Am I the only one who is actually glad to see corporate exec types writing blogs these days? Instead of just shoveling news to readers via press releases, blogs allow developers and programmers to add personal opinion to announcements.

One of the first examples I can recall off the top of my head has to be Sun Microsystems. Jonathan Schwartz, Sun Microsystems CEO and President, writes in his Sun blog all of the time.

Many other Sun employees also have blogs they are encouraged to publish online - for example, most of the Sun execs I have met all have a blog they try to occasionally update every now and then.

Intel also has a blog section on its web site.

Mandriva, Ubuntu and Microsoft also have blog systems created for developers and egg heads.

A quick Google search with a company name followed by "blog" should return some interesting results, if you've got some free time on your hands.

I also recently spoke with a founder of a start-up company who said writing a blog is an important step so people feel they can connect with him.

As an example of start-up blog action, Ooyala hosts an official blog on its web site - a great way to publish news without writing a press release or official news post.

Perhaps I have a lot more free time than most of you, but I actually have time to head out and read some of this crap. Reading corporate blogs can actually be a good way to learn about a new feature or service before it is announced to the general public.

I am to the point now where I feel kind of nervous if a company prohibits its employees to publish blogs that discuss what they are working on - unless there is a viable reason.

... Michael Hatamoto