Forbes: "The Limitations of Linux."

Forbes: "Why you won't be getting a Linux PC."

My RSS feed has no funk. But am I funky? Why, yes, I'm funky. Take this funk and funk it into your funky aggregator.

One other thing that I thought was funny was one guy claimed I was a "self pretentious a**hole."

My wife and I had a good laugh at that one. Why? Well, it just might be true!

Funny observation after meeting thousands of people: those who try to protest that they aren't a jerk, are usually the biggest ones. Isn't that the case?

My wife also said "you seem to thrive off of negative feedback."

That is true, sorta. I like to hear people say they love my stuff just as much as the next guy, but do I really learn anything from that?

I do look for ways to improve myself. I got some really great responses to my survey last night. I'm taking those to heart.

As far as my job at Microsoft? I'm always looking to help the team do better there too. I appreciate any suggestion for ways to improve. Even those over at Slashdot.

It seems to me, as a newbie to Microsoft, that I am in a unique position to help change what it means to be a software industry evangelist. So, help me out. What would you like from Microsoft? From me?

By the way, according to my referer logs, Slashdot so far has brought me about 2400 new visitors. Whew. Life was so much simpler when I only had 18 readers.

One thing, I still don't like war metaphors -- even though they may have worked well in the past. And, I should point out that James is a former employee -- to assume that Microsoft uses the same strategies this year that they used previously, is to make a false assumption. If there's anything I've learned about Microsoft, it's that there's continuous improvement underway. Version 3.0 is always better than version 1.0.

OK, the "Microsoft Corporate Weblogger panel discussion" happened today. It was really interesting. About 60 people shuffled into a cafeteria room over at building 34. That's the exec's building, by the way.

So, what happened? From when I compared notes with Beth Goza afterward, it was similar to a panel session that happened a week ago at the Weblogger conference. No more or less sinister than that. No one gave speeches. The audience spoke and asked questions and the panel answered as best as we could.

Lots of people inside Microsoft are learning about weblogs and are looking for tips on how to do it better. Is Chris Brumme's style best? Is Dare's best? Is Beth Goza's best?

Lots of questions about how to avoid getting your boss mad -- and/or avoiding heck with legal and HR. I came up with a rule that I use for myself "Don't put anything on your blog that you aren't willing to justify to your wife, your boss, Steve Ballmer, and all other Microsoft employees."

We talked about corporate blogging and what it's purpose is or should be. We're all trying to figure that out. Shawn from MSDN pointed out that MSDN is making its content available to webloggers via RSS feeds.

It's a good time to link to my Corporate Weblogger Manifesto again. That's good stuff for anyone at any company who is thinking about weblogging.

Oh, some other things:

1) Hiding the fact that you're a Microsoft employee isn't enough. You can still get in trouble for your behavior when done in an anonymous way (after all, total anonymity is pretty hard to attain).

2) You gotta be aware of corporate politics, culture, HR rules, PR strategies, and legal issues before you start posting. If you aren't sure, it's best to just stick to personal stuff until you understand the landscape. Even then, know your role and how much management support you have for stuff you do on your weblog.

3) Make sure your coworkers and managers know you weblog. Remind them often. Seek their feedback.

4) Don't publish anything you don't wanna see in the Register or Slashdot.

Anyway, just want to make it clear once again. This is my personal site. These are my personal ideas/opinions.

James Plamondon, former Microsoft technical evangelist, just posted a long reply in my comments. He's the guy who I responded to last night, that brought on the Slashdotting.

Lots of stuff happening here. I'll get back to this in a moment.

Better mail than jail...

Apologies to Mark Purdy of the San Jose Mercury News (he came up with this idea first).

Deadsaijinx: "Soon you will see the light. Linux is the future, Apple is cool, Microsoft is evil and is never a better option."

SkewlDOOd: "it's official... people are dumb and willing to prove it. That's the essence of evangelism. That, or they're obsessed.

HiThere: "MS only thinks of technical evangelism as war if you idea of war is scorched earth that nobody can live on."

Anonymous Coward: "MS works very much like your average parasite."

birdman666: "There have been Macintosh evangelists for years, so don't worry, Microsoft isn't innovating."

Anonymous Coward: "Microsoft evangelists are brainwashed idiots."

FueledByRamen: "I don't like evangelists either; they're usually very annoying and won't listen to reason."

human10: "We will be all slaves of Microsoft!"

Anonymous Coward: "You would think Microsoft could get someone better than Robert Scoble. He sounds like a self-important pretenious asshole."

cookiej: "My guess is that the "evangelist" title is reserved for those who are intellectually valuable but aren't malevolent enough to make the real marketing team."

druske: "I wonder if Microsoft understands how motivating it is when people to learn it regards them as pawns?"

Anonymous Coward: "I’m too old for evangelism."

Anonymous Coward: "for a second i thought we where going to have a non-Microsoft bashing day, thank goodness this story came up, i was beginning to worry about our reputation."

GMFTatsujin: "HOLY SHIT. His side won, and I didn't even realize I was in a battle."

Anonymous Coward: "In the kind of country I'd wish to live in, people would have PERSONAL HONOR and would INSTANTLY RESIGN when they first become aware their company was pursuing a policy like this."

tcak (513301): "... and right now, this Saturday night, I know that there are many of you waiting to receive Lord Bill Gates as your personal Savior; many who are hungry and thirsty for the blessings that I am about to bestow upon you... I would like you to stand up, raise your right hand, and repeat this prayer after me...."

korpiq: "The tone of the "first chapter" linked is astonishingly rude."

Anonymous Coward: "I guess all M$ is really good at is opening up their mouths to proselytize themselves, and of course buying/squashing their competition."

ravenousbugblatter (682061): "evangelism indeed...I can practically see all the microsoft employees chanting and kneeling at bill's feet while Ballmer sacrifices a machine running WinXP... "

Anonymous Coward: "Gee, that sure is wonderful evangelism for Microsoft. This used to be called "sticking your foot in your mouth" when I was a kid.... "

Ahh, yes, today I was Slashdotted for the first time!