Toolbox
So there’s this whole renewed kerfluffle about whether or not Robert Scoble is or is not a tool.
I’m going to place my vote squarely in the “tool” column. Not because he works for Microsoft- I know several wonderful people who work for Microsoft- and not because of the post that started the whole thing, ridiculous though it was. (Honestly, Apple’s supply issues are much different from the clusterfuck that was the Xbox 360 launch. Namely, Apple doesn’t take pre-orders more than a few days in advance of actual product availability so that they can be sure to fill them. Microsoft took pre-orders for the Xbox 360 for nearly a year before launch and then failed to deliver enough to fill half of them.)
The thing that causes me to vote a resounding, “TOOL!” is the following quote from the Scobleizer himself:
Hey, if you aren’t willing to be a bit controversial, what good is that? How boring. I guess that’s what people want me to be. Just a dutiful little boring cog in a dutiful little boring corporate machine.
Did I date Scoble in a previous life? The last adult I heard whining about what “people want me to be” and “cogs in a boring machine” was my ex, who also spent an unnatural time (mis)diagnosing everyone else’s problems while steadfastly denying that he had any of his own. Who, other than Trent Reznor, actually talks like this? (Second verse, dudes.)
People have better things to do than worry about what inconsequential cog in whatever faceless machine you are, Scoble. But when you say dumb stuff, you’re going to get called on it. That’s the point. So don’t whine about it when it happens, take the “corporate blogger” chip off your shoulder, and stop being such a tool.