Welcome to MSDN Blogs Sign in | Join | Help

Randy Holloway at Microsoft

Blogging from the field.
Is Scoble the smartest guy at Microsoft?
Well, I say yes and no. What do you think?
Posted: Saturday, January 01, 2005 10:51 AM by RandyHolloway

Comments

Michael Kaplan said:

Well, I guess it depends on how we want define smart? :-)

He certainly puts his foot in his mouth sometimes.

And insults people other times, probably unintentionally but usually its because he does not understand something and at times as Robert A. Heinlein put it he "...had no respect for engineers, largely because he had no particular talent for engineering."

I remember having a conversation with him years ago (through email I think) where both of us ended up saying we would never work for Microsoft. But I guess we both messed that one up. :-)

But there are a ton of people at Microsoft who I would consider smarter, not through any fault of his but because the distance between those who can do and those who can talk a mean game is pretty fearsome.
# January 1, 2005 2:53 PM

Jay said:

I hope the heck not...
- he doesn't address the fundamental MS strategy, or the issues of that strategy (what MS is doing right or what is missing entirely).
- he doesn't produce anything solid that we know of... other than his own opinions.
- he is not an official spokesperson, at least not from his weblog standpoint.

Let's not get this issue mixed up - we all want to see MS talking and getting input, and Scoble is nothing more than an unofficial talker.
# January 1, 2005 4:02 PM

Robert Scoble said:

Jay: when I'm doing interviews on Channel 9 I am an official talker.

I ship a new video nearly every day. You try doing that. :-)

Michael: here's a hint. It's a very rare day when I meet anyone who doesn't hit me as being smarter at Microsoft than me.

Talking a mean game is hard. Especially if you do it every day in a place where there are so many smart people.
# January 1, 2005 6:42 PM

Randy Holloway Unfiltered said:

Scoble is getting beat up in the comments as it relates to these posts. I want to stick up for him for a minute. I think that Robert does put himself out there everyday in a way that very few...
# January 1, 2005 8:23 PM

Robert Scoble said:

Thanks Randy. It's very difficult to talk in public to a large audience every day without pissing someone off.

I think what makes it possible for me to press on is to acknowledge that many times I'll look like a fool and try to learn when people point out my mistakes.

Glad to have you as a coworker. It's easy to take potshots at coworkers, harder to stand up for them (believe me, I know :-) ).
# January 1, 2005 8:24 PM

TrackBack said:

...
# January 2, 2005 12:44 PM
New Comments to this post are disabled
Page view tracker