Microsoft is mostly seen in the internet community as the behemoth which basically does what it pleases with little regard for what the lonely customers think about its products. Apart from the select group of alpha and beta testers I have not seen much interaction between MS and users. The Microsoft company blogs are mostly personal with a view towards upcoming social events inside Microsoft with a few team blogs announcing the occasional product upgrades or service pack releases. Now Microsoft is trying to mold its old-school image into an interactive community where users voice their concerns and praises for MS products. This is where Microsoft Connect comes in.

Why Connect with Microsoft?

microsoft-connectMicrosoft Connect gives a long page long intro of what this service is really about. For example of hunting down new product beta releases on hundreds of Microsoft download pages Connect allows the MS Team to launch all their products through this portal. Or at least that is the idea. Bringing interested individuals and organizations and Microsoft product teams together so that MS can work with the customer rather than guessing what the public wants.

What can you do with Microsoft Connect?

According to Connect page you can …

Join a connection and a program
Download software
Report a bug / make suggestions
Get solutions from others
Vote for what’s important to you
Discuss a topic
Take a survey
Hosted by Microsoft
Sign in and register

Source: MSDN Blogs