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Bloggers meet Mr. Bill (Gates)

There's a small confab at Microsoft (MSFT) headquarters today.  Some of the A-list bloggers are there including Steve Rubel of MicroPersuasion.  Among the dozen or so other people invited to the expenses-paid sessions are Michael Harrington from TechCrunch, Jeremy Zawodny from Yahoo (YHOO), and Chris Pirillo (from just married).

Ryan Stewart is also attending and says one of the items on the agenda is discussion of something called the Mix Conference, set for Las Vegas in late April.  That meeting is to help Web developers understand how to "unlock new revenue opportunities" through technology and content, which could include podcasts and blogs. The Microsoft sessions wraps up with a one-hour q-and-a up with Bill Gates.

Some of the people invited are very geeky. They are also bloggers.  None I've seen named are high-profile podcasters.  But, it doesn't seem likely they're going to be asked to be shown ways that they could monetize their own online efforts. 

The fact that these savvy folks, like Pirillo and Zawodny and Blogger-founder Evan Williams, are there suggests that Microsoft wants to know what they know about what's coming next in content.  These folks talk with a lot of other bloggers and podcasters and could be a great help to Microsoft in anticipating the kinds of things content producers might want to be doing, like easily including video in blogs or Web links in podcast files.

Rubel says he'll post about the meeting later today.

Report: Microsoft layoffs

Now that Bob Scoble has left the building, Mini-Microsoft blogs on as Redmond's most visible, yet unidentified inside source.  And he/she says things are about to get rough at the company.

A reader of Mini's blog says it's started. "My org announced today a roughly 50% RIF. One group of 65 in the org is being cut to 36. My group of 12 is being reduced to 3. Management is being cut from 21 to 8 people."  The writer said he was worried about their families and futures.  he asked, does Mini, who's been critical of management and his own co-workers, have a heart?

Mini replied: "It gives me no pleasure. But this company needs to size down and sad stories will be plentiful with that. I hope the parting terms are reasonable and, if they are skilled enough to get hired by Microsoft and were a good hire, they find an excellent career elsewhere."

It's not hurt the stock for the past week.