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A recent posting by tech blogger Robert Scoble has set the industry alight with wild speculation and rumour. So much so that he has followed up with a retraction - or kind of!

His original post talked about an impending announcement by Microsoft of ’something’ so amazing it literally made him cry. Here’s what he said ..

While watching the demo I realized the way I look at the world was about to change. While listening to Wong I noticed a tear running down my face. It’s been a long while since Microsoft did something that had an emotional impact on me like that.

Scoble could not give any details, citing an embargo until 27th February. He did say that “It’s too inspiring to stay a secret for long.”.

Following the post, TechCrunch got in on the act with a Duncan Riley post speculating in the tradition of a news analyst on a slow day.

So I’m guessing that maybe Microsoft has picked the date as a spoiler to come after the Adobe event. It could be anything, but I’m thinking that it may be Silverlight related, and it might be related to online/ offline applications. Possibly a kick-ass web office package, or new tools to bring online apps offline. Either way it will be something that made Scoble cry, and I want to see the product, and Scoble cry some more.

This was followed by a second TechCrunch post in the style of Miss Marple, digging for clues in the original Scoble post.

In my earlier post on Scoble crying I guessed Silverlight or online Office. It might be something powered by Silverlight, but I’m now changing my predictions. It’s either an amazing online astronomy program, or it’s heavily interface related to I don’t know what. Guesses given where Fey and Curtis work: media management in images, audio and video.

Scoble tried to put the lid back on the mystery with a further post entitled “Misreading Scoble on Microsoft cry”, saying

“…that TechCrunch took my post a little too far in an incorrect direction. It’s my fault for getting everyone worked up. In hindsight, I probably should have kept my mouth shut until I was released from an embargo. “

Slow news day on the web methinks.

Tags: Microsoft, Scobleizer, TechCrunch

Go online and you will not fail to spot a common truth about the world we live in. Planet Earth is dripping in anger. The world is a boiling cauldron of fury and doom. Wherever you look there is someone either complaining or spreading the seeds of doom across our drab little lives. Politics, Religion, Traffic, Taxes, Terrorism, Global Warming, Food Scares, Aids, Ageing, Nuclear Despots, Asteroids, Britney Spears new single ..… there’s no end to the line of bloggers waiting to pile on the agony.

Its reassuring then that Robert Scoble, the well thought of tech blogger, has seen fit to add to the pile whilst sparking a debate on information privacy that has the tech world buzzing but the waves of public indifference lapping on the shore.

For those of you who have not been following the earth shattering debate, here it is in a nutshell. Scobel joins Facebook and over time gets 5,000 ‘virtual’ friends. Scobel runs script to extract the names, email addresses and birthdates of his virtual friends. Facebook spot the activity and suspend his account on the grounds that he has breached the sites Terms and Conditions. Scobel cries fowl and blogs about it. Facebook reinstate his account on the basis that he has stopped using the script. Big debate kicks off about who exactly owns the information:

Argument #1: By becoming a Facebook friend of Scoble, users are accepting that he can access their information and use it how he sees fit.
Argument #2: Any information on Scoble’s Facebook page belongs to Scobel.
Argument #3: By becoming a Facebook friend of Scoble, users are accepting that he can access their information however they are not agreeing to that information being extracted and used elsewhere.
Argument #4: Data on Facebook belongs to Facebook – it says so in their T&C’s and all users accept the T&C’s when they join.

Storm in a tea cup? Well it looks set to run for a while but for what it is worth here is my take on the debate.

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Tags: All Things Digital, Facebook, O'Reilly Radar, Rough Type, Scobleizer