>As a former MVP I don't expect to disappear either. *s* I'd start to worry if everyone started disappearing. *G*

:)

>It still takes people and people cost money. The money MS used to spend for MVPs will, one could suppose, be diverted into this "new tech support program" but my point is that it will cost MSFT more and they will get less for their money.

Put it this way: They divert the money spent for the MVP program to their own new/better support system. The MVP people are still there/here answering questions as they did anyway before getting the MVP award. But MS doesn't spent anything for this support. So, at least apparently, MS has only to gain from this.

The real question is: will this lower the quality/quantity of the answers/solutions provided by the actual MVP? My answer is: Overall and on a long term, yes. But I can't say how much. If the quality is deprecated with, let's say, 0.1%, than, probably, no big deal. 10%: things are getting worse. 50%: MS has a problem.

I guess they did their estimations and they found out that they can spend better that money.

Another aspect, besides money, of the problem is the recognition that the MVP award meant. It was a kind of: "Hey, you're doing a good job helping our users. We'd like to thank you and tell everybody". Will the MVPs miss this "thank you" so much that they will lower the quality of their answers? I really doubt it. :)

Anyway, it will be interesting to see the "history" of this issue! :)

And just a different line of thinking: MS is an empire built in a very short time. That means A LOT of good decisions on the way. That doesn't mean that all their decisions are good. But it gives a very high probability to have a good decisions among their decisions. So, let's see what happens! :))

Vlad