This post is directed at anyone in Microsoft that can push the Connect team to implement some new, useful functionality. I’m baiting Robert Scoble simply because he has complained about this issue in the past.
I would argue that connect.microsoft.com is all about marketing. Not the advertising definition of marketing, but the customer-interaction, product-development definition. Many of the folks that are willing to be guinea pigs by participating in betas probably also have jumped on the RSS bandwagon. These factors seem to make it a no brainer that RSS would add significant value to the Connect site. Specific feeds I would like to see include:
- All new publicly available beta programs.
- New public programs based on a filter setup by the user.
- New invitation-only programs based on user login (not sure how to do this with Passport, but if Microsoft ever adds a full-featured feed reader, passport feed authentication could be a bonus feature).
- Required actions as they arrive for enrolled betas.
- Daily/Weekly Update with reminders of unfinished required actions.
This is an excellent opportunity to enhance your interactions with your customers. If Microsoft is really serious about incorporating RSS into the platform, then this is an great opportunity to lead the way and show how RSS be useful for more than press releases and product info.
One Man Shouting 