My switch to the Mac is not going well. The evidence for this is that both Amy and I are continuing to work on our PCs even though we have beautiful new Mac Laptops loaded up with software and fully configured. Every few days I try again – and then bail after an hour or so of frustration. One of my biggest barriers is Exchange integration. Since we use Exchange extensively (including Tasks), there’s a meaningful switching cost to move off of it. Microsoft Entourage 2004 sucks. I’ve been a beta tester for Microsoft Entourage 2008 which is better, but still doesn’t support a bunch of basic Exchange integration (like Tasks) and has numerous UI yuckiness.

I’ve worked with my good friend Heidi Roizen at Mobius Venture Capital since 1999. Heidi transitioned out of her role this year and has decided to do something completely different. When someone leaves a VC firm, they usually say something like they are “following their passion.” I accept that the passion of some ex-VCs is to run a software company, but it’s not much of a “passion shift.” As long as I’ve known Heidi, she’s been passionate about her weight. Or rather – passionate about getting rid of some of it. Most of our serious discussions were on a walk either at the Dish or around her neighborhood. So – I wasn’t that surprised when she told me about her idea for SkinnySongs.

I received the following the other day from Micah Baldwin, who is now running business development at Lijit (and is a deliciously hysterical person when he wants to make a point.) If I hear “Tell Brad his blog loads way too slowly” one more time (it has now surpassed “Are you too legit to quit”) I will shove a hot stake into my eye. Just thought you would like to know that you will be the cause of my soon to be eye-patch.

My friend Ben Casnocha recently wrote a paper for school – he’s got an adapted version up on his website titled Analysis: H-1B Visa Issue in America. He dug up a deliciously moronic quote and summary from a CRS Report for Congress titled Immigration Reform: Brief Synthesis of Issue. “Those opposing increases in temporary workers assert that there is no compelling evidence of labor shortages.” Norman Matloff of UC Davis, a forceful critic of H-1B expansion, says that U.S. companies do not import foreign workers to fill a labor shortage. If there were truly a shortage, starting salaries for grads with bachelor’s degrees in computer science or engineering would be rising (they are not), and technology companies wouldn’t hire only 2% of their job applicants as they wouldn’t have the luxury to be so picky. And they don’t want more foreign workers in hopes of recruiting the best and brightest, according to Matloff. The average H-1B visa employee earns in the $65,000/yr range, far below what top talent commands. Rather, they want more foreign workers because they can pay them less to do the tasks currently done by domestic workers. (The law requiring employers to pay the “prevailing wage” is largely ignored in the industry.) In short, an increase in cheap H-1B talent would probably displace the American IT worker.

I’m looking for a handful of the “best” Wii and Xbox 360 games for my super gaming rig in Keystone. Any suggestions?

While John Furrier would like me to actually think and respond to Alex Iskold’s post titled Software Engineering Tips for Startups, I’d rather try to get into the holiday spirit and make some chocolate chip cookies. Pete Warden demonstrates his programming versatility by giving us a program for how to bake cookies your friends will beg for. Maybe #8 should be “must be able to make great chocolate chip cookies.”

The Boston Globe has a great “Office Invasion” series on their web site. If you are into Guitar Hero or Rock Band, take a look at the Harmonix office and some of the interesting folks that work there.

You are going to hear me talk a lot about user interfaces and human computer interaction in 2008. It’s an area that I’m intensely interested in as I think the way we interact with computers 20 years from now will make our current UI / HCI paradigms look as quaint as DOS and 3270 emulation mode looks today. One of my friends working in this area is Bruce Wyman, the director of technology at the Denver Art Museum. Bruce periodically writes a blog called DAM Technology and recently put up a post titled The Sapir-WIMP Hypothesis.

I’m looking for a great book on the history of the CIA. Any recommendations from out there in the blogosphere?