Scoble to leave Microsoft, blogosphere goes wild

The blogosphere has been in a major tizzy this weekend as word leaked out that Robert Scoble, the "Microsoft blogger," is leaving the company.

Naturally, there were all kinds of conspiracy theories about why he would leave, but according to the man himself, there's no great mystery about his departure.

He writes on his own blog that he's leaving Microsoft for PodTech.net, but that all is well between him and Redmond. It sounds like he just wants everyone to know he got a great opportunity at a new outfit, one that he simply couldn't refuse.

And hey, that's what happens in technology, right? People move. And for all kinds of reasons.

But because Scoble was one of the most public sources of regular, positive information about Microsoft, even as he had the freedom to write about whatever he thought was worth writing about Microsoft, some are assuming that the company was no longer supporting his freedom as a blogger.

Will we ever know the full story? Probably not. But there's no reason to assume anything untoward happened between Scoble and Gates and Co. Instead, there's every reason to believe that things are above board and that PodTech.net is just the better option for Scoble moving forward.

Still, the move is big news as Microsoft does lose the in-house voice that is probably the best-respected by the rest of the digerati. And that is never good news for an organization like Microsoft, which needs all the friends it can get.

Meanwhile, Scoble's move did prove one thing: The blogosphere, on its own, has the power to crash Web sites. That much is clear because, as PodTech.net reports on its site, news of Scoble's hiring temporarily brought its site down, even without a direct link from Slashdot.