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Robert Scoble (born January 18, 1965) was a technical evangelist for Microsoft from 2002 through 2006. He is also the author of the popular blog, Scobleizer. On June 10 2006 Scoble announced he was leaving Microsoft at the end of June to join Podtech.net as Vice President of Media Development.

Although Scoble often promoted Microsoft products like Tablet PCs and Windows Vista, he also frequently criticized his own employer and praised its competitors (such as Apple Computer and Google). However, some argue that the modest measure of criticism leveled at Microsoft and praise toward competitors serves only to give his Microsoft evangelism credibility. He was unusual in the level of access he offered to his users, which included publishing his cell phone number on his blog and urging people to contact him directly with issues, as well as accepting comments on his blog.

Scoble has long been a prominent advocate of both RSS technology and the Tablet PC. Before joining Microsoft, he worked extensively with Microsoft technologies in a professional capacity: at NEC Mobile Solutions, where he was sales support manager, and UserLand Software, where he was director of marketing.

In addition to his blogging, Scoble was part of the Channel9 MSDN Video team, where he produced videos that showcased Microsoft employees and products.

The Economist described Robert Scoble's influence in its February 15, 2005 edition: [1]

He has become a minor celebrity among geeks worldwide, who read his blog religiously. Impressively, he has also succeeded where small armies of more conventional public-relations types have been failing abjectly for years: he has made Microsoft, with its history of monopolistic bullying, appear marginally but noticeably less evil to the outside world, and especially to the independent software developers that are his core audience.

Early life

Robert was born in New Jersey in 1965, and grew up about a mile from Apple Computer's headquarters in Silicon Valley. [2] Some of his favorite childhood memories are working in his own garage with electronic stuff that his dad (William Scoble, PhD from Rutgers University in Materials Engineering [3]) brought home from his jobs at Ampex or Lockheed Martin.

His mother worked for Apple Computer, building Apple IIs at home, and Robert learned how to solder a motherboard together when he was 11, helping her to build several hundred Apple IIs [4]. He also had a summer job with Hewlett Packard, working on one of their production lines. [5] Robert attended Hyde Junior High School in Cupertino, CA.

In 1989 while studying in West Valley Community College he met Steve Wozniak [6], co-founder of Apple Computer, and persuaded him to donate $40,000 worth of Macintoshes to the college journalism department. [7]. His teacher made him set them up and learn all about how they worked. [8]

In 1993 he graduated with a degree in Journalism from San Jose State University's School of Journalism and Mass Communications. According to Steve Sloan (Information Technology Consultant at SJSU help desk) during his study in university "he was a Mac Evangelist and he was not afraid to install all kinds of buggy beta software and weird hacks on the old Apple computers other people used to get real work done". [9]

Bibliography

Naked Conversations: How Blogs are Changing the Way Businesses Talk with Customers, (2006) Robert Scoble and Shel Israel. ISBN 047174719X

External links

Scobleizer - Robert Scoble's web log
The Scoble Meter - Robert Scoble's Executive Dashboard

References

Chief Humanizing Officer - an article in The Economist that describes Scoble's role at Microsoft (February 10, 2005)
How he got the name Scobelizer - Steve Sloan posting about Scoble
A Good About Page - Comment from Robert with his early life biography
I'm the video guy - Robert posting about his education and work experience
Correcting the Record about Microsoft - Robert posting about why he left Microsoft

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 [[Image:Robert_Scoble.jpg|thumb|Robert Scoble]]
-'''Robert Scoble''' (born [[January 18]], [[1965]]) is a [[technical evangelist]] for [[Microsoft]], who writes the popular [[blog]], [http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ Scobleizer]. On [[June 10]] [[2006]] [http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/2006/06/10/correcting-the-record-about-microsoft/ Scoble announced] he is leaving Microsoft in July to join Podtech.net as Vice President of Media Development.
+'''Robert Scoble''' (born [[January 18]], [[1965]]) was a [[technical evangelist]] for [[Microsoft]] from 2002 through 2006. He is also the author of the popular [[blog]], [http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/ Scobleizer]. On [[June 10]] [[2006]] [http://scobleizer.wordpress.com/2006/06/10/correcting-the-record-about-microsoft/ Scoble announced] he was leaving Microsoft at the end of June to join Podtech.net as Vice President of Media Development.
-Although Scoble often promotes Microsoft products like [[Tablet PC]]s and [[Windows Vista]], at the same time he criticizes his own employer and praises its competitors (such as [[Apple Computer]] and [[Google]]). However, some argue that the modest measure of criticism leveled at Microsoft and praise toward competitors serves only to give his Microsoft evangelism credibility.  He publishes his cell phone number on his blog and urges people to contact him directly with issues, as well as accepting comments on his blog.
+Although Scoble often promoted Microsoft products like [[Tablet PC]]s and [[Windows Vista]], he also frequently criticized his own employer and praised its competitors (such as [[Apple Computer]] and [[Google]]). However, some argue that the modest measure of criticism leveled at Microsoft and praise toward competitors serves only to give his Microsoft evangelism credibility.  He was unusual in the level of access he offered to his users, which included publishing his cell phone number on his blog and urging people to contact him directly with issues, as well as accepting comments on his blog.
-Scoble has long been a prominent advocate of both [[RSS (file format)|RSS]] technology and the [[Tablet PC]]. He has previously been involved with both these technologies in a professional capacity: at [[NEC Corporation|NEC]] Mobile Solutions, where he was sales support manager, and [[UserLand Software]], where he was director of marketing.
+Scoble has long been a prominent advocate of both [[RSS (file format)|RSS]] technology and the [[Tablet PC]]. Before joining Microsoft, he worked extensively with Microsoft technologies in a professional capacity: at [[NEC Corporation|NEC]] Mobile Solutions, where he was sales support manager, and [[UserLand Software]], where he was director of marketing.
-Besides blogging, Scoble was part of the [[Channel9]] MSDN Videos team producing educational and evangelist mini-films targeted towards students and professional developers.
+In addition to his blogging, Scoble was part of the [[Channel9]] MSDN Video team, where he produced videos that showcased Microsoft employees and products.
 [[The Economist]] described Robert Scoble's influence in its February 15, 2005 edition: [http://www.economist.com/people/displayStory.cfm?story_id=3644293]
 <blockquote>He has become a minor celebrity among geeks worldwide, who read his blog religiously. Impressively, he has also succeeded where small armies of more conventional public-relations types have been failing abjectly for years: he has made Microsoft, with its history of monopolistic bullying, appear marginally but noticeably less evil to the outside world, and especially to the independent software developers that are his core audience.</blockquote>
 ==Early life==