I’ve been a reasonably prolific blogger for six months over at http://www.techedbackstage.net – which I run as a value-add for the work we do with Microsoft around TechEd each year. I find writing content for it really, really easy and the blog has been really well received internally at MS and by the community who go to TechEd. We hit /., TechCrunch and heaps of main stream media on the Rick Rolling incident last year.

On the other hand, over at http://www.codify.com – totally different story. We have the same issues as you around commercial confidence – but also, somehow, the work we do on a daily basis just seems too boring to comment on, even if you are allowed.

The lesson I learned is that blogging is really valuable on specific compelling topics. Unfortunately, most blogs are neither specific nor compelling.

The other thing I notice on a lot of technical blogs is that they can inadvertently reveal a lot about someone’s level of competence. I recall a while ago about reading a blog from a certain person who banged on and on and on about the best way to assemble strings in .NET. I’m sure they thought it was riveting stuff – but any competent SE would read that and cringe thinking “Is he serious?”

As an Internet marketing consultant presenting at Microsoft once told me: “Everyone has a book inside them, and for most people, it is best off left there.”

So are we to believe that MS invented ClearType BEFORE 1988? As if.

The comments about the tablet’s inept UI have everything to do with MS’ addiction to Win32 IMO.