This post is about three items related to blogging.
Windows Live Writer Beta 2
Microsoft has finally released the new version (Beta 2) of Windows Live Writer. I consider Live Writer to be the best software from the Windows Live team. Since their initial release – no news from them for almost a year now. It was as bad as dead, and I thought it is one of those Microsoft experiments that don’t make it. The writer is probably the software I use most after Explorer, Outlook, and Internet Explorer in that order. I am happy to see the project living and improvements made in the new version. And it supports dasBlog better than ever. Windows Live Writer (and the new Messenger 8.5) introduces a new installation UI that gets displayed on the Right-Hand Bottom of the screen area – this is unlike the regular installers which take up the centre of the screen and disturb your regular work.
30 Guidelines for a Good Blog
Since I have been blogging for a few years now, people ask me about what are the guidelines to follow when you start a blog. I always got away by saying keep posting often, don’t just post links and don’t talk about work. Today this need is solved with Scott Hanselman posting an excellent list of “30 Guidelines for a good blog“. Scott Hanselman is one of my fellow Microsoft Regional Directors (the site used to be www.microsoftregionaldirectors.com) and a regular technical blogger.
What is a Blog?
About a year back (I read this only today) John C.Dvorak commented on how large sites push out ordinary web pages and call them blogs. He was expressing in this column his anger on the loose usage of the term “Blog” and what he expects to be in a good blog.