YouTube is rolling out the option today, via its TestTube collection of beta trials. The idea is straightforward: Make the site work better for people who lack high-powered PCs or robust broadband.

Feather users get the same clips, but with fewer options; Feather doesn’t appear to offer the “high-quality” large-screen option, for instance, and many commenting and sharing options have been removed or stripped down.

But if you’re just interested in watching YouTube, none of that is going to matter to you, and you may very well not notice the difference anyway. I might try it whenever I have to use my slow and unreliable Sprint (S) wireless modem.

I don’t think you’ll be able to tell the difference by watching this embedded clip–pretty sure you have to opt-in to the beta for this to work–but worst-case, you get to see Tom Cruise and Jack Nicholson chew up the furniture for the umpteenth time.

With a new administration coming into power, it makes a lot of sense for Microsoft to launch its new “Microsoft on the Issues” blog this week.

Covering legal and policy issues, the opening post by Microsoft (MSFT) General Counsel Brad Smith noted:

Today we are launching ‘Microsoft on the Issues’ to open another, more direct line of communication that will enable us to quickly and succinctly provide our perspective on the pressing technology matters of the day. We do not want this to be a one-way conversation. We want to create a transparent dialogue with readers and stakeholders. We want to enhance our participation in discussions that propel policy-making at local, national and international levels.”

But, so far, with only two posts and few comments, it’s a tad dry–and, by that, I actually mean dull–and in desperate need of some spicy sauce to jazz up the joint.

Here are some modest BoomTown suggestions:

Never seen before behind-the-scenes photos of Microsoft honcho Bill Gates cracking wise with the legal team during the software giant’s antitrust trial in the late 1990s!

CEO Steve Ballmer’s personal ruminations in a “BOMB-er” blog on the dangers of Google (GOOG) dominance over search–the uncensored version!

A legal argument about how Yahoo (YHOO) CEO Jerry Yang should be declared incompetent for not taking Microsoft’s very, very, very generous offer. (Title: “Is It Something We Said?”)

Microsoft’s collection of the outtakes from the Jerry Seinfeld commercials, with a very special essay about the Constitutional right to be extremely weird.

No?

I guess, as Smith wrote, it will be a “wide range of issues, from broadband access, online privacy and data portability to intellectual property protection, competition law, international trade and immigration.”

Also, he promises to write about the “next wave in the computing revolution and its potential to use the power of software and the Internet in new ways to enhance choice for consumers, businesses and governments.”

Thus, the first post–on workforce development and skills training by Global Corporate Affairs VP Pamela Passman.

In any case, I am still waiting for that Ballmer blog.