Mark Hughes reacts in much the same way (but far more entertainingly) than I have to the cheerleading that Scoble is doing for his corporate puppet masters. The best part:

Robert, you haven’t been fired for what you say because you’re not a “journalist”, you’re not any kind of respected voice, you’re just a dancing bear. Microsoft desperately needed a marketing shill like you to make it look like they were more open, but you haven’t actually produced any of this “openness”, “innovation”, or in the latest round of Gatesian NewSpeak, “interoperability”.

If real Microsoft programmers went ahead and said what they think without fear of censorship, that would be open. Linux developers say whatever the hell they want, and are only judged on the quality of their software. Even our insanity is better–our crazies are crazier than your crazies. Even Sun developers can say what they think these days, now that Schwartz openly kicks sand in the face of corporate rivals on his blog.

I know it’s beginning to look like I’m gunning for Scoble, but I find his apologetics for Microsoft to be annoying. Scoble is the amiable face to a vast, unsympathetic and largely inept corporate behemoth. I’m sure he’s a nice guy, but he is spreading fertilizer. It might just be possible that occasionally he is able to serve his corporate puppet masters and you, his customer.

But I’m not betting on it.