[[M$]] is losing money in every segment **except** its Windows and Office products.

The mysterious shroud surrounding Microsoft’s revenues was dispelled yesterday, when the company revealed that it is losing shedloads of money on everything bar client Windows, server and Office software. In these, naturally, it’s making even bigger shedloads, but it’s abundantly clear who’s paying the rent, and financing the assaults into new areas…

It can afford to shoulder big losses in the areas where it wishes to be the dominant force for a very long time. Which is fortunate, because in several cases these look suspiciously like ventures normal businesses would be forced to put a bullet into. Now.

That’s right friends. Because of its monopoly position, it can afford to lose money in every other segment of the market in order to gain control. The US Courts and the Bush administration should be ashamed of themselves.

But, this is one of the reasons why we live in such a great country.

“I believe that if everyone in Florida who tried to vote had had his or her vote counted properly – that I would have won,_ the former vice president said in an interview to be published Sunday in the Washington Post Magazine.

“I strongly disagreed with the Supreme Court decision and the way in which they interpreted and applied the law. But I respect the rule of law, so it is what it is.”

That’s right. In this great country, we have the right to disagree with what our government does, even protest it. But the rule of law prevails.

With this statement, Mr. Gore has earned a great deal of respect from me.

In every way, this movie is superior to [[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone]].

It doesn’t happen very often, but every once in a while, a sequel comes along that fulfills the promise of its predecessor. This is one of those times.

I found [[Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone]] to be an adequate presentation of the basic plot elements in the book. The problem I had with it was that it felt very episodic, and that each episode served only as a tie in to the book rather than as a building block to tell the story. Back then, I said this:

…there was a sense of magic missing, a sense of awe, a sense of WOW that the books had….

I didn’t mean wizard magic, I meant movie magic. You know what I’m talking about… those movies that make you giggle to yourself and feel all warm inside bringing you back to your childhood.

Thankfully, this movie has that magic. I found myself totally caught up in the world of Harry Potter and when the movie ended, I just wanted more. That’s saying something when the movie is already nearly three hours long!

##The Story

Harry is getting ready to head back to Hogwart’s School of Witchcraft and Wizardry when he’s confronted by a curious little creature called a house-elf named Dobbie. Dobbie has a warnin for Harry: stay away from Hogwarts or you’ll die.

But of course, that’s not enough to keep Harry away. After a little bit of adventure, he arrives at Hogwart’s to find things pretty much as it was when he left at the end of last term. His old friends (and enemies) are still there, and everything seems pretty normal. That is, until students start turning to stone.

It’s up to Harry and his friends Hermione and Ron to solve the mystery and save the day.

##Music

In the last movie, I was very disappointed by the musical score crafted by John Williams. Sure, he was nominated for an Academy Award, but I think that was just because of who he was. The score was intrusive rather than supportive, distracting instead of engrossing. He must’ve been sleepwalking when he wrote it, because he just doesn’t screw up like that.

This time around, he nailed it. The music blended seemlessly with the action on the screen and never distracted me from it. It’s a wonderful score, and I think that Howard Shore is going to have a tough battle this year.

##Summary

Chamber is a wonderful children’s movie that plays will for adults as well. Yes, it is scarier that the first movie. Yes, it is darker. Yes, very young children might have problems with a few things (although, I can’t imagine a kid that’s grown up today having a problem with anything they see short of graphic dismemberment). However, all that being said, it is far more enjoyable than the first Potter film.

Go see this movie.

[[Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets]] is only 75% on the tomatometer at this point.

I sure hope it’s better than that. Watch here for my thoughts sometime this weekend.

Well, it finally happened. I’ve been laid off.

##In The Beginning

It all started with a strange twist of fate in February of 1988. My parents were on a flight from Boston to San Jose. This was back in the days when you could smoke on domestic flights, and my mother was in the smoking section while my father was in non-smoking.

Sitting next to my father was a business man whose job obviously had something to do with some sort of technology. My father, being the proud parent that he was, started talking to this gentleman about his son that was soon to graduate from the [[UCSB]] with a degree in Computer Science.

Being the gregarious guy that my dad was, he eventually talked this guy’s ear off and the guy gave him a business card and told my father to have me call him for an interview near the end of the school year.

The guy’s name was Mike Perugini and he worked at [[LTX]] in San Jose.

Unfortunately, the transfer seems to be the same low quality as the first two movies released.

I’ll probably end up buying it someday, but with my recent [[Job Situation]], it might be a while.

While 2003 isn’t likely to see a boom, here’s why it should offer a marked improvement in sales for this beleaguered tech sector

Even worse, Guzman sees no end to the lengthened lifecycles that have put a brake on PC sales. Those cycles “have been getting longer for us — from three years to four, and even five or six.

I hope that this isn’t the case! When do you think the “Economic Recovery” will take place?

This is an article from [[Slashdot]] in which a guy asks the question Now that I’ve lost my job, what skills should I learn in the hi-tech world..

Given that this also just happened to me, I think I’ll ready all the responses (maybe I’ll find some leads). In any case,

I got many of the skill the replies mention, and I should be able to learn the other’s fairly rapidly.

So, if you’re hiring and you need a very experienced C++/OO developer, I’m your guy. Take a look at my “Resume: Michael D. Carney” for more information.

You just gotta love this.

I wonder when there’s going to be a MacOSX version made available?

Version 1.2 of the award-winning Ximian Evolution software upgrades its integrated email, calendar, contact and task list management functions to provide a more powerful and customizable solution for end users and companies using Linux or UNIX workstations.