The Blogging Journalist

Don Dodge: 'The Business Of Software Is About Business...Not Technology'

Don Dodge, "currently Director of Business Development for Microsoft's Emerging Business Team" and proprietor of Don Dodge On The Next Big Thing, is emerging as one of my favorite bloggers. I found his News Readers for New York Times, Forbes, and Seattle P-I a good counterpoint to Robert Scoble's "Why do a reader only for one publication?" 

He also answered the following question from Mathew Ingram:

Why on earth would anyone download multiple pieces of software — all of which are based on the same rendering engine from Microsoft — to read different newspapers? It makes no sense." .

Dodge's response: "...the business of software is about business...not technology."

Can it get any plainer than that? Probably.

Will the purist be satisfied with his answer? Of course not. That's what makes good debates. Unfortunately, they sometimes generate into silliness. 

Nathan Weinberg Defends Bloggers Involved in Microsoft's Laptop Fiasco

In a January 1, 2007, post at at Inside Microsoft headlined Ironic: Free Vista PC Arrives Broken; Plus, The Last Word, New York-based blogger Nathan Weinberg offers the most vehement defense I've seen to date of the 90 bloggers who received from Microsoft either a Velocity Micro Media Center PC or a $2,200 Acer Ferrari laptop with AMD chips and loaded with Windows Vista.

Weinberg commented on the fact that the machine sent to 18-year old Australian blogger Long Zheng, who "didn't get a Ferrari laptop, but a Media Center PC,"  arrived damaged. He said "Long Zheng "seems very disheartened over this Windows Vista free PC blogger fiasco'." He describes what happened to Long's machine and said, "After all the crap Long has to go through, he didn’t even get a computer out of it. Crazy."

That was followed by this:

I was talking with one of the bloggers who got a free laptop, and I feel like I shouldn’t save the way I feel for just IM conversations. Here’s the fact: There is nothing wrong with bloggers accepting free stuff. Major news organizations have policies about not accepting swag because reporters fight over this stuff, and because there are lots of dishonest people who literally trade products for positive reviews. That is their fault. The readers of this blog know who I am, and if they don’t trust me, they shouldn’t be reading here.

Any blogger who feels he could not accept a free laptop and remain impartial is a blogger I’m not interested in reading. If you don’t have enough confidence in your abilities as a journalist to not be blinded by a laptop, then why should I, or anyone else, have any confidence in you? You don’t have to accept the laptop, but if you don’t believe in yourself, then neither do I.

Weinberg said, "The worst part about this is that it is bringing out the worst elements of the online community. The haters, the flamers, the assholes who only comment when they are mad. These aren’t the regular readers of Scott Beale’s blog. These people don’t hang onto Long Zheng’s every witty remark. They don’t rely on Brandon LeBlanc, they’ve never heard of Mitch Denny, and they don’t care how hard Ed Bott works. They hang out at community sites, working on their post counts, fighting with the moderators, and only venture into the blogosphere when something pisses them off."

There is more, but I've quoted enough. You get the picture. If you agree or disagree with Weinberg's opinion, feel free to leave a comment, if you think its worth discussing.

By the way, this whole affairs reminds me of the payola system that was once prevalent, and still may be, in the record industry. If the influential bloggers receiving machines do a review of Windows Vista favorable or unfavorable, I recommend they label them sponsored by Microsoft. Isn't Microsoft hoping the recipients will feel obligated to offer a review in return for the gifts?

Technorati tags: Nathan Weinberg, Long Zheng, Inside Microsoft, Microsoft Gives laptops to Some Bloggers, Velocity Micro Media Center PC, Acer Ferrari, Brandon LeBlanc, Mitch Denny, Scott Beale, Ed Bott

Is Sean Lyndersay Part of Microsoft's Control Group?

CHICAGO--David Winer, editor of Scripting News, has what I think is an appropriate response  to commentary by Sean Lyndersay, Program Manager Lead for  RSS (Really Simple Syndication (RSS) at Microsoft, regarding Microsoft’s United States Patent Application 0060288329. 

The application was filed in June 2005 but only became a subject of intense debate among tech bloggers last week. See "The Debate Over Really Simple Syndication.

In my opinion, the most important paragraph in "Patent Applications in the RSS space," Lyndersay's December 23, 2006, post over at the Microsoft Team RSS Blog, is this:

First, these patents describe specific ways to improve the RSS end-user and developer experience (which we believe are valuable and innovative contributions) -- they do not constitute a claim that Microsoft invented RSS.

Lyndersay contention that the applications "do not constitute a claim" only matters from a public relations perspective. As best as I can tell, he's not part of the control group, in the legal sense, at Microsoft. That would be people like Chief Executive Officer (CEO) Steve Ballmer; Ray Ozzie, chief software architect; Craig Mundie, chief research and strategy officer, and general counsel Brad Smith, the man picked "to guide Microsoft’s intellectual property and technology policy efforts."

In other words, Lyndersay doesn't have, to use a definition of "control" from Blacks Law Dictionary, the "power or authority to manage, direct, superintend, restrict, regulate, govern, administer, or oversee" Microsoft. That's the purview of the Board of Directors, the company's officers or anyone they designate.

And as best I can tell, Lyndersay doesn't fit this category. Perhaps he's a plenipotentiary. If he is, he doesn't say he has been commissioned to act for corporate Microsoft.

So, in that regard, I think Winer is correct when he asserts: "But patents are a legal thing, and Sean being nice isn't material. In the blogosphere, of course it is, and Microsoft's defenders will likely say or imply that it's all that matters."

 By the way, I recommend a post Winer put at Scripting News Annex on January 20, 2006, headlined "RSS came from the publishing industry."

Also, note that the postings at the Microsoft Team RSS Blog "are provided "AS IS" with no warranties, and confer no rights."

Technorati tags: Dave Winer, Scripting News, Scripting News Annex, Sean Lyndersay, Microsoft Team RSS Blog, Patent Applications in the RSS space

Mini-Microsoft On the Release of Windows Vista And Office 2007

Is Mini-Microsoft, the anonymous Microsoft blogger who has created quite a following with his frequently caustic and often justified criticism of the technology behemoth and its leadership, finally satisfied with something the company has done?

I think so, based on a reading of his November 8, 2006, post headlined "Party 'Til the Cows Come Home!  It suggests he's ecstatic, or maybe he's being sarcastic, over the fact that Windows Vista has been released to manufacturing along with the 2007 Microsoft Office System.

On March 21, 2006, he sang a different song in "Vista 2007. Fire the leadership now!" That post drew 588 comments. 

If you want to know a something about Mini, see BusinessWeek.com's September 26, 2005 article headlined "A Rendezvous With Microsoft's Deep Throat." Also see Seattle Times staff columnist Danny Westneat's May 28, 2006, post headlined "Microsoft's mystery insider."

Mini doesn't like attention but he'll get it as long as he is blogging anonymously and taking shots at his company. He has consistently called on company honchos to "slim down Microsoft into a lean, mean, efficient customer pleasing profit making machine!"

I see nothing wrong with that.

ZDNet: What Can We Learn From Microsoft's Mac Mojo Blog?

Jason D. O'Grady at ZDNet's The Apple Core blog asks in an August 31, 2006 post: "What can we learn from Microsoft's Mac BU blog?

I think the blog, mac mojo, will be successful. See my August 31, 2006 post headlined "Mac Mojo: Microsoft's Official Apple Blog.

Mac Mojo: Microsoft's Official Apple Blog

Microsoft has launched what it calls the "official weblog for the Office for Mac team at Microsoft (a.k.a the Macintosh Business Unit, or simply MacBU)." The blog is called "mac mojo." The question is can they live up to the mojo.

If what I've read in four days of posts is an indication, I think they can attract a large readership. Of course, they will have to be completely candid and not let themselves be drawn into blog warfare with Apple purists.

By the way, I learned about the blog while reading PC Advisor online.

Mini's Take On Microsoft's 'Fiscal Year End Results'

When Microsoft announced its "Fourth Quarter and Fiscal Year End Results on July 20," the person whose opinion I was eager to read was Who da'Punk, the anonymous Microsoft employee who has given the company hell in Mini-Microsoft, his highly opinionated and provocative blog. It is probably the best known of the thousands of Microsoft bloggers now that former Microsoft Technical Evangelist Robert Scoble is at Podtech. I'm an admirer and a critic.

The controversial blogger wants company officials to "slim down Microsoft into a lean, mean, efficient customer pleasing profit making machine!"

Well, Mini, as the Mini-Microsoft proprietor is commonly called, is "not expecting much news out of the Q4 results."

"I'm so overscheduled that I'm not going to have a chance to catch-up on the news analysis for a bit - when I can, I'll go through the comments here and other sites to round up the links," he wrote in a June 20, 2006 post headlined "Microsoft FY06Q4 Results."

"I'm certainly hoping not to be surprised," he added. "Before hand we went and hid - er - simplified our financial reporting. Surprise."

By the way, as I note in "Is Online Anonymity Good?" and "Mini Wants 'A Weeeeee Less Attention' From Me," Mini thinks I pay too much attention to him.

What Does Mini Think About Microsoft's Transition Plans?

What does  Who da'Punk (Mini), the anonymous Microsoft employee whose Mini-Microsoft blog is credited by some observers with spurring many changes inside Microsoft, think about the company's June 15, 2006 announcement (See Microsoft Announces Plans for July 2008 Transition for Bill Gates) that Chairman Bill Gates will transition "out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation "?

 

"It is the beginning of an end of an era, indeed," Mini wrote in a June 15, 2006 post. "So long, Classic Microsoft. Hello, emerging Next Generation Microsoft."

 

Mini, who has a following in and outside Microsoft because he has dared to publicly but anonymously advocate for a Microsoft that's a "lean, mean, efficient customer pleasing profit making machine," thinks the transition is "a good thing, but, boy, when Gates got choked up on stage today [June 15, 2006] thinking about not seeing Steve [Ballmer, the Microsoft CEO] everyday my lip starting quivering, too, and my eyes got a bit misty," he admitted.

 

"That little devil popped up on my shoulder, muttering, "I suddenly feel guilty for all those bad things I encouraged you and your commenters to say..."

 

He is referring to his consistent, often caustic, criticism of Microsoft's leaders. He has even called for some of them to be fired due to their failure to get Microsoft products out on time, and for creating what some perceive as a stifling work atmosphere, among other things.

 

For more of Mini's views, see "Bill Gates Will Retire. One Day. Kinda.  By the way, following the May 28, 2006 publication of Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat's "Microsoft's mystery insider," Mini, who has critics who thinks he's a coward because of his anonymity, decided to scale back his criticism. To read why, see his May 28, 2006 post headlined "All Good Things..."

Scoble's Advice to Ballmer

Blogger and Microsoft Technical Evangelist Robert Scoble, who is leaving the company in July to take a job at PodTech, has helpful advice for Microsoft honcho Steve Ballmer. See Why Wall Street didn’t believe Steve Ballmer (and what he can do about it).

Will he heed the advice? We'll have to wait and see.

Mini-Microsoft Bids Scoble Farewell

I see Who da'Punk (Mini), the anonymous proprietor of Mini-Microsoft, has a post on Microsoft Technical Evangelist Robert Scoble's decision to leave Microsoft and work for Podtech.net, in Silicon Valley. See "So Long Scoble and Thanks For All the Links!"

Of course, Mini wasn't obligated to comment, but I was anxious to know what he thought about perhaps the only Microsoft employee who dared to publicly defend Mini leaving the firm. See my "Waiting for Mini's Take on Scoble Leaving Microsoft" on June 11, 2006.

"So long, Microsoft-infused Scobelizer!" Mini wrote on June 12, 2006. "All the best. The amount of attention that this blog managed to conjure up was in no small part due to Scoble and his generous linking and discussion."

"But I guess I better watch myself...," Mini added. "I can't go and wag my finger when cornered by the blue-badge yanking, code-decoding geek-squad. I can no longer lecture them, "Uh, uh, uh no-firie! Or you lose Scoble in the deal!"

With the "Or you lose Scoble in the deal!" phrase, Mini is referring to the statement below. It is from an April 24, 2006 Scoble post headlined "How Microsoft can shut down Mini-Microsoft"

"Sometimes an employee asks "don't you think they would try to shut Mini down?" Scoble wrote, noting: "(Mini is an anonymous blogger, who generally talks about things that Microsoft is doing wrong, and/or that he wants to see improved. His motto is to, by slimming down Microsoft, make Microsoft a more lean profit-making machine).

"I say, no," Scoble added, "cause I think he's doing a lot of good for the company and even if you don't agree with that point of view if Mini were fired I'd quit on the spot. I don't think the way you deal with dirty laundry is to get rid of the person hanging the laundry in the public square that way. Deal with the folks who are dirtying up the linen!"

When Highly Visible Employees Leave A Firm

Microsoft's Dare Obasanjo makes several good points about the public relations implications for a company when highly visible employees leave. See "Robert Scoble: First Corporate Face Transplant? " Obasanjo's post is in response Nick Carr's Have Face Will Travel. Both posts are about Scoble who, along with his wife Maryam, will join PodTech,Net in July. 

Who Will Scoble Turn To For Inside Scoops About Microsoft?

Former Microsoft Evangelist Robert Scoble, who along with his wife Maryam will join PodTech,Net in July, wrote June 12, 2006 that the  blog of Frank Shaw, "vice president at Waggener Edstrom, one of the PR firms Microsoft uses," will be "the first place" he'll "look for the inside scoop on what's really going on at Microsoft."

"I bet that Frank blogs some big stories from Microsoft within the next year," Scoble wrote in "My PR guy." 

Jupiter's Joe Wilcox Analyzes How Microsoft Use Blogs

Joe Wilcox at Jupiter Research's influential Microsoft Monitor Weblog analyzes in a June 11, 2006 post how Microsoft uses  its "3,000 or so employee bloggers" to get its product message out.

"It's quite common now for Microsoft to make major products announcements via blogs, and it's not uncommon for the posts to be the only communication.," he wrote. "No press releases. In fact, I would contend that blogs are now Microsoft's major communication vehicle for reaching pretty much everybody. Microsoft partners and competitors--and the news media, for that matter--should take note."

For more, please see "Microsoft blogs." It's definitely worth reading if you are into scrutinizing Microsoft.

PodTech.Net's Post on Scoble Joining the Firm

PodTech.net  has a post up about former Microsoft Technical Evangelist of Robert Scoble joining the company in July 2006. See "Robert Scoble joining PodTech." The firm "will be putting out a formal announcement soon." 

Wikipedia Updates Its Scoble Profile

I see Wikipedia, "the free encyclopedia," has updated its profile on former Microsoft Technical Evangelist Robert Scoble, who is leaving the company to join a Menlo Park, California Internet media start-up called PodTech.net.

That's the way any current event should be handled. We shouldn't have to wait an entire day or year to read about it in a newspaper or book.

Reuters Interviews Scoble About Leaving Microsoft

Reuters Correspondent Eric Auchard has a June 11, 2006 article online on former Microsoft Technical Evangelist Robert Scoble headlined "Famed Microsoft blogger Scoble leaves for start-up." He interviewed Scoble by phone.

"The world's most famous corporate blogger, Robert Scoble, credited with helping to break down a siege mentality at his employer, Microsoft Corp., confirmed on Sunday that he is leaving to join a recently formed Silicon Valley Internet media start-up," Archard wrote.

He said, "Scoble, 41, said in a phone interview that he will join PodTech.net, a Menlo Park, California, start-up that earlier this year began "podcasting," or broadcasting over the Web, video interviews recorded with technology industry luminaries." Scoble starts in July.

Waiting for Mini's Take on Scoble Leaving Microsoft

I stopped by Mini-Microsoft this morning to see if Who da'Punk (Mini), the anonymous proprietor of the popular blog, had put up a post about Microsoft Technical Evangelist Robert Scoble's decision to leave Microsoft and work for Podtech.net, in California. Nothing yet.

 

Mini and Scoble are perhaps the most popular bloggers at Microsoft. They certainly are the most well-known Microsoft bloggers outside the company.

 

Mini, who has been a thorn in Microsoft side for two years, with posts such as "Vista 2007. Fire the leadership now! " and "Microsoft Campus Expansion... foo! ", has stopped his severe criticism of the company. He was getting sloppy and it would have been just a matter of time before he was outed. It's like being an undercover cop or spook. Pretty soon you'll make a mistake that could cost you your life. In this case, it's would be a job and perhaps friendships and family disruption.

 

See Mini's "All Good Things..." and Seattle Times Reporter Danny Westneat's "Microsoft's mystery insider."

Mary Jo Foley: 'Scoble Unplugs From Microsoft.'

Mary Jo Foley, who runs the influential Microsoft Watch blog, told her readers in a June 11, 2006 post: "It's not just a rumor. Windows evangelist and Microsoft blogging poster boy Robert Scoble is leaving Microsoft for a new job at PodTech.Net."

 

The post is short, so I won't quote no more than the the sentence above. For more, see "Scoble Unplugs from Microsoft."

Scoble On Blog Reports About Microsoft 'That Just Chap My Hide'

In a June 10, 2006 post headlined "Correcting the Record about Microsoft, Robert Scoble, the Microsoft Technical Evangelist who is leaving the company to join PodTech.net in Silicon Valley, says "I'm seeing some things on the blogs that just chap my hide." He is referring to the news and growing speculation surrounding his decision to leave Microsoft, which he has represented well. At least he made me, and I presume others, look at the company differently. Some won't like Microsoft no matter what it does.

 

Scoble addresses the speculation surrounding his new undertaking in eight points. However, I will not quote from them here because they need to be read together and in context. The best place to do that is at Scobleizer, his influential blog. 

 

Scoble concluded the post with this: "So, what about the other news? This is a rapidly-evolving part of my life. I just made this decision and it got out before I was completely ready to talk about it. I invite you to meet with me at the VLoggerCon tomorrow evening at 3 to 6 p.m. in San Francisco where we'll talk about it further (and I'll post again tomorrow about what's going on in my life and why I made this decision).

"Oh, and thanks Niall Kennedy for your post. I really appreciate your friendship and am so glad you're at Microsoft."

As best as I can tell, Tom Foremski at SiliconValleyWatcher was the first to report this event. He noted in a June 10, 2006 post that, "Andy Plesser from Plesser Holland and the videoblog Beet.tv just called and told me Robert Scoble is leaving Microsoft and will join Podtech.net, the podcasting network. He will be moving from Seattle to Silicon Valley," Foremski wrote.

 

I think some of the things that prompted Scoble to blog about this can be found in Foremski's post, which is headlined "Microsoft's top blogger Robert Scoble is leaving...." 

Blog Media On Seth Godin's "One-way Blogging'

Blog Media, a "News.com report on advertising, commerce and content," contends in a June 8, 2006 post that, "Seth Godin has done something that would be unthinkable in much of the blogosphere: He does not allow comments on his blog."

 

"And, by doing so," Blog Media says, "he may have unwittingly inspired far more discussion than would ever have occurred otherwise, on his blog or anywhere else."

 

Blog Media said "Godin may also want to consider turning off his TrackBack feature, which effectively serves the same purpose as comments by surfacing posts by others on his blog."

 

For more, see "A firestorm over one-way blogging." 

'If You're Into Microsoft...'

Sarah Gilbert at AOL's Blogging Stocks says "If you're into Microsoft, your fate lives or dies on the success of Vista, the company's highly anticipated next-generation operating system."

 

For more, see "Insider blogging: Microsoft Vista previewed, but synchronization dies." By the way, I like reading Gilbert's posts, which are usually pointed without being nasty.

Is IE7 An Ad Server?

If you are a Blogging Journalist reader who is using Microsoft's Internet Explorer 7 browser, what has been your experience with it?

I've been using it for awhile. What I've noticed is that when I click on a site, I get an advertising page based on my search terms before I get my desired search results. At first, I thought this was just an ordinary pop up. But, I have the pop up blocker on.

My question to Microsoft Evangelist Robert Scoble and Microsoft critic Mini-Microsoft is this: Is IE7 configured to serve ads based on our search terms before it gives us our search results? If it is, I don't like it. If it isn't, what am I doing wrong? I want to know before I go back to Firefox and my earlier version of IE.

What about it you guys over at the IE Blog? Can you shed some light on this issue?

Mini, It's Ok To Shut Down Mini-Microsoft

It looks like Who da'Punk, the anonymous Microsoft employee who publishes Mini-Microsoft, a blog that has galvanized many rank-and-file Microsofties with  pertinent zingers at Microsoft's management, which seems unable to conduct business at the speed of thought, to paraphrase Bill Gates' fascinating, 1999 book titled "Business @ The Speed of Thought," has shut down. For good.

 

In my selfishness, I've chided Mini, as Who da'Punk is more commonly called, for taking breaks from blogging about the interesting, internal struggles at Microsoft. As one who has spent a few thousand dollars on Microsoft software and services since 1990, I feel like I own a piece of the company, although I don't even own the software I "bought."

Even now, I don't want Mini to shutdown his blog. But since he has, I certainly understand. It's not easy blogging anonymously inside a corporation with the fear of being exposed ever present.

 

And the pressure is increasing. It's evident in Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat's May 28, 2006 article headlined "Microsoft's mystery insider.

It's also evident in Mini's May 28, 2006 post headlined "All Good Things..." He did say it was the end "but only my end of it. The rest is up to you." I think it was just a matter of time before he blew his cover. Especially if he kept making mistakes such as sending Westneat an e-mail under his name.

 

Mini, for the sake of your health, sanity and family, keep Mini-Microsoft in hiatus. You have galvanized the Microsofties and made Bill Gates, Steve Ballmer and others in management realize that they have a problem that will result in the loss of good talent if they don't stop taking it for granted. To battle Google you need skilled and satisfied talent, not disgruntled drones.

 

Mini, let "All Good Things..." be your swan song. Start wriing your book.

Best wishes, Munir.

Note: This post was re-edited to fix lines that failed to post and to fix tenses.

 

Who da' Punk: 'Microsoft's Mystery Insider

Seattle Times columnist Danny Westneat has an article in the may 28, 2006 edition on Who da'Punk, the anonymous Microsoft employee who publishes Mini-Microsoft, a blog that has galvanized many rank-and-file Microsofties who otherwise are just cogs in the big corporation still looking at world through the eyes of old pioneers when what's needed is new blood to compete with the young swashbucklers at Google.

 

"Mini is one of hundreds of bloggers at Microsoft," Westneat writes. "Yet he's earned a Zorro-like status. Speculation is rampant about who he is and if he'll be outed and fired. His site, with thousands of comments from Microsoft workers, has been dubbed a "virtual union hall."

 

"This month," Westneat added, "after the company debuted a new pay and benefits policy, some said it was due to the bosses finally clueing in to worker angst via Mini's site.

"Can one person change a huge company? Mini did. And we don't even know his name," wrote Robert Scoble, who runs another Microsoft Web log (Scobleizer)."

Mini, as Who da'Punk is more commonly called, has considered coming forth rather than waiting to be outed. According to Westneat, he feels guilty for not telling his wife he's behind Mini-Microsoft.  At least one Microsoft employee has discovered who he is but has vowed to keep the secret.

For more, see "Microsoft's mystery insider." By the way, I'm a big fan of Mini's. I've been mentioned in his blog and in Scoble's in connection with a post I did on Mini. I've done several. 

Scoble Gives Mini-Microsoft His Props

If you are a Microsoft watcher as I am, you might find Mini-Microsoft's post  headlined "Microsoft's May 18th 2006 - a Big Turning Point (?) of interest. I certainly did. I love reading the guy.

Mini, as he is often called, is an anonymous, Microsoft employee who wants to "slim down Microsoft into a lean, mean, efficient customer pleasing profit making machine!"

Robert Scoble's paid tribute to him today in Missed big HR meeting (MyMicrosoft is now improved). He wrote from Montana:

Wow. I missed a HUGE HR townhall, er, employee meeting today (they announced new compensation and review changes). I just got the email from Lisa Brummel and, wow, wow, wow.

Is Lisa reading Mini? Damn straight she is.

This is the "Mini-smackdown" I wanted to see. Hopefully these changes will get us on a more customer-centric path.

Scoble also gave Steve Ballmer and others their props. But his kudos to Mini stand out.

A Few Questions for Mini-Microsoft

I admire the blogging of Who da' Punk, the anonymous, Microsoft employee/blogger behind the controversial and popular Mini-Microsoft blog. I've written about him at The Blogging Journalist. Until now, my only concern was that he doesn't post often enough to satisfy my desire to know what's going on inside Microsoft.

On May 13, 2006, I read an informative, September 26, 2005 BusinessWeek Online Extra on Mini--that's what he's generally called-- that explains why he chose to risk being fired by using a blog to criticize his employer. While I'm impressed by Mini's explanation for why he's crusading to turn Microsoft into a slimmed down "lean, mean, efficient customer pleasing profit making machine!," I was struck by this passage in "A Rendezvous With Microsoft's Deep Throat":

And he admits to a little misdirection on his blog, posting random details of work and personal life that are false, just to throw would-be hound dogs off his scent.

Mini, if this is true, are you still posting "random details of work and personal life that are false"? If so, why?

How can I tell what's true and what's false? What was false in the past? Aren't you concerned about losing credibility with your readers?

Finally, did BusinessWeek reporters Jay Greene and Heather Green get this right?

Note: This post first appeared in The Weblog Gazette, my "Weblog on Technology and Subjects Not Fit for The Diplomatic Times Review and The Blogging Journalist."

Mini-Microsoft on Scoble's 'Forward Looking Optimism'

I see Who da' Punk, the anonymous Microsoft employee behind the Mini-Microsoft blog, has a brief response to Microsoft Technical Evangelist Robert Scoble's  How Microsoft can shut down Mini-Microsoft. No, it was not in response to my April 26, 2006 post titled  Waiting for Mini-Microsoft's Response to Scoble .

"When I first saw the title my mind raced wondering just what the heck kind of break Scoble had been on," Who da' Punk wrote. "Re-education with a head-mounted cage and a hungry rat? Then I read it and appreciated its forward looking optimism."

There's more, but my interpretation of the fair use doctrine dictate that I don't quote the entire post. Read it for yourself.

Does Bill Gates Pay Attention to Blogs?

In an April 7, 2006 Fortune magazine article headlined "How I Work: Bill Gates," Microsoft's "chairman and chief software architect," wrote:

At Microsoft, e-mail is the medium of choice, more than phone calls, documents, blogs, bulletin boards, or even meetings (voicemails and faxes are actually integrated into our e-mail in-boxes).

Does Gates pay attention to blogs? You bet he does. Consider this:

I'm not big on to-do lists. Instead, I use e-mail and desktop folders and my online calendar. So when I walk up to my desk, I can focus on the e-mails I've flagged and check the folders that are monitoring particular projects and particular blogs.

A CEO would be a fool not to pay attention to what blogs are saying about his or her company. Unfortunately, there are a lot of fools in corporate America.

Waiting for Mini-Microsoft's Response to Scoble

Because I enjoy and learn from the give-and-take between Microsoft bloggers, I hope Who da' Punk, the anonymous Microsoft blogger behind Mini-Microsoft, will respond to Microsoft Technical Evangelist Robert Scoble's April 24, 2006 post headlined How Microsoft can shut down Mini-Microsoft."

Mini wants to "slim down Microsoft into a lean, mean, efficient customer pleasing profit making machine!."

Scoble's post is about ideas and proposals that would make Mini-Microsoft unnecessary rather than literally shutting it down. The day when a blog such as Mini-Microsoft is unnecessary at Microsoft is in the distant future. Success tends to breed satisfaction and the tendency to rest on one's laurels. No company, especially an established one, can afford that luxury. That's where the company rebels come in. They should be embraced rather than scorned. Scoble does not scorn Mini. He tells why in the post.

For my response to Scoble's headline, see " Scoble's Proposal for Shutting Down Mini-Microsoft."

By the way, I'd rather get news about Microsoft from Mini-Microsoft and Scobleizer than from Bill Gates and Steve Ballmer. Why? Although they take opposite approaches to Microsoft failures and successes, each blogger seems to care about the company and engages in a conversation with readers that often generates informed, and sometimes spiteful, responses from readers. The writers also can get riled up. I think that's called being human.

In other words, they are not oracles but provocateurs, listeners and responders.

Scoble's Proposal for Shutting Down Mini-Microsoft

As one who has spent thousands of dollars on Windows Small Business Server 2003, Windows XP, Windows 2000, Windows Millennium, FrontPage, Publisher, Word, BCentral web hosting  and other Microsoft offerings since the early 1990s, I try to keep up with what's going on at the company although I don't own in shares in it. That's done primarily through reading the company's technical blogs and blogs by Microsoft Technical Evangelist Robert Scoble, Who da'Punk, the proprietor of Mini-Microsoft, Dare Obasanjo AKA Carnage4Life and others at Microsoft Watch.

I also read daily postings about Microsoft at other blogs and in newspapers.

When I saw Scoble's April 24, 2006 post headlined "How Microsoft can shut down Mini-Microsoft,"  I wondered whether he had flipped his lid while on his two week hiatus. I thought maybe the fact that Bubba Murarka had done such a good job guest blogging that he thought he had to come up with something startling to get our attention. See Bubba's "Scoble is back with a Bang!" for his thoughts on Scoble's return.

Microsoft's Bubba Murarka

Bubba Murarka, described by Microsoft Technical Evangelist Robert Scoble as the "lead program manager on the Windows Live search team," has done well substituting this week for Scoble who is taking a "blog break."

The differences between the two bloggers are quite noticeable. Murarka's tone is serene and he doesn't link as much. Yet, I find it enjoyable reading his output. Scoble, who is also a good read, is just the opposite. He will get in your face when he feels the need to do so, like when he thinks Microsoft is being unjustly criticized. At least that's what he was doing before he went on hiatus April 9. I suspect we will see a serene Scoble when he resumes blogging, at least for a while. 

Is Scoble Taking a Break From Blogging?

I see Microsoft Technical evangelist Robert Scoble hasn't posted at Scobleizer, his main blog, since April 9, 2006. It seems that he really meant it when he wrote on April 9:

I'm gonna take some time off, think more about what I want to do as a blogger, as an employee, as a husband, as a father, and come back fresh.

So, now it looks like two of Microsoft's blogging heavyweights are on break. I can hear you asking: "Who is the other? It's Who da' Punk, the Microsoft insider behind the Mini-Microsoft blog.

The Scobleizer Effect

Thanks to Blogger Robert Scoble, the widely read Microsoft technical evangelist, for the April 10, 2006 link to my April 9, 2006 post headlined When Will Who da' Punk's Blog Break End? The mention in Scobleizer sent a lot of traffic my way.

For those who don't closely follow Microsoft, Who da' Punk is the anonymous, Microsoft insider behind the Mini-Microsoft blog. He or she has taken a "bit of a blog break" to "let things cool down" after several provocative but enlightening posts about Microsoft during March 2006. Since 10 days had passed with no return, I wanted to know when new posts would go up. So far, no answer.

Meanwhile, Scoble said he's "gonna take some time off, think more about what I want to do as a blogger, as an employee, as a husband, as a father, and come back fresh."

I wonder if that includes not taking on speaking engagements and traveling.

When Will Who da' Punk's Blog Break End?

It's been ten days since Who da' Punk, the anonymous, Microsoft insider behind the Mini-Microsoft blog, took a "bit of a blog break" to "let things cool down" after several provocative but enlightening posts about Microsoft during March 2006.

As far as I'm concerned, "Passionate Microsofties" and " Nix the Mix06! Back to Accountability and "Pondering Attention to Bad News about Microsoft" were two of Punk's best posts. They generated a lot of interesting commentary.

So, when will we get more commentary from the best alternative view, in my opinion, to Robert Scoble's Microsoft evangelism, which, in its own right, has been rather provocative and testy lately? I don't have a clue.

Both writers are good and offer their own unique perspective on issues involving Microsoft, it's customers and what they can expect from the company. That's why I like reading them together. What about it Punk? Isn't it about time to end the blog break?

Scoble's April Fool Announcement

Microsoft technical evangelist and blogger Robert Scoble has an April Fool Day article headlined "Announcement, I’m going to Google." It sounds serious, until you get near the end.

Nevertheless, if I were an employer and an employee of mine wrote such an article, even as a joke, I'd tell him or her to leave. Oh, well, I guess folks we think we should take seriously should have a little humor. Silly me. Sorry Robert.

Mini-Microsoft: 'Where are the Microsoft Zealots?'

In March 26, 2006, post headlined "Nix the Mix06! Back to Accountability and Pondering Attention to Bad News about Microsoft," Who da'Punk, the Microsoft employee behind the Mini-Microsoft blog, wrote, in part:

Speaking of Slashdot: I've once again had to flip comment moderation on. I let a lot of the anti-Microsoft comments pile up for a while, but then it just got offensively silly. You know, recently I was talking with a medical doctor. He said how much he was impressed by Microsoft Corporation and what high esteem he held for the company, along with the community values that lead to lots of charitable giving by the employees and the company. He was bemused and confused to have discovered recently that there was this "Evil Empire" point of view by some people. Most people in the world view Microsoft with polite indifference. The incoming comments by the Any But Microsoft crowd certainly serve as a small reminder of the lightening rod of hatred we still are for a techy subculture. The one thing it makes me ponder is,"

"Where are the Microsoft zealots? The ones who only want to run Microsoft technology and wouldn't dare suffer a Mac or Linux?"

It's a good question. Where are they? Is their silence the reason there is a Microsoft technical evangelist?

MacKinnon's Advice for 'Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google, Cisco'

Rebecca MacKinnon, "co-founder of Global Voices Online, an international citizens media community," and proprietor of RConversations, analyzes Microsoft's "new blogging policy" in a January 31, 2006 post headlined "Microsoft's new blogging policy, recommendations for Google, and lessons of history."

Her "suggestion to Microsoft, Yahoo!, Google, Cisco, and everybody else doing Internet business in China: Be as transparent and accountable as possible now. Conduct every conversation with Chinese authorities under the assumption that one day it will be on the record."

I totally agree.

MSN Spaces Users to Get Advertising Options

Microsoft is joining the fray for the online advertising dollar through the use of blogs. At least that's what I got from reading Ben Charny's January 25, 2006 eWeek article that said, "Microsoft's MSN Spaces blogging features are set for a major upgrade to incorporate a revenue-sharing advertising option and a new partnership with Amazon.com, according to various sources."

See "Microsoft Blogs Make Room for Ads."