Microsoft says goodbye to the Butterfly Program

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Who remembers the MSN Butterfly community? For those of you who don't know, the program was renamed a few years ago to the Windows Live Butterfly Community. Today Microsoft officially announced that it will be closing the program, which had about ~150 members.

So what was the Windows Live Butterfly Community? The program launched about 8 years ago and was designed to award the best beta testers who tested MSN products. Everyone who actively participated in the program got the first dibs on beta testing MSN products. They received gifts from Microsoft as a token of their appreciation, and even held a few "Butterfly Tours" of Microsoft's Redmond campus.

When the MSN brand was faded out and Microsoft announced the Windows Live platform, the MSN Butterfly program was re-branded to the Windows Live Butterfly community. As a beta fanatic myself and after years of beta testing MSN products, I was invited to join the Windows Live Butterfly Community in 2005 and have been a member since. Over the last few years we have been granted exclusive access to many Windows Live products and also had first dibs on any Windows Live beta.

A Microsoft spokesperson confirmed to Mary Jo Foley over at ZDNet that the Windows Live Butterfly community has officially been closed, which was premature to the formal announcement in the NTTP newsgroup. A Microsoft spokesperson had this to say:

"The Butterfly group has been involved in beta testing MSN and Windows Live products for a number of years. Rather than continue the program as something only focused on beta testing, we're offering the group a variety of options to engage in the broader Windows Live community, including the opportunity to join the MVP (Most Valuable Professional) program and continued and future access to beta testing opportunities."

As a Windows Live Butterfly myself, I wish each and every one of you the best of luck in the future. Congratulations to those who have been nominated for the MVP (Most Valuable Professional) program.

(3 replies) #1 ccoltmanm on 02 Jul 2009 - 03:15

Cutting off the excessive fat only makes the company leaner and more focused. I say good bye.

#1.1 SteelToast on 02 Jul 2009 - 04:51

ccoltmanm said,

I agree

#1.2 LiquidSolstice on 02 Jul 2009 - 08:15

Oh, I didn't realize that awarding beta testers for their work which keeps a company focused what people wanted was excess fat.

#1.3 Magallanes on 02 Jul 2009 - 14:56

Betatester is a cheap (and usually useless) way to do QA.

#2 +shinji257 on 02 Jul 2009 - 04:06

I was a beta butterfly for a while. In fact I was part of the original group but never got into the reformed group since I didn't participate much. Anyways I noticed my nntp access to the group was denied a while ago so I figured that they had dropped the group.

(2 replies) #3 +Techno_Funky on 02 Jul 2009 - 04:41

I'd got a Mobile Signal Enhancer

#3.1 saasn on 02 Jul 2009 - 05:36

Did it even work ?

#3.2 +Techno_Funky on 03 Jul 2009 - 05:14

Never tried it out

#4 Patchou on 02 Jul 2009 - 05:06

Goodbye to all

(2 replies) #5 TonyLock on 02 Jul 2009 - 06:46

These girls were last year's proud winners:

Oops, "camel toad" alert!

#5.1 bradsday on 02 Jul 2009 - 12:59

Smile.

#5.2 toadeater on 02 Jul 2009 - 22:54

That camel toad thing just put a disturbing new twist on my name. :o

#6 +tunafish on 02 Jul 2009 - 07:07

i to was a butterfly, they did indeed have a few meetups! Sad day

#7 +dave164 on 02 Jul 2009 - 09:32

Awh man sad day, i was a butterfly myself, was a good time and the community was awesome.

I once got a Logitech Zoom webcam, WLM laptop bag, and a MSN Mobile car thing, a butterfly key ring, a MSN cap and various other branded things..

I'll miss everyone. But i'm going to bigger and brighter things and i'm starting an internship at Microsoft on Monday!

See everyone around.

#8 Shetland on 02 Jul 2009 - 13:01

I was involved, i got a webcam from them once too

#9 powerade01 on 02 Jul 2009 - 13:19

I was a butterfly too....

#10 notta on 02 Jul 2009 - 13:49

How many is that now that have been abandoned? Maybe if they stopped releasing so many new products and actually support them instead of looking to the next product some of these would last.

#11 GreyWolfSC on 02 Jul 2009 - 15:24

I never got to be a "butterfly." I always get invited to the weird test groups.

(1 reply) #12 +statm1 on 02 Jul 2009 - 19:44

As a butterfly for several years, I will miss the group.. I to also got the WL Messenger laptop bag.

#12.1 InsaneNutter on 03 Jul 2009 - 00:41

statm1 said,

Hehe iâ€™ve still got the laptop bag too!

Also got a Logitech QuickCam Zoom and some mat to put your mobile phone on or something.

Good old MSN Messenger Betas.

#13 war on 04 Jul 2009 - 00:10

Whooooooooooooo MVP baby!!

#14 Quikboy on 04 Jul 2009 - 17:16

Rats. I've heard about it, but I didn't know it offered this many cool things. I hope they resurrect it one day.

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