I'm Like Dave Barry Except Not Funny or Famous

It has been said that nothing is as boring as blogging about blogging.

Which makes this article among the most boring I've ever written. Even just typing "boring" three times made me yawn. (Are yawns contagious? )

Anyway, when people start blogs, particularly technology- or politics-related blogs, it's because they have something to say. Experience on the MSDN blog site shows that about half of all people seem to have exactly one post worth of stuff to say. Some folks peter out before posting a single article! On the other hand (much to my dismay) I seem to be in no eminent danger of running out of topics.

Here's the blog paradox: you start a blog because you want to talk about something. So, presumably, you write some of your most passionate, important ideas down first--exactly when no one is reading your blog because they don't know it exists. Ouch! Into the lonely canyon your voice echoes but there's no one to hear your screams.

This is but one of the many flaws of this medium--to me, I've been hosting a very long party, but the reality is that the vast majority of you showed up mid-event. Looking at the site statistics only confirms this.

So, I'm going to emulate a syndicated newspaper columnist on vacation for a few days and republish probably the most fundamental series of articles I've written: the "Why the UI?" series. This 8-part series takes you through the thinking behind why we decided to create a new user interface for Office 2007, with a good dose of history thrown in. I've gone through and updated, corrected, and expanded these articles in spots, so even if you've read them before, you might find them worth your time again. Think of it as Why the UI: Special Edition.

And for newcomers to the blog and to the Office 2007 UI effort, I hope that reading these articles will give you a better background in why we decided to pursue a new direction for Office 2007.

Oh, and don't forget to watch the video.