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James Governor: what happens to Scoble now? Here's a hint: Lenn wasn't my only protector.

Link: What Happens To Scoble Now? Start Talking Privacy

Remember my challenge to Steve Ballmer two years ago? "Give Microsoft a more human voice."

He signed a dollar bill for me for that idea.

Then Vic Gundotra hired me a few months later.

Translation, my back is covered by a lot of important people up and down the chain, not just one guy.

Yesterday I spoke to the PR team about blogging and told them I was gonna be tougher on Microsoft than ever.

We changed Microsoft. Today I visit http://blogs.msdn.com and http://blogs.technet.com and see thousands of employees talking with their customers in new ways. I see people taking over Channel 9 (one of our favorite posters there is a Linux advocate) and I know we changed how corporations work with their customers.

Other companies will start their own Channel 9's soon. You watch.

But, now the technology industry needs to focus extra hard on thrilling customers. Microsoft has a lot of work to do before it does that. That was Lenn's final challenge as he walked out the door. Thrill customers or else they'll go elsewhere. And quickly.

It isn't lost on me that his new company has had 100 million downloads in 18 months, spending only $.04 to get each. I'm hearing that one of their VoIP competitors is spending $400 to "acquire" one customer.

My employee morale will go up a lot when we start shipping products that thrill customers. There's nothing better than meeting people in the airport who thank you for doing stuff that makes their lives better.

Oh, and while the "brain drain" is going on in the right hand, don't miss what's going on in the left hand. I was involved in a strategic hire this week for a team I'm not gonna talk about.

Oh, speaking of hiring, we have a few evangelism jobs open. Jeff Sandquist has details on one for Channel 9. Jeremy Mazner has details on one for Internet Explorer.

Robert Scoble is the founder of the Scobleizer blog. He works as PodTech.net's Vice President of Media Development. Go to Scobleizer ...