At the MVP Summit, Microsoft plans to hold 700 sessions, bringing together MVPs with product and engineering teams.

That outside feedback helps supplement the vast amount of quantitative research that Microsoft collects, Richards said. The bigger value for Microsoft is the timely technical help that MVPs provide. For instance, 92% of the questions around Windows 7 posted on Microsoft's TechNet forum for IT pros is answered by a non-Microsoft employee, such as an MVP.

Over on the Microsoft Developer Network forum, every answer provided by an identified MVP is viewed on average 875 times, said Richards. Each view potentially saves Microsoft the several-hundred-dollar cost of providing a technical support phone call, he said.