Microsoft names another Scoble replacement with Jon Udell as evangelist |
Loading ...I guess Rory Blyth didn’t work out so well as Scoble’s replacement. Either that or Microsoft is going to have multiple technical evangelists replacing him. Musical Scoble chairs, anyone?
Q: Your new job is with Microsoft?A [Jon Udell]: That’s right. My last day at InfoWorld will be Friday Dec 15. On Jan 15, after a month-long sabbatical, I’ll become a Microsoft employee. My official title will be Evangelist, and I’ll report to Jeff Sandquist. He’s the leader of the team that creates Channel 9 and Channel 10, websites that feature blogs, videos, screencasts, and podcasts for Microsoft-oriented developers.
This seems like a bad joke: how many light bulbs does it take to replace Scoble? They should have just paid him more money. He kept leaving painfully obvious hints at his blog for years. Scoble didn’t burn any bridges though, so maybe he’ll be replacement #3 for himself if the PodTech gig doesn’t work out.
And speaking of Robert Scoble, I haven’t really checked out what he’s doing that much with his not so new any more gig. I wanted to give it some time to settle into Podtech.net and then check it after the first of the year and see if there’s any improvement. Podtech was terrible the last time I looked at it at any length but it seems like they have been making many changes including adding more first party video content.
As for Udell, that’s an interesting choice and seems better than Rory Blyth. Perhaps with the two tag teaming the position, they’ll be able to cover it even better than Scoble ever had (that’s a tall order).
Scoble likes this move and “forgot” about Rory (ouch):
I think it’s funny that Jon asked himself whether he’d be Microsoft’s new “Scoble.” Hell, I was trying to be as good as Jon Udell was (and I came up short — he’s a coder that can explain how to program to other people, and has far more influence among developers than I’ll ever hope to have).
Here’s the million dollar question: does either of them have a better laugh than Robert?
Related Posts- Rory Blyth takes over Scoble’s video job at Channel 9
- MSDN future events and meeting notes
- Microsoft loses Lenn Pryor to Skype
- The downside of embedding video posts from third parties using third party hosting
- From content creation to syndication, Podtech’s last stand at a working business model?
- MSN spaces out in the blogosphere (BETA)
Rory is doing great things on Channel 9 and has been amazing addition to the team. It will be clearer in January about Jon’s purpose and you’ll see it as a somewhat different charter than Robert’s.
My overall team has been growing as has our overall charter so we’ve received some additional positions. Jon is filling one of those positions.
Thanks!
-Jeff
Comment by Jeff Sandquist — December 8, 2006 @ 2:31 pm PST
Thanks for stopping by and clarifying, Jeff. Look forward to hearing/seeing what Jon will be up to in January. Happy holidays to you
Comment by TDavid — December 8, 2006 @ 2:40 pm PST
Doesn’t affect me so much because I always read Udell anyway — his column is the first thing I look for whenever my copy of Infoworld arrives each week — but it’s a good move for Microsoft. Nothing against Scoble, but I don’t see Jon as another Scoble, Jon’s a lot more technically inclined and the stuff he writes about hits my interest sweet spot very nicely.
Comment by Stu — December 8, 2006 @ 6:46 pm PST
I was never supposed to be Scoble’s replacement, and that was something which was made very clear during the interview process.
Scoble is Scoble. Rory is Rory. Neither does what the other does, and so neither should be expected to replace the other.
When Scoble left the team, there was a vacancy, but my job is very different from Scoble’s, and my blog is very different from Scoble’s (I don’t have a tech blog - I have a personal blog which is mostly just anecdotes, questions, and observations - I don’t want to be a human switchboard for the blogosphere).
Comment by Rory — December 8, 2006 @ 7:34 pm PST
“does either of them have a better laugh than Robert?” Heh.
Comment by Sterling Camden — December 8, 2006 @ 9:00 pm PST