[guyzero]

Microsoft has had their MVP program for over 20 years! https://mvp.microsoft.com/en-us/overview.aspx

"Microsoft Most Valuable Professionals, or MVPs are exceptional community leaders who actively share their high-quality, real-world deep technical expertise with the community and with Microsoft. They are committed to helping others get the most out of their experience with Microsoft products and technologies."

These people are going to exist whether there's a program or not, so why not create a program to recognize them?

[sergiotapia]

Except most MVP share technical programming related articles. Not much different than sharing knowledge on your blog. At least you get prestige with Microsoft's program. Seeing Microsoft MVP on a resume is a good boost.