Groove Blog Policy
Ray Ozzie has published his company's new weblog policy. It's a very interesting read and after my first initial reaction, I don't think I have many objections to what is said within. It's actually a surprisingly reasonable document having been written by a company lawyer. I'm sure the first draft was quite a bit more stringent, so good job Ray!
Having said that, something I would like to have seen is a an acknowledgement of the free speech rights of the employee. Also, I do have a problem with the assumption that employees' blogs are mouthpieces for the company only because that employee stated the fact that they work for that company. And the veiled threats of employee agreements are quite disturbing. But basically if you think you're working for a company that might possibly sue you (because you explained in your blog a neat algorithm you thought of last night before bed - and your company decides they "own" that idea for example) then you obviously need to find another company now... I can't really fault Groove for writing this document and covering their asses.
Lots of talk about quiet periods... Groove isn't POSSIBLY thinking about going public are they? Not that I don't like the company, but a one product company AGAIN? They'll probably go public so that Microsoft can do a share-swap or some other tax-avoiding deal to buy them outright.
-Russ