Ray Ozzie the newish CTO at Microsoft has restarted his blog. He is, of course, the man Bill Gates chose to head up the drive toward Web services in an attempt to get a share of the Google-type action now that desktop apps are in retreat as a revenue source. (I’m trying to distil that explanation down a bit, really I am).

So, why is he restarting his blog : Scoble-envy? Mini-one-upmanship? Or just plain bloglonging?

What’s bloglonging? It’s that strange nostalgia (some say neuralgia) that bloggers get when they’re not blogging. Next time you need a doctor’s chit to stay off work, remember : bloglonging. With any luck we can make it a notifiable disease.

What, then, is Ray blogging about? You’d think one name would be off-limits wouldn’t you? But it’s not long before it crops up :

A couple of weeks ago, Bill and I brought life to a new initiative that, over the course of the months and years ahead, will catalyze and deliver a number of things that I’m very excited about. At that event, I said that unlike many other stealth projects I’ve/we’ve done, in this case many of our plans and offerings will evolve progressively and in the open, shaped in good measure by a dialog with you. This is not just feel-good marketing speak: the conversation related to Microsoft - its reputation, its intent and its offerings - is occurring and will continue to vigorously occur on the ‘net with or without us. I’d rather it be “with”, and I hope to add value in becoming another of the varied Microsoft voices conversing on the ‘net.

Moreover, he’s promised us more info next week (”maybe”) : “As a matter of fact, there’s a fun little project that several of us (inside and out) have been playing with for a few months that we’ve wanted to talk about more broadly, but didn’t have a lightweight way to get it out there. Now we finally have a reasonable way to kick off the conversation. Next week, perhaps.”

So bloglonging is not just confined to bloggers, then? Somehow, I don’t think Scoble or Mini have anything to fear from Big Cheese Ozzie. One to watch, nonetheless.