How so? Does he mean in terms of time commitment. It seems like this a great marketing function, and would continue to be. I certainly would have never heard of Fog Creek without it.
I personally think it would be smarter to slow his posting frequency rather than quit all together but anyone whose read Joel's blog knows he has a certain love for the dramatic.
Blogging/writing on a regular basis is a lot like polling vs event-driven programming. Joel's been polling himself way too often trying to come up with something to write so that he can publish something. When you poll for something, 90% of the time you'll find the thing you're precisely NOT interested in. I'm sure he'll be back when there's something good to talk about.
SO83 ~ http://itc.conversationsnetwork.org/shows/detail4403.html goes into detail why?
There is an audience bigger than blog reading, tech/web crowd. There is also the time poor "Exec" for example, who carry a Blackberry and read email all the time but not the Web. This is a tactic http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jason_Calacanis devised to reach a broader audience. Create an email list a broader audience can read.
- blogging: to market his company & product to developers
- podcasting: to market stackoverflow & his company to developers
- email: to market stackoverflow to execs in prep for IPO and broader business market
I always watch what Joel does carefully because changes he make signal new opportunities.