Microsoft Most Valuable Professional

[1] They are awarded to people who "actively share their ... technical expertise with the different technology communities related directly, or indirectly to Microsoft".

As the story goes, some of the Microsoft people jumped on Calvin's List as a way to identify high contributors, and thus was born the MVP program.

This may have been in response to a recent suit against AOL by its newsgroup leaders, who felt that they deserved to be paid for the time they put in online.

After an outpouring of online support to the MVP program, including many emails sent directly to Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer, Microsoft announced three days later that the cancellation had been rescinded.

The program became far more successful through these efforts, expanding its global footprint and receiving coverage with more than 100 independent press articles, eventually landing as one of Microsoft's Board of Director's 7 Big Bets for 2007.