Charles on… anything that comes along

Robert Scoble again. Sorry, but I’ve sort of found the time to dip into his bloggings. Microsoft has launched its Virtual Earth, which everyone has instantly compared to Google Earth and Google Maps, and found wanting (or at least very out of date), though RS prefers to link to Elliott Back writes: ‘Wow! These are just my first impressions, but it seems like Microsoft has built a Google-Maps killer!’ More like a Google Maps gooser. Killer… well, only if it becomes the default in some future operating system.

More interestingly, Scoble - who disallowed himself from leaking how “Longhorn” is now going to be monikered “Vista” earlier - wonders:

So, why do we have embargoes? I think it’s one of those last things that survive from old-school PR. They are trying to give everyone in the media an equal shot at being out at the gate. I personally think we need to reevaluate our rules here. The word-of-mouth network is just getting too efficient to try to live by these rules anymore.

Well, sort of. It’s really so that people who want to control news (usually not journalists) can be sure of what time that news will come out.

But it’s also about journalists being able to be sure that a particular story will come out equally across all places, so it’ll have impact that they won’t miss out on. And it gives them advance warning to do their own digging around; many science and health stories are released under embargo, which gives specialist journalists the time to truly evaluate their significance.

Often scientists will know about what’s happening, through this interweb thingy or more often from being at conferences where papers’ results are discussed ahead of publication (or in the bar after the conference). Embargoes have their value. Weirdly, stories have more impact when they come out across all media at the same time.

Exclusives are what journalists get on their own; I always used to tell PRs, when I was at The Independent, that I could make a better case for running a story to my newsdesk if I could say that everyone would have it at the same time. Else, if it were exclusive, the desk editors would look at me and say “Will it hold?” Meaning - can we put it by for a rainy day?

Scoble again:

By holding bloggers back from talking about it we’re just keeping us from getting involved in the conversation which keeps us from making sure you learn about the coolest features.

Hmm, after what you did with your “reports” about Microsoft and Claria, Robert, I’d have thought you’d be glad to be kept back from being involved in the “conversation”. (Read Jupiter Research’s Microsoft Monitor: “Why Not Get It Right the First Time?“) Just a thought.

These posts might be related (the database thinks..):
• Embargoes: why we hacks hate them (30 April 2007; score: 68.36%)
• Michael Arrington and the broken embargoes: welcome to journalism, Mikey boy (19 December 2008; score: 52.48%)
• Sudoku trivia.. what's the least numbers for a solvable grid without guesses? (17 May 2007; score: 33.7%)