This post originated from an RSS feed registered with Agile Buzz by James Robertson. Original Post: Blogging and MS Feed Title: Cincom Smalltalk Blog - Smalltalk with Rants Feed URL: http://www.cincomsmalltalk.com/rssBlog/rssBlogView.xml Feed Description: James Robertson comments on Cincom Smalltalk, the Smalltalk development community, and IT trends and issues in general. Latest Agile Buzz Posts Latest Agile Buzz Posts by James Robertson Latest Posts From Cincom Smalltalk Blog - Smalltalk with Rants

And then Adam Sohn from marketing talked about the need to police ourselves, describing some of the downsides in regards to blowing some group's launch plans or unconstructively criticizing another group. He preached caution when approaching the line between what was good for the customer and what was good for Microsoft. After listening to what I began to interpret as a message of self-censorship, I asked Adam a warm up, "Isn't it true that a lot of the stuff close to the 'line' is what our customers find most valuable?" He agreed that it was. And then I asked Adam my real question, "So, when we get close to that line, do we err on the side of our customer or ourselves?"

Now, you have to remember that I've been a contributing member of the Windows development community for a lot of years. I've seen how aggressive Microsoft is in everything it does to always be on top. So when I asked on what side of the line I should come down, I fully expected to be told to keep the shareholders in mind.

I think there's a simple reason that MS understands how and why blogging works - above all else, MS is a marketing machine. They are all about getting the message out to customers and prospects. They seem to have realized that blogging is (or can be) another marketing channel. Sure, a less controlled, more chaotic one - but a channel for information nevertheless. Additionally, they seem to have figured out that a lot of developers and IT managers are tired of the perfectly processed messages they get fed every day from vendor marketing machines. Blogging allows them to get that same message out, but in a more authentic voice.

This is the point where you should be asking yourself how many bloggers your company has...