Micro (adj.): very small; involving minute quantities or variations. Sorry, I just had to double check that definition after reading about a new "microblogging" service that wants to take on Twitter.Said service, Glide Engage, is set to debut tomorrow, six weeks or so after TransMedia's original launch plans. TransMedia CEO describes Glide Engage, which allots 1,400 characters per post, as "Twitter with substance"

Again, sorry -- and why am I the one apologizing? -- but IMHO, 1,400 characters is out of the micro-ballpark. Fourteen hundred characters turns a simple sentence or two into a lengthy paragraph that few small businesses have the time to either read or write.

See for yourself:

140 characters:
Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a frien

1,400 characters:
Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know Twitter. Twitter is a friend of mine. Glide Engage, you're no Twitter. Glide Engage, I know To its credit, Glide Engage appears to have plenty to offer in its own right, summed up nicely in this Hands-On review from PC World, which looks at the bigger Glide OS world. Glide, which recently passed the 1 million users mark -- is a self-described "ad-free cloud computing solution" that includes a free suite of rights-based productivity and collaboration applications with 10 GB of storage. Glide works on Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris desktop OSes, and on the iPhone, Blackberry, Palm, Android, Symbian and Windows Mobile mobile platforms, according to PC World, so "if you share a QuickTime media file through Engage with a friend using a Windows Media mobile device, Engage automatically transcodes the QuickTime file into a Windows Media file that will display nicely on the mobile device. The reverse is true, too. Similarly, if you share a Microsoft Word doc with a Mac user via Engage, Engage will convert the file to an Open Office document that will work nicely on a Mac. It will also convert documents for use on an iPhone."

That interoperability is sure to be appreciated by small and midsize businesses. But back to my original premise: Glide Engage as a Twitter replacement? I need only four characters to answer that one: Nah.