Computerworld editor microchipped by Microsoft

Date: Monday, February 02, 2009 11:18 PM

<<<<< JOB DESTRUCTION NEWSLETTER No. 1970 -- 2/02/2009 >>>>>

A Computerworld editor named Don Tennant recently met with a general manager
from Microsoft. Sometime during that meeting Tennant got a microcontroller
implanted in his head. Now all that somebody at Microsoft has to do is to hit
a hot key on their keyboard and Tennant will automatically spew filth onto the
Computerworld website.

MS only needed their cheap 8 bit model because Tennant's brain is so small and
his neural connections are so primitive.

Microsoft will be in total control of Computerworld once they implant a chip
in Patrick Thibodeau's head. Thibodeau's brain may require a more expensive 32
or 64 bit model since his brain is way bigger than Tennant's.

If any of you know Patrick Thibodeau please warn him to avoid meeting with
people from Microsoft because he is next in line for microchipping.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

http://www.computerworld.com/action/article.do?command=viewArticleBasic&articleId=333140

Editor's Note: We're better than antiforeign hatred makes us sound Don Tennant
February 2, 2009 (Computerworld) CNN called it "Bloody Monday." On Jan.
26, more than 71,400 jobs were lost as massive cuts were announced by
manufacturing and service companies. Yet even that did little to distract the
attention of some who saw a darker cloud hanging over Microsoft's announcement
several days earlier that it was cutting 5,000 jobs.

It was on Bloody Monday that Computerworld's Patrick Thibodeau reported that
an undisclosed number of H-1B visa holders would be among those Microsoft
workers who were losing their jobs. Microsoft would only say that the number
of foreign workers affected was "significant."

The dark cloud burst when there was no proclamation by Microsoft that H-1B
visa holders would be the first to go. Companies are under no legal obligation
to lay off foreign workers ahead of U.S. workers, and that didn't sit well
with many of our readers. As is the case whenever H-1B visas are discussed,
emotions ran high among readers who commented on Thibodeau's story. But the
antiforeigner rhetoric was even more intense than usual, and there was a
strong tendency to equate Microsoft with a demonic image of Bill Gates.

"Send those people home!" one reader hissed. "If our economy ever recovers, we
still don't need H-1B people. We need [American citizens]! Bill Gates and
Microsoft, and other firms, have made a circus out of H-1B."

If the H-1B program is a circus, there's plenty of blame to be shared. No
doubt some companies abuse the program, and no doubt the government has failed
to take adequate measures to prevent those abuses. But what's most troubling
is the garish sideshow performed by those whose hateful nationalism (as
opposed to honorable patriotism) targets the H-1B program.

A comment that was particularly alarming came from a reader who brought up the
2007 case of the YouTube video in which attorney Lawrence Lebowitz provided
advice on how to fill job vacancies with foreign workers. "Our goal is clearly
not to find a qualified and interested U.S. worker,"
Lebowitz proclaimed. The outlandish demonstration of intent to abuse the
system was disgusting. But not as disgusting as the reader's comment. In a
posting with the subject line "Traitors," the anonymous reader wrote that he
had found Lebowitz's e-mail address. Yet that wasn't enough.

"Anyone know his home address so I can ask him PERSONALLY why he is a traitor
to the United States?" the reader asked. "How about where he eats, what gym he
goes to, where he plays golf, etc.? I would like to post all this information
on a Web site containing this type of information on H-1B supporters and other
treasonous acts."

I'm no fan of Lebowitz, but which is more objectionable -- a slimy lawyer or a
creepy stalker?

It was amid all this gloom that I happened to meet with Charles Johnson,
general manager of Microsoft's worldwide manufacturing sector business. We
talked about the job losses and what Microsoft is doing to help manufacturers
cut costs. When I brought up the H-1B issue, Johnson put it in a sensible
perspective.

"We're a virtual company -- I've hired people who live everywhere," he said,
referring to a few hires in China and Singapore. "One of them I would love to
have moved to Redmond, but the value he's providing there is even greater,
especially during the economic downturn, because he has real insights --
doesn't have an 'everything's built in Redmond' mentality."

Anyone whose knee-jerk reaction is to write Johnson off as another Microsoft
demon who's giving jobs to foreigners and doesn't have America's best
interests at heart should consider this: He's a West Point graduate who was
deployed to Desert Storm in 1990 as a platoon leader in the 82nd Airborne. He
was awarded a Bronze Star.

Foreign workers aren't the enemy, nor are those who hire them. The enemy is
the sense of hopelessness that triggers misplaced blame in difficult times.
We've always been stronger and braver than that. Let's not lose those
attributes when we need them the most.

Don Tennant is Computerworld's senior editor-at-large. You can contact him at
don_tennantcomputerworld.com, and visit his blog at
http://blogs.computerworld.com/tennant.

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