When it went live, I anticipated flames – lots of them. Having covered the software wars between Microsoft and Sun for five years, I was used to firing up the computer, sipping my morning coffee and waking up to emails from devout Sun followers who told me that I sucked and that I was an idiot. (Ah, what fond memories!)

What ensued surprised me. Readers of the Bonds blog posted very thoughtful comments, and while a debate raged on for a week, it was mostly civil. It wasn’t until I showed the blog to a few friends that the flaming started. A few examples from IM:

Mr. Taz: “Sellout!”

The Shankster: “You’re a sucker. You watch one video six or eight times and you’re sold.”

More from the Shankster: “Lots of blogs are crap, but they can lead to a certain momentum. Yours is total crap, though. Irredeemable.”

Haha! Thanks guys! I love you, too!

That’s what I’ve told myself the last few years as I’ve sat on the sidelines and watched blogs, social networking and photo-sharing Web sites explode. Until now, I’ve just been a consumer of Web 2.0, reading blogs, viewing friends’ photos and watching the occasional goofy YouTube video.

But a confluence of events and realizations last Friday compelled me to take the plunge and enter the blogosphere. First, my wife, who was once an avid anti-Web 2.0 activist, launched her own blog. Then hours later, my friend Gordon, another Web 2.0 holdout, instant messaged me to tell me that he, too, had caved in, and was, at that very moment, recording a podcast for his magazine.

Shortly after that, I Web surfed and came across a blog about the future, smarter, more advanced Web, which technologists are already calling Web 3.0 and Web 4.0.

Am I the last person on earth without a blog? I was starting to feel ancient, like I do when I turn on MTV for five minutes, or when I listen to a radio station that “plays hits from the ’80s, ’90s and today,” and a horrible ’80s song comes on. (By the way, why do those stations relegate the ’80s, one entire decade of music, to a handful of songs: “C’mon Eileen,” Depeche’s “People are People,” and that “You Spin Me Round” song all come to mind. Yuck.)

But I digress… and I’m rambling. Although… I understand you are allowed to do that in blogs.

Last Friday, I realized I missed having a creative outlet. It’s been about six years since I’ve stopped publishing my Blast Webzine, so I’ve turned my static personal/professional Web site into this blog.

I must admit that part of my resistance to blogging was skepticism. Having lived and breathed the Internet boom and bust, I’m leery of tech folks shoving the marketing phrase, “Web 2.0,” down our throats. (C’mon people, there’s only one Web. It’s the same Web!) But… if Time magazine says Web 2.0 is the real deal, then I am a believer!

Seriously, though, the main reason I haven’t dived into blogging earlier is the amount of time and effort it takes. I didn’t want to launch a blog until I could devote time to it. So now, I’ve written my first blog posting – and it was a cinch! Just don’t ask when I’ll create a MySpace page.