Chris Pirillo reveals something very personal. Gretchen and him are no longer together. I've known this for some time, and it was tough for me to deal with. Brought up a lot of the pain of my own divorce. I want to keep other people from having that same pain. It's weird, my brother and one of my brothers in law are also going through divorces. Marriage is tough on the best of days. I wish everyone the best.

On the other hand, after the pain often comes great happiness. I know both Chris and Gretchen and wish them both happiness in every part of their lives. I'm glad to see that Chris has had a breakthrough in his professional life.

John Porcaro (I wish he blogged more -- he works in marketing here at Microsoft and is one of the bloggers who really gets it) "The thing that appeals to me about blogs is that they allow a deeper conversation to occur. They reveal the person behind the words. The motivation behind the advice. The human behind the company."

Oh, by the way, nice Santa hat John!

Welcome to readers from MacSurfer. Nice list of news from around the industry.

Paul Thurrott: "Sorry Microsoft haters, but this time RealNetworks is out of line."
and
"Microsoft has not architected Windows properly when it comes to add-on products like Internet Explorer (IE) and WMP."

Dan Shafer:

Where's Scoble's Tongue?
and
Scoble's Credibility Declines a Bit More

I want to see an example of ANY company employee being objective in open public weblogs. I can't. Do you think any Apple employee would dare say that Steve Jobs is doing something wacky? Heck no. How about someone working for Larry Ellison? Scott McNealy?

In fact, how many employees of any major tech company are allowed to weblog without prior restraint? And, how many employees of any major tech company point to their competition? How many employees of any major tech company admit their companies make mistakes from time to time?

I do. I do. I do.

Microsoft isn't perfect. Far from it. But, there are so many people who point out our mistakes and you get to read about them in detail in the press every day. Why should I add to that? In fact, don't I bring more value to the table to try to explain the point of view that causes us to make decisions that people don't like?

And, aren't I bringing more value to Microsoft by trying to take on the hard issues head on and having a rational discussion about them out here in public?

On the less defensive side of things: I love Microsoft. Microsoft's 55,000 employees make software I use every day. It's not perfect. Our strategies aren't perfect. Heck, I'm not perfect. But, I get a great deal of enjoyment out of our products. I get paid a decent wage and am treated very well at work. No one comes and tells me I have to say anything that I say on my blog. It comes totally from the heart.

If you think Steve Ballmer or Bill Gates are sitting here with me at 1 a.m. telling me what to say, you've got another thing coming.

The question you should ask yourself is: why does he love Microsoft so much?

Easy. Microsoft is building stuff that's improving my digital life. More stuff and improvements than any other company or movement.

Angie McKaig says her weblog is "technofodder for the masses." Tons of great links to various geek things.