Suddenly nobody loves Raymond, particularly at Microsoft

Poor Raymond Vardanega: until this weekend unknown on the world stage, quietly working away on nondescript marketing strategies for the Australian office of Taiwanese PC manufacturer, Acer.

Then David W. Richards, larger-and-stranger-than-life magazine editor, publisher and online retailer, publishes a story claiming 60% of Windows Vista code will need to be reworked before the product ships.

Now, Richards is no stranger to controversy, as Phil Sim very tactfully puts it. So when Richards gets absolutely comprehensively flamed by noted Microsoft blogger Robert Scoble, Richards just names his source - apparently an email from poor Raymond Vardanega.

We're not just talking a mild ribbing here; Scoble really let him have it with both barrels, calling Richards incompetent, calling for Richards to be sacked. When someone as widely-read as Scoble writes something that angry about something, it's all over the blogosphere in no time.

I doubt Ray sent that email wanting Richards to write a story about it, and I doubt Ray gave permission to be quoted, but that's what happens sometimes with journalists. Vardanega now has to explain to whoever his boss is why Acer's just made such a public and widely-reported criticism of Acer's major software business partner. Ouch.

The sad thing is, while Scoble's all over Richards' arse with the hobnailed boots, calling him incompetent and saying he didn't do his "homework", it's really Scoble who's guilty of not doing his homework. If Scoble had done his homework before ranting, he'd know almost nobody would have read Richards' piece - it's a small magazine read by a small predominantly Australian audience. And in Australia, as Phil Sim says, we generally take what Richards says with a grain of salt.

Forget about Scoble and Richards - Sim's article is the only one with any research behind it (very nice profile Phil!) and I love this one from Stowe Boyd flipping Scoble's own quote back on him!

We eventually got around to talking about it on the 2WEB podcast tonight. I'm the voice with all the "boom" on the mic. Gotta get me a new mic.