Microsoft MVP Award 2009

I've just received this email:

Congratulations! We are pleased to present you with the 2009 Microsoft® MVP Award! This award is given to exceptional technical community leaders who actively share their high quality, real world expertise with others.

It means that I am now starting my 11th year as a Microsoft MVP.
To be honest, I was surprised that I received it this year, as my posting to newsgroups was much less than in previous years. I've focussed more on the http://moneymvps.org/ website and this blog as I feel it has a wider reach. In addition, it saves me repeating answers to questions that I have answered before. I've actually been dipping into the newsgroups a lot less recently. I've a number of short articles to write for the website, and I am trying to overhaul some of the product pages to allow me to update them easier and for them to perform better (they retrieve data directly from Amazon, and I am finding their web services a little unreliable).
The MVP award also gives me an invitation to Redmond (which will be in March 2009). I didn't visit this year, and as yet I'm not sure whether I will next at present, due to the uncertain (nay, lack of) job. Sometimes fellow MVPs get to visit the Money team - maybe that'll be possible next year.

Money Plus (2008) Insights

Now that the trial versions of Microsoft Money Plus have been released, more information on the product can be discovered.

Insights
One of the newest items is what could be considered the re-introduction of Money Express, but under the guise of 'Insights'.

Insights provide you with the ability to see information about bills, spending and cash flow from outside of the program. There are three insights in the program, and a brief summary can be see in the articles below

• Cash Flow Insight
• Spending Insight
• Bills Insight

Insights do not require you to have Money running, as the program uses your Money file directly. It lives in the taskbar on the Windows screen, highlighting you to alerts as required.

Options within these insights are limited. They are designed to provide pertinent data to allow you to go into the Money file if something needs to be done.

When some of the MVPs were in Redmond earlier in the year, we did see some of the prototype work here, and it is good to see that some of the things we saw made it into the program.

Day with the Microsoft Money team

Well, today three Money MVPs, including myself had a day with the Microsoft Money product group, which was rewarding, we think, for all parties.

The day consisted of meeting the team, including the testers, developers, product managers and other people who are involved in creating the product. We talked about the product, design, support, development and test. In addition there was some brainstorming for the future and opinion sought from us.

It was really quite refreshing to know that information and ideas we provided today, were discussed and considered for any potential future products. I'd be interested in seeing if anything makes it into Money 2008 or Money 2009 (or later).

Most of the content we discussed was NDA, so I can't share it, but I felt that the team were very open and was a 2 way process.

A couple of questions that people told me in advance were discussed, and some statistics from my website (moneymvps.org) were shared. Obviously MSN Money and the Money KB far outstrip anything I can provide, but the little niche that I help with my site, at least got an airing. The information I gave could help the product in future, but even if not, it gives the team some feedback on what some other people see.

Thanks to them, and those who contacted me before I met the team.

MVP Summit

In about 10 days time, I'll be crossing the Atlantic and be at the home of Microsoft at Redmond, Washington, USA for the MVP summit.

The MVP summit occurs every 18 months or thereabouts, and enables MVPs for many technologies to meet the Microsoft product teams. It gives an opportunity for us to discuss Microsoft products with the people who actually design their products.

This means that I'll get the chance (along with some of the other Money MVPs) to ask questions and give feedback to the product group.

So, I'll ask you whether there are any questions you'd like me to put to the product group on your behalf - I'd ask you to avoid product support questions (these are better directed to the newsgroups), but aim more at what you'd like to see in future products, areas for improvement, what you like/don't like. Please post to this blog or email me directly.

I'll print out the questions before I get to meet the product team, and try to respond to you directly (or on this blog).

MVP status for another year

Having been away for a few days, I came back to the news that my MVP status continues into the 2006/2007 award year. I've now had the award from mid-summer 1998, so that's over 8 years.

Question: What is the Microsoft MVP award?

Answer: The Microsoft Most Valuable Professional (MVP) Award is an annual award that is given to outstanding members of Microsoft's peer-to-peer communities, and is based on the past year's contributions those members make in those communities online and offline.

You can find more details about the award on the Microsoft MVP site at http://mvp.support.microsoft.com.

In the United Kingdom, there are two of us for Microsoft Money - myself (Glyn Simpson) and Bob Peel. Both of us have the same length of award.