I was growing so weary of getting those Balloon Tips on my Tablet PC, and I searched high and low to find out how to rid myself of them. My tablet has wireless built in, and when the net connection is flaky or absent, I get constant balloons telling me about the on-again, off-again affair my wireless card is having with the cosmos. These useless messages get in the way of my taskbar and so on, and I am just annoyed.

Kelly Theriot, Windows MVP star, has an outrageously helpful site (even if a little sluggish at times) that categorizes tweaks, tips, and tricks (http://www.kellys-korner-xp.com) and one of here FAQ entries is for disabling this balloons. Thanks, Kelly.

As long as I am at it, let me pose the question: Why is it that our own Microsoft web sites do not categorize our tips and tweaks the Kelly and other great citizens do? To be sure, we cannot do everything, and I know our Web site managers throughout Microsoft work very, very hard. But, why not just pay Kelly and/or other MVPs to maintain a section of our site. Put Kelly’s picture or other MVPs who collaborate with her on the site. Create an accountability mechanism and some basic checks and balances. Set up the legal framework to limit our liability while increasing the content availability for the community. This way, everyone is better served.

• MVPs stay famous, and in fact, their visibility may increase
• We drive people to consistent sites with consistent info and presentation.
• We let the community drive the initiative but we make it a more seamless part of the Microsoft support experience.
• This model opens up new opportunities, new ways of thinking about how Microsoft works with the community
• The model provides a variable-cost approach. Microsoft does not commit to long-term resources with lots of new employees, new offices, more cafeterias etc. MVPs and other community leaders work remotely on their own terms. We negotiate the best agreement, and competition for the opportunity ensures that the best possible services are provided for the cost.
• Site content is sychronized with other Microsoft web properties and product planning

As the manager for one of our MSDN sites, these ideas strike close to home. We have alliances with sites like GotDotNet, and so forth. But I think these are only a hint of what could really happen if we dreamed big. I’m sure some other dreamers have thought of these things. Let’s chat.

Rock on.

Check out the MSDN Office Developer Center: http://msdn.microsoft.com/office