While at PDC, I talked with a few people in the Tablet PC team about blogging. I encouraged them to join the conversation. Turns out there are a couple people in the team that have blogs already (sorry, I can't remember their names), but they've chosen to blog about non-job related topics. No problem. But isn't there someone who wants to share their enthusiasm for the Tablet PC and the excitement of the team with us out here? Maybe.
To me, blogging is simple. Many of these people are well versed at speaking at conferences, writing documentation, speaking to customers, and so on, but for them blogging is another matter. Posting something that gets etched in Google is unnerving. They don't want to say anything wrong. They don't want to divulge confidences with software or hardware partners. Simply put, they don't want to get fired. It was unfortunate timing then that at the time I was advocating that the team take on blogging, that Microsoft was firing a blogger for posting a picture of some Apple G5s on a loading dock.
I can understand now better why Tablet PC team members are cautious. Companies and bloggers are still learning how to dance together. Missteps on both sides are easy to do when things are relatively new.
The downside for Microsoft and the Tablet PC team is that up to this point, much of it's community presence is limited to TabletPCDeveloper (which team members described at PDC as being "embarrassing") and the monthly, thin-piped Tablet PC chats.
I'm betting this is not the way it will always be. The Tablet PC group will adjust. Microsoft will find a blogosphere voice it's comfortable with and the dialogue with the community will enrichen. Why am I so optimistic? Because Microsoft usually gets things right and blogs are right.
Posted by Loren at October 31, 2003 06:49 PM