Hi, Everyone,

Just a few notes about the Microsoft Communities:

  1. They are open to the public, and, as far as I can tell, any current
browser on
any platform can view them.  I think you need to be Microsoft-based to
MANAGE a
community, but not to view the web pages and participate.

  2. This communities are large and supported by a Web Farm (I suspect
Windows 2000
Servers), so it is not surprising that there is an occasional disruption
related to
the volume of traffic (altho MSN is constantly working to improve them).
The ASE
Library is filed under "Computers and Internet", which is further divided
into:

    Hardware (876)
    Programming (965)
    Internet (5896)
    Software (1030)
    Microsoft (385)
    User Groups (873)
    Operating Systems (1030)

The numbers in parentheses are counts of Communities within that category,
so you
can imagine the numbers of participants involved.

  3. If you really want to become involved, you may need to get a Passport
(with an
optional Electronic Wallet).  The idea is to first get a Passport (from
http://www.passport.com/) and then go to the communities and join what you
want
using the email address associated with your Passport.  The Passport also
works with
a number of vendors on the web (I don't know how many Ada product vendors
are
involved) in support of Electronic Commerce (so that you can have the same
ID for
every vendor you deal with on the web), and you can attach an Electronic
Wallet to
your Passport (which contains Credit Card numbers and shipping addresses) to
make it
easier to purchase products and services on the web.  I think it's an
interesting
idea, and I have a Passport myself (but no eWallet yet).

  4. If you don't want to get a Passport, you can still browse the
Communities as a
Visitor.  Also, if you have some ideas for the ASE Library, you can still
contact me
directly.  I'll probably post results of ASE Library Community activity on
Team Ada
from time to time.

Rick
====================================
Richard Conn, Principal Investigator
Reuse Tapestry