The Redmond software vendor experiments with a combination of blogs, wikis and forums to increase customer dialogue.

On Tuesday, Microsoft quietly went live with a new Web site called “Channel 9″ that is designed to facilitate communication between Microsoft and its developer and customer constituencies.

The site, which was built using Microsoft’s ASP.Net Forums Web-based discussion technology, uses video clips, moblog technology, RSS feeds; wikis and forums to reach out to users.

Channel 9 is named in honor of the United Airlines in-flight channel which allows passengers to listen in on the cockpit.

“We think developers need their own Channel 9, a way to listen in to the cockpit at Microsoft, an opportunity to learn how we fly, a chance to get to know our pilots,” according to the Channel 9 Web site. ” Five of us in Redmond are crazy enough to think we just might learn something from getting to know each other. Were we wrong? Time will tell.

Microsoft-Watch.com