Five on Nine - Pilot Episode
- Posted: Nov 03, 2006 at 11:59 AM
- 31,419 Views
- 75 Comments
Download
How do I download the videos?
- To download, right click the file type you would like and pick “Save target as…” or “Save link as…”
Why should I download videos from Channel9?
- It's an easy way to save the videos you like locally.
- You can save the videos in order to watch them offline.
- If all you want is to hear the audio, you can download the MP3!
Which version should I choose?
- If you want to view the video on your PC, Xbox or Media Center, download the High Quality WMV file (this is the highest quality version we have available).
- If you'd like a lower bitrate version, to reduce the download time or cost, then choose the Medium Quality WMV file.
- If you have a Zune, WP7, iPhone, iPad, or iPod device, choose the low or medium MP4 file.
- If you just want to hear the audio of the video, choose the MP3 file.
Right click “Save as…”
- Mid Quality WMV (Lo-band, Mobile)
- WMV (WMV Video)
EDIT: I've temporarily removed the Download file because it seems it's still propogating out to our servers. I'll have the link up as soon as it's ready (still new here 
).
Hey, all - Rory here.
I wanted to have a show on Channel 9, and after thinking about it for roughly thirty seconds, decided that it would be fun to have a "Politically Incorrect" style panel discussion.
The point here is to have a fun little thing for Friday afternoons. You can take a load off, relax a little, and take part in geeky discussions. We'll make mistakes, we'll say the wrong things, but we'll have fun while we're doing it.
Right now, the only guests are softies, but I'd like to get some secular people involved, so if you live in the area - or are going to be in the area - then you should contact me and we can chat about having you on the show.
Now, this is the first episode, and I could use as much feedback as possible. Just so you know, here are some things I'm already going to change for the next:
- Shorter episodes. I'd like them to be around 30 minutes.
- Better topics. Maybe you could submit something you'd like to see discussed
- Better audio. It's a bit muddy in this episode. I'm going to try to get lapel mics for the next.
Consider this sucker beta, and let's work out the bugs together.
Finally, I'd like to thank Peter Provost and the Patterns and Practices group for letting us use their offices for the shoot. They have some of the nicest rooms on campus, so we lucked out in what we got. Very cool of them to help out like this.
Comments Closed
Comments have been closed since this content was published more than 30 days ago, but if you'd like to continue the conversation,
please create a new thread in our Forums,
or
Contact Us and let us know.
Follow the Discussion
One recommendation is to have the meeting in different places everytime.
It's 55 minutes long. Like I said in the post, I want future episodes to be more like 30 minutes. In this one, we covered three topics - I'm thinking about cutting that down to two.
And, yeah - I like the idea of changing the meeting place. I've been scouting places around campus where we could do the show. The hardest part will be getting permission, though, so things might not be all that varied. But there'll be some variation...
Nice Video.
Why not use the .NET Show's studio?
Thanks
I hadn't been over there yet. Just went for the first time a few days ago, and I'm not sure that I can even use the studio.
Keep in mind that I thought this show up, planned it, arranged it, and shot it in the first week I was on the job. There's still a lot of room for improvement - it all happened very quickly.
We do have our own studio for C9/on10. I think I'll go check that out today to see what it's like.
Well, people have already pointed out the location isn't great. So I'm not going to say about the sofas being too close together or the huge (I need to watch my language) TV being too reflective. (Damn... I said it already.)
Did you give everyone a heads-up on the questions? There was a short awkward pause when you asked questions. I suppose a few minutes preparation might help. Good discussion though. Interesting content.
I would like to hear discussion about the Dynamics products. Convergence is starting on monday nov 6.
Also there were some echose in sound when you guys were talking about youtube.
The Alien discussion sucked, it was a nice idea and you should use it but just come up with better interesting questions.
Usually on Political incorrect show you had at least one person from the other perspective, so in linux discussion or about Oracle, they could have said different point of view. A non MS person would have been nice.
and yes it was a bit long. You could do some editing to cut some parts, but I guess it would go against C9 motto.
Yeah, I would have preffered to debate the other two minute topic
The furniture had to be close together because of the distance of the camera to the group. That was the only way to squeeze everyone in.
Going to work on that for the next one.
I made it a point not to let people know what we were going to discuss because I wanted impromptu answers. I wasn't worried about things being accurate or whatever - the idea was to have fun and debate. Being correct wasn't one of the goals.
I might change that, though. It seems like the conversation could have been better if I had let people know ahead of time what we were going to discuss.
But you live and learn
How about a table,
and a few mics(nevermind, I see that you already thought of this!)Just started working - so I can't tell you how swee this is yet
I'll update later.
The audio will be a problem until I have a good lapel mic solution.
I agree - but I expected a more off-the-wall discussion out of that topic. I wanted to see what would happen if people really tried to promote and defend their positions - whether they agreed with them or not. It was all about having fun.
The topic did turn out to suck. That's clear. I'm going to work on that.
That's why I put a call out in the post (you read it, right?
I have no problem with editing whatsoever. I considered cutting out some of the material here, but thought it would be best to leave it all in to get all the feedback.
I'm new to C9 - and I'm not against editing. At all.
It's good to have values like that (leaving conversations as they are), but I think people need to know when to bend their own rules, and in the case of a video like this one, some rule bending would be perfectly acceptable.
Yeah, but making it up as you go along is the point of the Two Minute Topic.
It's to exercise your brain a little bit - force you to think about something weird in a way you might not typically consider it. It's meant to prime you for the "real" conversations by getting your mind going.
I'm going to keep the segment, but I'm going to choose better topics.
Good point. To keep it clear, I LOVED the second topic
Or did you want to look ever so slightly smarter than everyone else
Seriously though, I figured literally a minute before sitting down a "this is what we're going to be talking about" might get them over that 30 second gap after the question has been asked.
Because once they started talking it flowed quite nicely.
The Hyper-Visor which is the core part of VMWare ESX proves the point about not having all the baggage of an OS and therefore the processor has more time for the hosted environments and takes up less for the base OS.
The Hyper-Visor is enough of an OS to run VMware and host environments, which typically is full operating systems, but it doesn't need to be.
This for me is the reason why Vitrual Server 2007 is still going to be behind VMWare because it still requires a full OS to sit on.
I can only see this trend continuing and if Microsoft don't realise this they will fall behind.
**********************************************
I like this video allot ! Not bothered about the setting it's all about the conversation for me. These are my favourite kind on C9 videos.
Loved the subjects covered, topical debate is very interesting for me, it's what I read blogs for so it's really cool to see this in the new medium specially as not that many outfits are really doing this.
Very much looking forward to the next one ... I really hope this will be a regular feature.
Next time you may as well go for broke and do it in a pub or a coffee-shop for real because, lets be honest, this is where most of us have these kind of conversations anyway.
The best thing is guys ... you have kept it real ... and this to me is very important and something I value a lot.
It is reassuring to see real people having real conversations ... and this is a very powerful thing for Microsoft to do ... it is a very positive thing.
Anyway ... Rory, Charles needs to be in the next one because he is a deep guy and it would be really cool to see his points of view.
It'll be a regular feature provided people actually like it. I wouldn't want to be posting something to C9 that bugged most of our viewers
It's interesting that you mention a coffee shop because I consider this to be a sort of "live" version of C9's Coffeehouse.
As for shooting in a cafe - that'd be hard to pull off because of the permission we'd have to get to shoot. People typically want money, too, when they let you use their locations for video shoots.
It's a good idea, though, and one I'll look into. This is Seattle (sort of), and there's no shortage of cafes. Must be at least one around here somewhere that would be agreeable to letting us shoot...
I agree. One of the points here was to have a real conversation - we aren't trying to be perfect or appear knowledgable on all these subjects. We're just talking and tossing ideas around.
I wanted people to see that softies are real people. The world knows we all make mistakes, but I feel that, too often, people working for and representing corporations try to come off as perfect - as though the slightest sign of weakness would mean the end to things. I feel the opposite - I think it builds trust to show ourselves in our weak moments, making mistakes, and blundering over our words.
Nobody's perfect, and it's silly to pretend to be.
Charls and Jeff are both signed up for future episodes.
I really want to get Charles in a video because:
1. He's a cool/interesting/fun guy who ought to be showcased more often
2. He's very handsome, and I think that people should be able to enjoy his positive physical attributes
When he gets back from Barcelona, I'll snag him for one of these
For example you could ask everyone to speak for 2-5 minutes about a cool stuff they discovered the last week, may it be an application, a way to resolve a problem, a book, an article, a wow instance...
I'm from the Portland area, so it was kind of wierd to hear you bring up the car deal. It was KIA, and if you bought one of the "high-end" mini-vans, you got a slightly used kia rio for free.
Very wierd deal!
On another note, for some reason whenever I try to jump to a point in the movie, wmp11 crashes. Anybody else having this issue?
That's actually a really good idea.
So, maybe change the show to:
1. Just two main topics of discussion
2. An "open forum" for people to bring their own subjects to the table
I like that - a lot.
Thanks for contributing
The "Download" file seems to be screwy - is this happening to you for the streaming file or the Download file?
The download file. Yes, the compression seems to be having issues too. Really jumpy.
You should announce ahead of time when you will be recording the shows, and have a number for niners to call in and suggest a topic to discuss
Just an idea.
Jonathan
The very first video of C9 coming out, they had a nice set up, and I think it would/might be good to use. If thats what the C9 Studio was that Rory said earlier, then yea, use it!
I will toy with this idea a bit more.
Invest in a professional set for the show and have multiple cameras and mic everyone.
I like the round table concept, like the Charlie Rose Show.
Instead of show title of Five On Nine, suggest Live On Nine.
Then you can vary the number of people being interviewed.
Pick two to three topics and just discuss them.
Have at least one other regular moderator.
How about Jennifer?
Great first show and keep up the good work.
P.S. Lose the shoot the _hit language!
That original C9 video along with The .NET Show and some of the original 10 stuff was filmed at Microsoft Studios. Its an amazing facility and great folks, but shoots like that require a full crew, multiple cameras and lots of post production.
Not the most agile environment.
We've picked up a NewTek unit and are starting to use it over at our Platform Adoption Center. It will allow us to plug in multiple cameras, multiple machines and swap between sources on the fly. We'll use it for shows like Rory's 5 on 9 and lots of other stuff for 9 and 10.
Should be fun. It will allow us to be agile, but a bit more produced.
Heck, we can even do chromakey stuff on it to be really annoying. [6]
Oracle picked the most widely used Enterprise Linux distro with Redhat. That makes sense.
1) Aliens don't exist, regardless of their introversion, the 'Prime Objective' & unexplained cow mutilations.
2) Users will always demand OS choices. It is part of personal identity.
3) Cloning & enslaving one's self is unethical; pace-maker? Adam is scarey. Pair programming with one's self... LOL.
4) How to make money with internet video? Team up with content providers like Time-Warner, Sony, Viacom, etc., which is exactly what Google is doing after buying you-tube. It is inevitable this will make tons of money, and there will be commercials to foot the bill just like today.
5) Implicit, evolved topic, DRM. It is essential and necessary. I was dismayed in 1994 to personally watch OS2 Warp become available in Irkutsk, Siberia, before it was available as a retail product in the USA or anywhere else. Sickening. DRM may help stop pirating intellectual and artistic property worldwide and that is very long overdue. I'm glad Vista will support is so well.
Whoa, where did the echo come from 52 minutes in?? Cleared up at 53:58... eeeccchh.
Brad, Jason, Adam, & Brett, thanks!
Rory, I suggest a single-purpose topic and interviewees who are motivated and prepared to discuss.
My pick? Agile development and how to adopt it. Peter & Brad...
::Brad Wilson is an inspiration to me since seeing him write code at the SC-BAT workshop last March.
::I met Adam then, too, and he is very personable, but I never got to see him write code...
Very cool video.
I haven't been able to watch it yet (still downloading...
) but I just wanted to say I had a really great time doing this and look forward to future episodes.
Thanks again, Rory, for inviting me.
Looking forward to the next episode, hope this wasn’t the last!
And Microsfot picked the second
Cool tshirt Adam
This is allot like Cranky Geeks, just less cranky.
http://www.crankygeeks.com
I liked the idea of the palate clearing 2 minute bits but.... I'm not sure I want to actually listen to those sections.
Perhaps one of the palate clearing sections could be a rapid fire question thing - sort of a comedic break in between...
Other guests i'd like to see:
Larry Osterman
Bill Hill
Robert Scoble
Major Nelson (Larry Hyrb)
and for equality purposes a female...we know there are few there at MS (see WM_IN)
Also, say if your interviewing a team about a product they are working on...you might do it in this format, talk about the product, then discuss different issues related to that market... a real discussion, a non-marketing type feel.. this is where this type of show can do well for C9.
I think this show could be a big hit, a pretty good first week i'd say Rory
For me the show is treading an awkward line between being what I'm interested in (allowing a few Microsoft guys to discuss current hot topics and present a more human face) and what it has to do to survive on Channel 9 (which ultimately has to represent Microsoft without leaving the company open to legal action or presenting it in a wholly negative light).
) and would be echoed in normal rational conversation
about a topic, but had to be stamped down for fear of crossing the line.
That line became very obvious in Jason's comment about Larry Ellison - it's the sort of comment that I'd expect to hear (maybe I'm just bitter about the four weeks I spent working for Larry in Belmont
Truth is we're people and people have opinions and people make decisions. If you can't let people express those opinions things ain't gonna work, and they typically result in the far more interesting conversations anyway that open up whole topics of interest.
Other than that my only comment would be that it's not a good use of video. For me it's a podcast. Not sure how you fix that. You don't want to go the "production" route of the .Net show, but a fixed camera of four people without hi-def video is kind of pointless and when the camera does move it's kind of shaky and annoying.
If you want strong audience figures for future shows you need to get over the annoyances because half an hour is a lot of time to commit on a weekly basis the camerawork (or lack of camerawork) is frankly so off-putting that I can't see more than the "hardcore" usual suspects from the Coffeehouse bothering each week. Everything else about it is fine and I thought the mix of people was really good too.
Oh and Adam, if you sit like that when you are coding, you are going to totally bust up your knee - trust me. It hurts. Lots.
How many shows are you going to record in a month/year? You shouldn't do too much. A few, well prepared, would make them special!
I would rather watch you guys play World of Warcraft
Don't waste money budgeting for a fancy studio, keep it like it is and spend that money on making the snacks in the kitchen free. Just make sure you can't see the people behind the camera reflected in the TV on the wall like you could in this episode at one point... May be stick an image on it instead which should help with that if you stay where you are for the short term.
2 minute topic thing is a good idea, but how about letting the guests pick the topics they want to argue, that way we get an insight into what they feel strongly about.
Yup, I've said it before, Bill Hill is the most fascinating person ever interviewed in C9.
Fancy!
Over at dt.tv and crankygeeks.com they use the Newtek Tricaster.
It's good to see Newtek still going strong. I was an Amiga user for many years and Newtek is the company that kept that company going for as long as it did.
YES.
I big goal of mine is to get niners involved. I'm not sure of how to do it yet, but I've got some ideas.
Regarding niners who live in the Seattle area (write to me, by the way: roryb AT youknowwhatcompany.com), it's not going to be as much of a problem. The interested ones can just come on out.
But, for the remote ones - we need a way to interface with 'em. I've been thinking about possible having a special section on the show where, for five minutes or so, we just have a roundtable phone chat with a niner who gets to peg us with all sorts of questions (maybe ten minutes). There would, unfortunately, have to be some rules about the subject matter, but I think it could be pretty fun.
Eh? Eh?
It seems like I'm one of the only people who likes Two Minute Topic
That's all right, though. This show is for you people, so I'd rather you enjoyed it than... well, not
And, this wasn't the last episode - going to try again and see what happens when some of the kinks are worked out.
/me wants to ask questions too *waving with the hand from italy* What's the time you are recording those sessions? If in the morning (your time) europeans could tune in too
I'll see about the guests - Those are some pretty big names
And, yeah - the female ratio is a huge problem. Working on that.
I also like your idea of using this format to talk to a product team. Totally hadn't thought of that, but it could be really interesting.
Thanks for the comments, yo
It's about 5:00 AM where you are when we're recording
Sorry, Mr. Guru. I honestly am - in the same way that I want an outside/non-male perspective, it's also be cool to get some transatlantic and transpacific ideas in the mix, too, but the time zone issue is a problem.
I got these people to do the show as a sort of "after hours" thing so that it wouldn't be seen as interfering with their day jobs. I don't want to put a lot of pressure on people who actually have deadlines to ship things. That'd be, like, bad and stuff.
The unfortunate reality of having to self-censor a bit bothered me as well, but that's just the way things are, you know?
We don't actually have to cut those bits out or stay away from those topics, but I don't like the idea of bashing other companies.
I've never worked for Larry (glad about that), but I really don't want anything that can be perceived as "bashing" in the show. The point is to have a fun conversation about tech and to stay away from the ad-hominems and such. There's enough of that going on around the net already.
Not as worried about the legal ramifications - it really is a content thing. I find it embarrassing when softies come out in public and rail against other companies, and as long as I get some control over the content of the show, I'd rather not see it happen in my project.
I agree, but I don't think the show was changed in a huge way by me cutting Jason off in the middle of his comment. I did that, like I said, because I don't want that kind of content in the show (or coming out of MS anywhere). It's true that people have opinions to express, but it's too easy to bash - I want better content than that.
The production will improve. This was an experiment.
I went through the same video vs. audio thing as you, but I like the idea of video. I think it's more fun when you can see the expressions on people's faces.
It could be argued that a huge amount of the content on TV and the net could be put out in audio rather than video form, but, for whatever reasons, people often choose video. It's more dynamic - it sucks you in a bit more. That's what I want with this show.
I'm not as concerned about numbers as I am about the audience actually enjoying what they're watching. I'm confident that, if I can make the show shorter, better produced, and so on, that the numbers will increase.
The first job, though, is to make the viewers happy.
And I can only do that through comments like this one
just wow
you are the new soul of channel 9, and this video was generally OK
the show's guests were medicore but as a host i feel you are amazing!
edit: and the guy in the red shirt, you really should start taking control of your weight. i'm not trying to insult your intelligence, or you as a person. it will help maximize your lifespan too
conclusion: longer not shorter, or if you want to make them shorter than make this show happen more often
but i would prefer 90 minutes not 60, or ::gulp:: 30
I agree with Rory that a video is great because you do get to see peoples reactions which will make it a far more compelling experience.
But I didn't see any reason why this presentation couldn't go to audio as well, for those of us that want to time crunch.
Yes, I know. I just started several weeks ago (small steps, but less fast food, no caffeine, no pops whatsoever (just water), and walking three times a week (oh, and healthy salad for lunch)). They're small steps, but they are better than nothing. I also have some mental issues to work through as well as food is an addiction to me just like any other drug. That's another tale for another time though
Thanks for the concern. I let it go for far too long. I'm still a young guy and I would rather turn it around while I still have a chance. I think having a kid on the way can shock a person into realizing that they are throwing their life away
edit: Oh, and it's probably best not to throw stones when you live in a glass house. You don't even know me and the first thing you do _is_ insult my intelligence by saying I need to lose weight (I don't care if you say you're _not_ trying to insult it, but you _are_ because you assume I don't already know I need to lose weight). If I knew you, I'm sure I could think of many things to insult you about as well. How about you get to know a person a little, it's called "humanity."
In fact, forget the video. We don't need to see anyone. This would be an excellent podcast.
I see no reason to have to watch the video and would prefer to take it on the road with me.
Opinions?
Wish you luck with that Jason. It is hard. I am doing Nutrisystem and I like it as far as diets go. It is not a point system (tried that, and I could never do it) and is ~easy for me as you know exactly what you should be doing for each meal. BTW - good show.
We've discussed the podcast vs. video thing, and here's what I've decided:
1. There's no reason it couldn't be both - just take the audio from the show and publish it as a podcast for the people who prefer it that way
2. I like the dynamic nature of video - getting people's facial expressions and all
That's about it. I prefer video, and a lot of people seem to like video, but a few have asked for a podcast. Once I improve the audio quality of the show (hopefully through lapel mics), doing this sucker as a podcast won't be difficult at all, so watch for the announcement of an audio version of the show
Will 5on9 be getting its own RSS soon? Perhaps a show-page?
Jonathan
Arrrggggg wanted to watch this over the weekend -
will try to see it tonight ...
but I like the idea of "Live On 9"
any chance we could get MSFT to use some live streaming stuff to make for a "live on the net" format ??
like chat room + live feed and if a viewer had a good question and a mic / camera take a live feed from the viewer and make it part of the show ??
then we could have folks around the world listen, watch and interact!
I know this poses some issues like editing, moderating etc....
but I thinbk that would have some huge possiblitys....
think "The .Net Show LIVE!" but less studio editing and more "Live talk"
Yup-o
I love the idea of doing the show live with chat rooms and so on, but the logistics would be... yeah.
Pretty tough.
It's something I'll think about, but I don't know if we'd be able to pull it off
How about if you allowed people to sign up for shows in advance with different people each week or something and then you agree with the participants on a time. You could give them each a link or something that only they can use to access the live video feed to contribute there thoughts. You then edit, cut etc and upload the final video for all to see. This way niners can get involved but your safe from getting fired
What ya think?
what about the "Live meeting" server / service ?
and the "Communicator" ??
is Live meeting able to do the video and audio streams ??
as I recall it has chat built-into the live meeting system.
I,d think that the issues would be:
1) number of "Mods" watching Q&A posts and Requests.
2) getting the client bits on the 9er's pc
3) what other backend resources (servers, cameras etc...)
4) network res. bandwidth / backhaul
5) justifying costs to MSFT
Just brainstorming
I'd think this could party-way be a good way to show what can be done....
MSFT web casts (that I have been in) were just a bunch of PPT decks with an audio stream and lmited chat options....
so this could also be a new twist on what a web-cast should be
Jason, you're smarter than I thought, dude
Adam, enjoyed seeing you on cam again. You never cease to impress us being a UI guy, as well as a programmer, and still be able to hold your own in a conversation on OS's. Hella-sweet dawg. Oh, and by the way tell your wife not to put cool music on her myself, I found it while looking at Softie-spaces and now I'm slightly addicted to the song on there...wouldn't be bad if it weren't "Somewhere over the Rainbow".
Rory - well, you know. You're damn cool man! Excellent host. Excellent niche. Keep up the good work, and be sure to have Jason and Adam on there again, soon, really soon...as a matter of fact, now, or as soon as possible, slumber party if necessary.
Hey... that could actually work.
We might not be able to pump out a fully live video feed, but we could do snapshots every five seconds or so.
I like that, and it might even be possible.
It wouldn't be a feed of what the viewers will finally see, but, rather, a simple webcam view of things.
And, yeah - we could broadcast the audio over LiveMeeting and take questions that way.
Dude. You're brilliant
I'll look into this a little more...
Why Thank you Mr. Rory, every once in a while that happens
Wow this was really brutal and hard to watch.
Is it possible for you guys to use the stage that MSDN "the show" users?
I guess if you are going for the "waynes world' look you don't need to change.
This is just really brutal and boring.
Thanks.
It's always nice to see fellow employees sticking up for us...
I thought the show was really good. Yeah, the furniture and the sound and the big TV yadda yadda, but as a proof of concept it was pretty good. Just a bunch of geeks sitting around debating tech/geeky concepts, good job.
Yeah, I can see this fitting into lots of people's weekend or early week routine. DNR, Mondays, FoN etc...
Good job and congrats on the new job
--Bryan
I am definately looking forward to the next episode.
Excellent idea and excellent topics!
Anthony
Remove this comment
Remove this thread
close