Learn from the mistakes of others

Therefore, I'm looking at PHP, and may stray into XHTML, XML, and perhaps later some Java. I've already had a start on SQL, with more to come.

Yeah, I know. If I was really serious about getting a real hobby, I'd be picking up C++ ... but it's been a few years since I did any serious coding. I probably should get the hang of Object Oriented Programming at some point.

Ah hell, to quote Joel Spolsky:

Watching non-programmers trying to run software companies is like watching someone who doesn't know how to surf trying to surf.

"It's ok! I have great advisors standing on the shore telling me what to do!" they say, and then fall off the board, again and again. The standard cry of the MBA who believes that management is a generic function. Is Ballmer going to be another John Sculley, who nearly drove Apple into extinction because the board of directors thought that selling Pepsi was good preparation for running a computer company? The cult of the MBA likes to believe that you can run organizations that do things that you don't understand.