Microsoft Developer Network

Microsoft later began placing emphasis on incorporation of forums, blogs, library annotations and social bookmarking to make MSDN an open dialog with the developer community rather than a one-way service.

MSDN Library documented the APIs that ship with Microsoft products and also included sample code, technical articles, and other programming information.

The library was freely available on the web, with CDs and DVDs of the most recent materials initially issued quarterly as part of an MSDN subscription.

MSDN Forums were migrated to an all-new platform during 2008 that provided new features designed to improve efficiency such as inline preview of threads, AJAX filtering, and a slide-up post editor.

[19] MSDN had historically offered a subscription package whereby developers had access and licenses to use nearly all Microsoft software that had ever been released to the public.

MSDN was launched in September 1992[29] as a quarterly, CD-ROM-based compilation of technical articles, sample code, and software development kits.

In addition to CDs, there was a 16-page tabloid newspaper, Microsoft Developer Network News, edited by Andrew Himes, who had previously been the founding editor of MacTech, the premiere Macintosh technology journal.

[33] In 1996, Bob Gunderson began writing a column in Microsoft Developer Network News, edited by Andrew Himes, using the pseudonym "Dr.GUI".

Upon his departure, Dr. GUI became the composite identity of the original group (most notably Paul Johns) of Developer Technology Engineers that provided in-depth technical articles to the Library.

The early members included: Bob Gunderson, Dale Rogerson, Rüdiger R. Asche, Ken Lassesen, Nigel Thompson (a.k.a.

Renan Jeffreis produced the original system (Panda) to publish MSDN on the Internet and in HTML instead of the earlier multimedia viewer engine.

Dale Rogerson, Nigel Thompson and Nancy Cluts all published MS Press books while on the MSDN team.