In the midst of the Internet-driven startup boom, it's easy to forget the personal sacrifices that are required to build a company. The saga of smartRay Network Inc. offers a powerful reminder of what real entrepreneurship is all about. Keith H. Hammonds
It is the dark side of Free Agent Nation. Here's how the mix of Microsoft's human-resources policies, unwilling temps, high-tech union organizers, and "permatemp" agents produced unintended consequences -- and a cautionary tale. Ron Lieber
The news came as a shock to the people of Patagonia: Despite the company's commitment to the environment, its own operations were at odds with nature. What happened next was only natural. Ron Lieber
Michael Furdyk and Jennifer Corriero are advising Microsoft on what the next generation of knowledge workers wants from software. Did we mention that they're, like, really young? Curtis Sittenfeld
Interviewing for a programming job is like walking into a game of Dungeons & Dragons: sphinxlike interrogators, enigmatic riddles. Two survivors have cracked the code and written the ultimate tour guide. Ellen McCarty
Sometimes the smartest people in the room are the ones who don't know anything at all -- especially if they're in the Fourth Room, a creative safe house in London where the credo is "Leap before you look." Ian Wylie
Why can't a woman be more like a man? Two new career books about women and the world of work offer up tired advice that was old when it was new -- 20 years ago. A third offers a more thoughtful analysis. Pamela Kruger
Intelsat has helped make global communications work -- while struggling to succeed as an international agency that answers to many different governments. Now it's up to Ramu Potarazu, Intelsat's privatization czar, to make the agency a real company. Bill Breen
A few smart people. A really good idea. The level-the-playing-field impact of the Internet. Who needs money-hungry VCs? The story of Wharton professor Karl Ulrich and his hot-selling scooter reminds us why we first fell in love with the Web. Paul C. Judge
What's the matter with kids today? Says market-research guru Ted Klauber: Their lives are so busy, so structured, and so infused with digital technology that they have no time for fun. Pamela Kruger
