Jon Udell to MSFT

James Governor’s MonkChips: Holy Crap Microsoft Just Got Awesome

Jon Udell goes to Microsoft. 

I came across Jon Udell at IDG in 2005 and found him to be one of the most innovative people in so-called “Web 2.0” media. His pioneering working in Screencasting, with the now legendary tour of how Wikipedia works through the Heavy Metal Umlaut; his mastery of del.icio.us; and his coverage of the Keene, New Hampshire floods on his mountain bike with Google Maps was always inspiring.

“I’ve proposed to Microsoft that I continue to function pretty much as I do now. That means blogging, podcasting, and screencasting on topics that I think are interesting and important; it means doing the kinds of lightweight and agile R&D that I’ve always done; and it means brokering connections among people, software, information, and ideas — again, as I’ve always done.”

Jon was part of a core at InfoWorld that included Matt McAllister – now at Yahoo, and Chad Dickerson, also at Yahoo. I know of few people in the IT press with Udell’s insights and curiosity. Microsoft is fortunate to have him.
James Governor at Redmonk writes:

“Jon Udell is one of the smartest guys in an industry full of smart people. I thought he enjoyed working for a media company, but then again, Microsoft is becoming a media company, and so Jon is joining. IBM has IBM TV but Microsoft has Channel 9 and a new star.

Augmenting human capabilities indeed. Screencasting he nailed before anybody else. Oh man. Great great hire. His ridiculously fast techno announcement is here. That was the coolest press release ever created Jon. You are awesome.”