Jon Udell, the InfoWorld columnist, is to join Microsoft. The Redmond software giant, once known as the Borg, after the evil collective intelligence of the Star Trek movies, seems much more human these days. That's partly because the company, maker of Windows and Microsoft Office, seems more fallible since it failed to crush Google, like it had earlier competitors. But the software corp has also softened its image among geeks by co-opting dorky writers such as Robert Scoble. Jon Udell, a self-styled leading-edge alpha geek, is an appropriate substitute. Don't think he'll only weigh in on arcane technical subjects. Of his move, Udell says:

The augmentation of human capability in these sorts of ways isn't just some kind of geek chic. It's nothing less than a survival issue for our species.

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