To the casual reader it might appear as if we're on the verge of total economic meltdown because the other hot story concerns Microsft's CEO, Steve Ballmer warning that another correction in the hi-tech marketplace is due soon.

What's gone wrong?

Has the hi-tech juggernaut economy come off the rails?

Hell no -- it's just that people are waking up to the cold hard realities of life in the real world.

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Of course in the meantime, many a fortune has been made during the past two years by those who were willing and able to exploit a misplaced confidence in the belief amongst the optimists that "any" dot-com venture would be a sure-fire winner. As they say however, a fool and their money...

What we're seeing now is a weeding out of the pretenders and wannabes.

The party is over and now the industry and investors are suffering from the inevitable hangover that always follows such excess.

It is indeed a shame however that NZ wasn't a participant in the early days of the new-economy revolution because now, as we stand on the verge of jumping in boots and all, we're going to find ourselves disadvantaged by the backlash that many investors are dishing out in response to their earlier follies.

I suspect that many very good ideas and business models will never find the funding they need to become a commercial reality because too many investors are "once burnt, twice shy."

As is always the case when you enter a race late -- you end up having to do a lot of work just to keep up with the tail-enders. Let's hope the government is now able to offer the kind of Berocca and Aspirin this country needs to ensure that we suffer too much from the hangover without having enjoyed the party.

A Pat On The Back For Dr Cullen
I must say that my impression of Dr Cullen as someone who is committed to turning things around for the better, continues to grow.

While I can't say that I totally agree with the way the current government is going about facilitating our entry into the new economy, I can say that the man has shown me that he's prepared to roll up his sleeves and get involved -- and that's good news!

ex-IHUGers Strike Back?
With Net-related jobs falling left, right and centre all over the globe, it came as little surprise that NZ would not be totally exempt from the pressures many Net-based companies face to reduce costs and improve productivity.

We've seen Flying Pig trim its workforce, and more recently IHUG announced that it would have to shed some staff.

Well it seems that some of those affected by IHUG's move have decided to vent their anger on the Web and have produced a short run of tee-shirts that are being promoted through this website.

A little sleuthing indicates that the site is actually an alias for the URL freak.school.nz/ihug/, a domain registered to Aucklander Liz Reid.

I have been informed that the site is a joke -- don't bother asking for a tee-shirt :-)

Someone has also advised me that the site owner is not necessarily the creator of the page.

The Weekly
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