Look out Blogger, Bill Gates is coming

Microsoft is starting to try out its blogging muscle. Bill and Company have been pretty clear that blogging will be part of the next (after Windows 2003) version of Windows --currently codenamed "Longhorn."

Suddenly visible on the horizon is Microsoft's new blogging service aimed at younger bloggers (that would be most bloggers). The blogging service is called "the Spoke" and is now open for service (but not officially as far as we can tell). We had Blogfoot open a site to check out the look and feel of the Spoke. "Pretty cool" is the first report. For starters he just put up an initial blog, named his site Blogging Blog, and is still over there playing with the thing.

The service is free, so check it out at www.thespoke.net.

Since the Spoke has not been officially announced by Microsoft, take care about taking the service too seriously at this point. You can play with it, but don't move your blog there since there are no guarantees where Microsoft is going with this.

Blogger take note. There are some things you can learn from the Spoke about the basics that should have been part of Blogger as of yesterday. Time is running out guys!

The Spoke is not ready for prime time, and it looks like there is no way at this point you can do much in the way of customizing your blog. However, it's fun to check out what direction Microsoft may be going with blogging.