Ballmer, Clippy Popular On Facebook
Microsoft recently launched a Facebook group for participants in its MSDN "Ramp Up" training program. The Ramp Up program features online learning resources and guided training programs to help developers advance their .Net programming skills. The Facebook group, which currently counts 19 members, offers a social space for participants to chatter and compare notes.
Other Facebook groups link up .Net programmers (1,665 members), Silverlight enthusiasts (745 of 'em) and ASP.NET developers (1,742 participants -- many recruiting for open contract positions). Alas, none of those groups has drawn as much interest as the 2,213-member strong community "F--- you, paperclip from Word...f--- you". (The actual community name is dash free, but my editors tell me that ChannelWeb and its magazine siblings are family publications. Readers: Please send us photos of you passing CRN around to the kids at the breakfast table. We promise to print them.)
The real Facebook Microsoft nexis is Microsoft's own Facebook network, the one for its employees, which counts a whopping 19,000 members -- including, apparently, the Big Kahuna himself. Gossip blog Valleywag has a link to Steven A Ballmer's Facebook profile. Microsofties: We dare you to SuperPoke Steve.