Phew, one very stressful week is over, but I have to say that all the stress I've been through for the last 8 weeks was finally worth it. Many of you have certainly noticed the lack of updates in the last two months and also that my mood was not exactly cheering. The reason for this was a major restructuring of the business behind Tom's Hardware Guide. Most of you probably know that I am a medical doctor and not a slick business guy, which is why those changes didn't really come easy to me. I don't really enjoy business meetings, lawyer appointments and contract negotiations, and even though I have learned how to deal with it in the last three years, I still prefer spending my time for updating the website.

I spent last week in the San Francisco Bay Area to finalize a transition, which is probably the most important and most exciting thing that happened to Tom's Hardware Guide for a very long time. I can now announce that Larry Barber has left Tom's Hardware Guide, which will start a new era. Larry and I will from now on go separate ways and of course I wish him all the best of luck on all his new endeavors. The team around me, bringing you Tom's Hardware Guide, has now got the chance to show that we are even more efficient in supplying you with experienced guidance in the technology scene, way beyond what you've seen so far, advancing in new areas even outside the PC-world. At the same time we will be able to offer exciting new job opportunities for interested and experienced people in the US as well as Europe and Asia.

I would like to take the chance and briefly introduce my team. Right on my side, as the inevitable business adviser, there is my long-term friend Hermann Eiden . As a very experienced man in the PC-technology as well as business area he is supplying me with the information as well as guidance I need to lead the business that Tom's Hardware Guide has become by now. Without Hermann I wouldn't have been able to get through the last months, and I would love to take the chance and officially thank him for his support and optimism. One of the very backbones of this website and a very long and trusty friend of mine is our webmaster Fredi Gross , without whom Tom's Hardware Guide could hardly even exist. Fredi has started helping me out in the very early days of this website already, which goes back some 3 years now. I would like to thank him for his hard work, friendship and unconditional support from all of my heart too. The person who will be the number one review and technology provider beside myself is Brent Kerby , my technical director. He is leading our lab in California, which will finally host more than eight testers/reviewers/editors, working with over fifty test systems. Brent has acclaimed an extremely high reputation in his previous job as manager of AMD's performance lab in Sunnyvale and only because Brent and I became really close friends I was able to make him move over into my lab. Brent will be a key person for the future success of Tom's Hardware Guide, because together with me he will be responsible to supply you with a very high frequency of reviews. Frank Patterson has newly joined us to take over from Larry Barber the sales and administration of the US-region. His excellent experience in this field will make sure that Tom's Hardware Guide will not only remain a strong and healthy business, but grow to provide the worlds best interface to technology. Markus Pfeffinger is my German editor for about 18 months now and will soon work with several fellow reviewers/editors in the German lab/editorial office lead by Hermann Eiden. Last but not least are there Annie Chao and Michael Deprenda, who sign responsible for the Asian Operations of Tom's Hardware Guide. I would like to thank those two friends of mine for their commitment and support in the last year too.