Despite our recent speculation that Microsoft had missed the boat on blogging, we have been amazed to learn following our article yesterday that Wallop, the Microsoft Blogging tool, is already in beta testing from the site mywallop.com and is slated for release 2nd Qtr 2004 as a stand alone tool, and not part of the next version of Windows as previously believed. In immenent arrival of Microsoft onto the blogging scene is bound to see a battle in the blog marketplace as growth rates slow from their current ultra high levels, although for the short term, these rates will continue to sustain a diverse market.