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The Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) is an award presented by Microsoft. Microsoft MVPs are exceptional technical community leaders from around the world who have been awarded for voluntarily providing technical expertise towards technical communities supporting Microsoft products or technologies. An MVP is awarded for contributions over the past year.^[1]

The MVP program grew out of the developer community, as the initial MVPs were some of the most active on the online peer support communities such as Usenet and CompuServe. It has since grown to include other types of products, and other avenues of contribution.

A posting from Tamar Granor on the Universal Thread web site gives this account of the origin of the MVP program.

[edit] Cancellation and reinstatement

On October 22, 1999, a Microsoft executive sent out a message announcing the cancellation of the MVP program. This may have been in response to a recent suit against AOL by its newsgroup leaders, who felt that they deserved to be paid for the time they put in online. After an outpouring of online support, including many emails sent directly to Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, Microsoft announced three days later that the cancellation had been rescinded.^[3][4]

[edit] References

1. ^ Microsoft
2. ^ Granor, Tamar. "Re: Listing of 2003 VFP MVPs". Universal Thread. http://www.universalthread.com/wconnect/wc.dll?2,15,711310. Retrieved 2007-06-15.  (free registration required)
3. ^ Peterson, Karl. "MVP Program Abandoned Reinstated". http://www.mvps.org/about/kissoff.html. Retrieved 2007-06-15. 
4. ^ Foley, Mary Jo. "MS revives MVP program". ZDNet. http://web.archive.org/web/20001215234500/http://www.zdnet.com/zdnn/stories/news/0,4586,2381386,00.html. Retrieved 2007-06-15. 

[edit] External links

• Microsoft MVP site
  • Microsoft MVP FAQ
  • Current Microsoft MVP Awardees list
• MVPs.org community site