Andy Lark, formerly of Sun Microsystems, talks about someone else who got fired for writing on the Web.

Everyone wants rules. Policies. Guidelines.

I work in a state where I can quit my job at any time -- for any reason. My employer can also fire me at any time -- for any reason.

I've seen someone get fired for hitting on people in an unappropriate way at a party (my wife was there). I've seen someone get fired for something they wrote in a newsgroup. I've seen people fired for lots of reasons.

The truth is if you want to be writing in public you need to have a great relationship with your boss and understand exactly what he or she expects to see about the company in public.

I'm lucky. I work for a company that's read -- and has bought into -- the Cluetrain Manifesto. In fact, one of our executives, Charles Fitzgerald, was in the room when Doc Searls wrote "markets are conversations" on the whiteboard at a marketing summit.

But every boss is different. Even here at Microsoft. I don't believe there's a set of guidelines that will keep every employee out of trouble.

On the other hand, if you never take risks you'll never do anything interesting. If you aren't interesting then how are you helping your career or your company? It's a very tough line to walk. Good luck!

Tablet PC Talk has some cool videos of an unreleased version of the Tablet PC OS.

New snipping tool.

Media Transfer Utility.

Media Player Skin.

Congrats Werner on becoming CTO of Amazon.com.

Oh, please do write more. Bring Bezos' laugh to us all. I remember meeting him at O'Reilly's FooCamp. You could hear that laugh two conference rooms away. It just made everyone feel good.

Why am I still bullish on Microsoft this week? I see things like Math Journal and realize that developers are building stuff on our platforms that simply rock.

Using this math is fun again. It makes me almost wish I was in physics class again.

Steve Rubel, you're a hoot! He bought me an Apple iPod Shuffle for my birthday. I love you man! But, now I'll probably write even more about what the Windows Media team should do. Which, probably is why he bought it for me. ;-)

Seriously, Steve and his wife are quality people and have become good friends. Glad to know them and I'll use the iPod a lot. Thanks. Everyone else, please don't buy me gifts. I can't accept them, and would rather you donate the money to Tsunami relief efforts.

Ian Landsman: "If I were Scoble I'd be pissed off."

No, I'm not.

See, lots of people think I'm an egotistical bahstard. Ask my wife about the truth on that one. But, my goal here from the day I told Steve Ballmer to "get a more human face on your company" is that I'm trying to build a strong community. Why is that important? Well, having people around to tell you when your company sucks is very important. Having people around who care enough about you to tell you how to do better is also very important. And, finally, having people around to talk about you when you do something good is very important.

Now, does it help Microsoft build a strong community by only talking to Microsoft lovers (or employees?)

No.

My suggestion to Bill? Talk to Engadget. Talk to Slashdot. Talk to Joel Spolsky. Talk to Misbehaving. Talk to Dave Winer and Adam Curry.

All of those people have a lot more traffic and are arguably more influential than me.

Let Channel 9 tag along and film too, yes, but go into the places where you're gonna get the toughest questions. Heck, go into places where Linux and Macintosh users hang out and listen to why they left Microsoft.

But, no, I'm not mad, I'm happy. Bill is talking to people I like to read. It makes my aggregator happy! I hope to see a lot more.

By the way, it's egotistical of me to try to take credit for this. I wasn't involved. I know who was, but don't know if they want to be called out on my blog, so I'll just wave and say my hat's off to you.

Some other credit drops? Greg Reinacker, who built the aggregator I use every day. It's a piece of software that's changed my life. Dave Winer, who personally got me into this world and kept building, shoving, talking, linking. I got to watch Dave build this community from the inside and he deserves a lot of credit for the work he's put into it.

Bonus link: CNET News.com: Bill Gates' extreme makeover.

Scoblephone 2.0? LG rumored to be coming out with a SmartPhone, Engadget says.

Jason Calacanis congrats his competitor on getting an interview with Bill Gates.

Whoa, I missed that 6,000 people have applied for Microsoft jobs after referencing Microsoft's Jobs Blog and so far 55 of those people have been hired.

I was talking with Gretchen Ledgard tonight and she shared this with me.

Yes, this is worth $5. Oh, I'm sad to see that Zoe is leaving to go to Washington Mutual.