Employees Not That Desperate:

Kerry Azelton, 44, could be a case in point. The Pleasanton engineer, who is a designer of shipping containers for computer components, took a pay cut this year to help his employer weather the downturn, but the company ultimately was sold. Frustrated that the new owners "just thought I'd be grateful to have a job," Azelton picked up the phone and soon had several job offers. He didn't even entertain a counteroffer.

In his new job with Packaging Innovators in Livermore, Azelton negotiated to get back his original salary, plus a car allowance. In the end, though, it was less about money and more about feeling wanted.

"You've got to know your employees," Azelton said. "If you don't have a personal relationship with them, somebody else will."

Microsoft Research is developing social-networking software code-named "Wallop," the first fruits of which could show up in 2006 when the "Longhorn" version of Windows goes live. Wallop is designed to use blogs, wikkis, instant-messaging and e-mail to connect individuals in peer groups. Microsoft officials have said to expect an RSS aggregator to be part of the Longhorn user interface.

Members of this group say they are better equipped to deal with the amount of information that technology puts at their fingertips. While only 13 percent of the technology elite say it is a challenge to manage today's wealth of information, 35 percent of the remaining population says it feels overwhelmed.