Microsoft won some encouragement from an unexpected new ally.

The head of the Justice Department's antitrust division, Charles James, predicted that Microsoft ultimately will face no tougher sanctions than those it already negotiated with Justice and the nine states.

James defended the agreement as "good for consumers, and we think it's good for the technology economy." He also noted that, even as California and others urge the judge to impose harsher penalties, those states "will get the benefit of our settlement."

The language he chose to use here is... revealing.

Still no job. Tech wages here have taken a major nosedive. I thought I might have picked up a contract in Minn. for good money, but it seems to have tanked... cancelled by the customer (I was two levels down on the food chain). Sad to say, things are imploding a bit on the eCS front. Work has not been done on a French language version... and I have no vendable product if I don't have it in French: Québec is a French-speaking place, after all. I have a sale ready to go to Hydro Quebec as soon as a French version is available, but until then it's a no go.

To give you an idea of how bad the tech market here has gotten... they're offering 12$CDN/Hr for web designers now. Good for recent grads with no kids perhaps, but otherwise, it just sucks.

How are things with you these days?