Summary: This is the unofficial request list to be a betatester of Vista.

Quick Notes

* Requirements: You must be an active Channel 9 member for at least 6 months and have contributed more than 50 posts (Instigated threads or replies).
* Put your membername and a link to your Channel 9 profile at the end of the list.
* Guys, I hate to burst your bubble, but I doubt the Vista team are a) short on beta-testers, or b) want to use "post a lot on Channel 9" as their test criteria. No point wasting your energy on this until/unless you get one of the Vista team to say "sure, that sounds like a good idea!" -- JonathanHardwick

Argument In Favor

Vista invites should be given to Channel9 members as part of a 3-pronged strategy along the lines of Team99.

Electronic communication first really "began" with e-mail. Email is a one-to-one communication style; one person sends a message to one person. It's also possible for one person to send a message to many people, but the core use is one-to-one communication.

In the past few years, wikis, blogs, and forums have gained increasingly relavency over the internet. These tools are other forms of communication. A blog is a one-to-many "broadcasting" tool, where one person can reach effectively unlimited people. A forum is a many-to-many communication tool, where many members take part in reacting to each other. Wikis are many-to-one communication tools; many people collaborate one a single message.

The real advantage of the internet is that once each person communicates, an unlimited number of people can consume that information. People read forums and yet do not particpate; people read wikis and do not edit. Emails are published, or used as proof.

Team99 is an innoative - and very clever - step to leverage the power of electronic communication. A small group of people interfaces with the Vista Team - has all their questions answered. They become "gurus" on the subject of Vista, Microsoft's next-gen operating system. They then use this information to communicate to the world: a relatively unbiased set of sources who are very knowledgeable, and can communicate with thousands.

However, the Team99 strategy ONLY utilizes blogs. It ignored the other three type of electronic communication - two of which are very applicable, and excellent marketing tools. Vista needs a wiki and a forum to capitilize on the new, very effective ways of communicating.

The advantages to the many-to-many and the many-to-one communication styles are obvious: a forum will provide a field for people to field questions and receive answers, fulfilling the traditional role of a newsgroup, and also providing an unprecedented access to information. The wiki will allow common problems to have solutions, and a FAQ; the wiki can function a reference material for information.

Channel9 members argue that Channel9 is a perfect vehicle to supply the forum and wiki aspect of the strategy. The set up cost is very low, and enables the Vista team to experiment with the tri-pronged electronic communication strategy in an informal manner. Channel9 already has a large, knowledgeable community that is by definition appreciative of Microsoft's efforts, yet is not fanatical and retains an open mind. It also has considerable "mindhsare".

Channel9's mission is to increase the transparency at Microsoft. By informally turning Channel9 into a "go to" place for information on Vista via the wiki and the forum, Channel9 fulfills its mission, and also supplies a useful function to the Vista Team.

The informal aspect is useful this early on in testing, as the Vista Team makes no commitments or sacrifices to create the resources. Additionally, the pre-established nature of Channel9 should be useful in attracting people to contribute, and as Robert Scoble is closely affiliated with Channel9, popularity and mindshare should be fairly easily possible to acquire.

Channel 9 members who want to be a Vista beta-tester

* Anshuman Gholap -- http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=16216
* Jamie -- http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=3010
* ZippyV -- Beta-ID: 602218 -- http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=3277
* dotnetjunkie -- http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=10413
* Manip -- http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=756
* fdezjose -- http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=3190
* Programous - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=8480
* HellSnoopy - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=9086
* MisterDonut - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=6668
* mVPstar - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=13062
* W3bbo - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=13060
* Michael Griffiths - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=13611
* Steve411 (Stevan Veselinovic Beta ID - 546936) - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=928
* Jeremy Wright - http://www.ensight.org / http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=309
* Loadsgood - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=2698
* prog_dotnet - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=2542
* footballism - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=4877
* Stitch 2.0 - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=3265
* BillH - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=6174
* Shmuelpro - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=5479
* littleguru - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=6070
* Lars - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=1041
* NeoTOM - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=13955 (Note: I'm on Connect: neotom@comcast.net. An invite would rock)
* Arran - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=13409
* daSmirnov - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=14471
* andokai - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=9620
* ScanIAm - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=9071
* Tom Malone - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=1580
* Tyler Brown - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=14266
* LeonardoCruz - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=10836
* bander - http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/bander

Channel 9 members who don't meet the proposed membership criteria, but want to put their names down anyway

* Morpheus Phreak (http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/Morpheus%20Phreak) (I am on connect, and have been a tester for various other MS products and am a MSN Beta Butterfly.)
* joshharris ( http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/joshharris)
* cocodesigns - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=22894 (Beta ID 470992, beta tester since Windows 2003, love windows)
* asharism - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=17431
* PeterH - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=16344 (Thinks he can bring something v.special to this beta test, almost meets criteria)
* XiXora - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=4955 (Long time user but tends to read more than post ( 9 months ))
* GArry Punter - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=10678 (Really love Windows, would love to see the next one and help Microsoft at the same time)
* luX - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=3375 (MS Betatester since May 2003, loves Vista and can't wait for the Betatest since 2002)
* paulo - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=8355 (Beta #ID 610201, Beta Tester of Win NT 3.1, 3.5 and 3.51,MSH Command Shell, BizTalk 2006, Data Protection Manager 2006, Codename Maestro,SQL Server 2005, Visual Studio 2005,Windows Live Mobile Beta ,Commerce Server 2006,Microsoft Windows Compute Cluster Server 2003 Beta, Microsoft Firewall Client for ISA 2004,Microsoft Office Communicator Mobile, MS Virtual Server 2005 with SP1, MSN Live Messenger, Microsoft OneCare, use MS products everyday since 1988)
* Skriker V1.0 - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=2456
* Compugab - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=6015
* Intelman - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=5711 (Bored of using XP for 4 years, intrested in technology, I'll definitely submit feedback...)
* Spitfire15 - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=17375
* yifan_lu - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=21220 (I am a good bug hunter and I will DEFINITELY submit feedback. I am already in connect and I am testing BizTalk Server 2006 and Windows Server 2003 R2. I spend 5 hours testing every day. Everyone in my family uses MS products.)
* Cooler - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=18223 (Well, my friends call me bugweiser, get the point?, I'm a long time reader + 50 posts.)
* Aayush Puri - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=4706
* LeonardoCruz - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=10836
* brussell - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=20341 (Work as software developer and used to work in QA)
* Blackice - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=13530 (AeroXP member, love digging around Vista ;) Also, use PC a lot and love to test extreme cases)
* Charith - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=21311 (working as a jnr software developer in Sri Lanka)
* Krishna Kumar - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=15336 (Working as a Software Engineer for a US based MNC in India)
* Simon G. - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=510 (Enthusiast student studying computer systems and also running information systems - including testing of internal applications - in a small business, as well as running another small business to do various computer jobs (Hardware, Software, Network) for clients, these clients also turn to me for advice about future technologies such as the product in this beta)
* TDude - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=14634 - beta id: 644505 (almost 6 months Channel9 member, doesn't post too much, but did 2 Windows/Microsoft Update beta programs before)
* James Fox - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=19795 (Been working as a developer on MS platforms for years)
* nojetlag - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=6393
* jimbo11883 - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=21599 (Been using Windows since 3.1, developing software with VB 6, VB.Net, learning XAML)
* andrebsd - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=17651 (Worked with Windows for a bit over 10 years, and ended up doing tech support for most everyone I know (its free, because I like doing it); even walk around wearing Microsoft pins quite often for those who don't know what i'm good at :P)
* RaiN - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=18118 (been using Windows since 3.0, technology geek and local MS evangelist)
* FXEF - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=7019
* beussery - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=13170
* bonk - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=16402
* Ricky LH http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=5210 (Hasta la VISTA!)
* ClintEastman - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=1588 (Been here since the start (of channel9 not the universe) and have been a MS Beta tester for A LOT longer, I’m a butterfly don’t you know!) ;)
* Michele Longhi - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=21666
* Chris OConnor - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=1253
* Bosky101- (http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=20738)
* Angelo L.- http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=22922 )I'd love to be a Windows Vista (Professional?) tester, I, also, am a long-time Windows Pro, since 95 or even a little earlier. I fix XP machine problems for a living. Not a big channel 9 user, but I'd LOVE to beta test Vista (professional, if applicable) Thank you!! Boo to Linux. :D
*James Weston - (http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/mastermine)
* Sc00ter - (http://channel9.msdn.com/Niners/Sc00ter)
* Cyonix - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=10018

Channel9 Members who already have invites

* Slackmaster K - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=16177 (Thanks guys!)
* Tom Servo -- ID: 489782 -- http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=4021
* skaro - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=880 (Big time long time user...not a big poster though!)
* jkwuc89 - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=442
* Chris123NT - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=3527
* Tommy4 - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=17932
* Kunal - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=9421
* prog_dotnet - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=2542
* eagle - http://channel9.msdn.com/User/Profile.aspx?UserID=255