the award was revoked for "violating the Code of Conduct" (one case revolved around public criticism that supporters for the Microsoft Answers forum were outsourced to Eastern Europe and good teams from Germany were disbanded). And in this tweet, a .NET developer writes that his MPV was not renewed because he works for AWS.
