Don Box and Chris Anderson: Happy Birthday Channel 9! (Channel 9)

Don Box and Chris Anderson reflect on their experience with Channel 9 over the years, Channel 9 in the future and sing a little birthday song for this very special day. 5 years of Channel 9!!!! Happy Birthday, Niners!!! Wow. 5 years!!! Hard to believe.Thanks to all of you for being such a great community and for helping us fly the plane. We're on course, Niners.

Here's to another great 5 years.

Cheers!!

PS: Thanks to Jamie for the great Birthday skin for Channel 9.

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PaoloM Hypermediocrity

Apr 06, 2009 at 10:13 AM

Happy birthday! See ya later!
rhm

Apr 06, 2009 at 10:26 AM

Is it really 5 years? wow.

I remember predicting early on that Channel 9 would be closed down within the year. Turns out Microsoft's management are a lot cooler than anyone expected them to be

Just watched the video : you owe Disney now !
Bas It finds lightbulbs.

Apr 06, 2009 at 11:07 AM

Awesome! Congratulations, guys!
juliankay

Apr 06, 2009 at 11:26 AM

Happy birthday guys, you are doing a great job.

I agree that Brian Beckman videos are always great. Erik Meijer, Don Syme, Jeffry Snover, and you guys (Chris and Don) are also at teh top of my list of videos to watch.

Really looking forward to some more Oslo, F# and IronPython.

Thanks!

Jules
figuerres ???

Apr 06, 2009 at 11:36 AM

congrats! seems like a lot less than 5 ... or maby not.
aL_ Kinect ftw

Apr 06, 2009 at 11:55 AM

happy birthday indeed!
it would be really cool to see some inside stuff on channel9, to honor the occation
i dont even know who erica is.. :O and what does charles office look like? how many people work on channel9? what do they do?
Charles Welcome Change

Apr 06, 2009 at 12:01 PM

The Erica reference is a bit of historic trivia that may or may not be directly related to Channel 9. We leave it to the viewer to put the pieces together! You will learn more about the C9 team over the coming weeks and months. Today, it's about YOU.

Happy Birthday, Niners!!
C
aL_ Kinect ftw

Apr 06, 2009 at 1:25 PM

cool, im totally not getting it though looking forward to some c9 history
again ,happy birthday nineGuy (and team)
Rimon Tadros

Apr 06, 2009 at 1:41 PM

Happy birthday channel9
you are great guys
daniel70

Apr 06, 2009 at 2:00 PM

Erica is somebody at Microsoft aL.
Judah

Apr 06, 2009 at 3:59 PM

I love C9. Charles and team, you guys are great. Here's to another 5 years. :cheers:
Ytterbium

Apr 06, 2009 at 4:10 PM

I love the picture of Dan as a woman on the left, who's the woman on the top right? Tina?
RoyalSchrubber One. How many time travellers does it take to change a lightbulb?

Apr 06, 2009 at 5:10 PM

Happy bday Channel 9 and congrats for making this site so super great and fun as it is.
joechung

Apr 06, 2009 at 7:26 PM

Erica as in Erica Wiechers? Co-host of the .NET Show with Robert Hess? Or some other Erica?
Niner

Apr 06, 2009 at 8:46 PM

That's Cool ! Happy Birthday Channel9 Guy and Channel9 Team !!
Now this is one more reason to have a Channel9 Guy, I should mail now to get one.

I remember downloading all .NET shows hosted by Robert and Erica, I think it was on Channel9 only and I have lots of burnt DVDs with these shows and other channel9 videos.

Congrats Channel9 !! Many Happy returns of the Day !!
JonnyRocks

Apr 07, 2009 at 7:59 AM

I think this video shows that Chris and Don need their own show on channel 9. Not everyone is good in front of the camera but these guys own it.

Also What is Erica doing now. I have seen Robert every now and then on a video.
Charles Welcome Change

Apr 07, 2009 at 8:09 AM

You got it! Erica should be credited as one of the first people to conduct interviews in people's offices and post them to the Internet. The difference is that she was more of a director/camera opeartor than a conversationalist. Channel 9 really invented the unscripted conversational style and I'll give most of the credit to Scoble for that. We all had a say in what turned out to be the default Channel 9 approach to interviewing, but Scoble was the leader in this regard. He was the self-proclaimed video guy for good reason. Bryn and I wrote code, I interviewed fellow devs and architects, Lenn and Jeff calmed down concerned execs and provided a great working environment for all of us. I credit Lenn with the core idea, Jeff and the rest of us with refining it and executing it. Lenn was a great leader. He was ahead of his time. We all miss him. That said, with Dan at the helm of 9 now, we're in very good shape and you'll see great things in the future. Jeff is a big shot now and deservedly so! He's got Directors working for him, man. Fun to watch it all happen.

C
staceyw Before C# there was darkness...

Apr 07, 2009 at 9:50 PM

IIRC, I sent Erica and Robert a comment requesting something that sounded a lot like c9. So I will share some credit too.
In the video comments, I also requested Don start using VS instead of notepad and VI - which he seems to have done (in public anyway)
Charles Welcome Change

Apr 08, 2009 at 11:27 AM

Well, Erica and Robert had nothing to do with the advent of Channel 9, specifically. Robert and Erica should be celebrated for helping to bring Microsoft and its people to the web. That is for certain.

Erik Meijer was one of the first Microsoft talking heads to be seen in video frame iteration. In fact, he was the very first and I mean this literally (remember VBTV's Head in the Box?) But, you get credit for sure! In fact, every single Niner deserves credit for the success of Channel 9. Many of you provided feedback right off the bat and continue to today. We listened and listen. You have truly helped fly the plane, Niners!!!

Keep on posting,
C