I was surprised to read of Jon Udell joining Microsoft. I agree with Sam Ruby that Jon has enough street cred to counter the inevitable exclamations of bias in his future writings. At a minimum, we have years of writing before joining MS to be able to determine any differences after he begins at his new job.
To me, this seems to be further evidence of a trend I’ve been seeing, which is a hunkering down of the tech community into ‘solid’ positions–whether to influence or to weather possible rough times ahead is still undetermined. Amazon pulling back on new development, Google closing down the first of its too many betas, the reorg of Yahoo, even the earlier hiring of Ray Ozzie at Microsoft–I wouldn’t say it’s a bubble breaking, but I would say the balloon is being anchored.
I think we’re heading into cautious times. If I were a startup hoping to be bought, I would be worried now.
Regardless, best of luck to Mr. Udell in his new, blue position.