Quick hits
* We survived the squall line that moved through overnight, but both Whitney and I were up with the kids throughout the night. We avoided singing My Favorite Things, but only just.
* I was glad to hear Clinton and McCain have made a game of it in the Republican primary, especially after the press annointed Huckabee and Obama after roughly 127 people in Iowa raised their hands last week. Now the real competition can start. I do hope the American people choose someone with substance...but who knows?
* I continue to be impressed at the focus Microsoft is putting on Support for the draft C++ standard (C++0x) coming up in VS9. Visual Studio 2005 was a step sideways in many ways...many devs haven't liked any of their C++ work since VS6, really. Strategically, though, MS is making some good moves:
The one grave error I see there is the schism they're making between driver code and application code: If you have driver code going into windows 7, they won't accept it if it's built with Visual Studio. It HAS to be build with good old cl.exe using the DDK from MSFT. Ahh, makefiles, I hate them so.
* I keep wondering when the market's going to find a bottom, and what a "natural" bottom might be, given the fundamentals. And...I keep wondering why I care. I'm not *in* the stock market, for heaven's sake! I have 20% of my 401k invested in FOREIGN mutual funds, and the rest is in a stinkin' money market. The fact remains, I do care...if for no other reason than the historic significance. We all felt that the dot-com bubble would burst (people coding HTML making $120k/yr...PUH-leeze!), and this is the same thing. But, it seems systemic, like the party's over and the hangover is only now starting to throb.
* Yesterday was a withering day if you were a CEO. Starbucks, Bear-Sterns, etc. Accountability? Yep. Welcome to the real world, boys. I hear Chrysler is hiring washed-up executives by the fistful.
* I was glad to hear Clinton and McCain have made a game of it in the Republican primary, especially after the press annointed Huckabee and Obama after roughly 127 people in Iowa raised their hands last week. Now the real competition can start. I do hope the American people choose someone with substance...but who knows?
* I continue to be impressed at the focus Microsoft is putting on Support for the draft C++ standard (C++0x) coming up in VS9. Visual Studio 2005 was a step sideways in many ways...many devs haven't liked any of their C++ work since VS6, really. Strategically, though, MS is making some good moves:
- They've committed to 'Express' (free) editions of their tools, which are great for hobbyists and students
- They maintain an active blog and keep up with discussion groups very well
- They all but acknowledged how much they screwed-up VS2005
The one grave error I see there is the schism they're making between driver code and application code: If you have driver code going into windows 7, they won't accept it if it's built with Visual Studio. It HAS to be build with good old cl.exe using the DDK from MSFT. Ahh, makefiles, I hate them so.
* I keep wondering when the market's going to find a bottom, and what a "natural" bottom might be, given the fundamentals. And...I keep wondering why I care. I'm not *in* the stock market, for heaven's sake! I have 20% of my 401k invested in FOREIGN mutual funds, and the rest is in a stinkin' money market. The fact remains, I do care...if for no other reason than the historic significance. We all felt that the dot-com bubble would burst (people coding HTML making $120k/yr...PUH-leeze!), and this is the same thing. But, it seems systemic, like the party's over and the hangover is only now starting to throb.
* Yesterday was a withering day if you were a CEO. Starbucks, Bear-Sterns, etc. Accountability? Yep. Welcome to the real world, boys. I hear Chrysler is hiring washed-up executives by the fistful.
Harvid, my mom still reads yr blog. She's Obaming! The market will hit a "true" bottom when its sorrow & woe is on the front page of the NYTimes-- not the business section, the front page.
ReplyDeleteThen you & I will sweep in and buy Vanguard no-load index funds and sit on them until our noses bleed money. Mutual funds have too many fees!
ta
biru