Dell Computers, which is probably still smarting from its blogosphere-wide trashing at the hands of Jeff Jarvis, has plunged into the blogosphere itself with the launch of one2one, subtitled “Direct Conversations with Dell.”

According to the blog’s “About one2one” page, the blog was inspired by the pioneering work of the Microsoft Developer Network’s Channel 9, the GM Fastlane blog, the Official Google Blog, and Forrester Research’s Charlene Li.

one2one is all about conversations.  You are encouraged to speak in an honest, informal voice and to foster productive, candid dialogue that can help us learn from each other.  We???ll listen, as well as post, and ensure we engage in two-way conversations. Our intent is to provide a timely and accessible alternative to more formal, one-way channels of communication.

The site explains the “rules of engagement” (e.g., be civil), and lists the company’s commitments for the blog. For example, a broad range of employees will participate and readers can expect straight talk that has been thought through.

So far, the blog includes posts from an engineering vice president, a customer support rep, and several other employees, many of whom show their stuff in videos, just like MSDN engineers do on Channel 9. One of those videos comes from a customer support rep demonstrating a new support option. That post generated a comment that praised the effort but asked, “What else are you doing to shore up Dell customer service which obviously has declined in the past years?” The fact that Dell allowed this comment to appear bodes well for the blog. Dell appears genuinely interested in a dialogue with customers aimed at learning what they can and improving the relationship.

There aren’t a lot of comments yet—the blog just launched a few days ago without much fanfare. As awareness of the blog increases, though, and commenting gathers steam, it’ll be interesting to see the impact of the effort on the company’s relationship with customers. It’ll be even more interesting to see if the blog gives Dell a leg up should another kerfuffle arises like the one Jarvis stirred up.

Incidentally, Neville and I discussed the blog on today’s installment of “For Immediate Release.”