Well, I just got emailed that the new version of Ubuntu (Hardy Heron) has been released.

Previous upgrades have usually broken my soundcard, so hopefully this one will be smoother. I may not bother upgrading tonight though. I imagine the servers will be taking a bit of a kicking from everyone wanting to check it out.

Well, the last few weeks have continued to pile on the shocks.

Simon had really risen up as one of the favourites in the first few weeks. Someone who obviously had his head screwed on straight, and wasn’t afraid to knuckle down and get the job done. While his firing was understandable, with the distinct feeling that he wasn’t management material (in which there’s no shame), it is a shame that he didn’t get to stay in the competition longer. Given the level of back stabbing and bitching going on this year, he was one of the few breaths of fresh air in the competition. His appearance on You’re Fired really just solidified what a nice bloke he is, as he took his firing on the chin. While I do see why he was fired, you really got a sense of regret from Sir Alan that he had to do it. I imagine Simon will do well out of his time on the show, as he’s one of the few to come out of it in a good light this year so far.

Then, last night, there was a further shock. I’ve held for a while that the editing of the episode is a big giveaway to who’s getting fired. As Lucinda’s team sailed through the task, I took it as given that Claire was up for the chop.

Oh how wrong I was. It was truely a shock result that Claire’s team won. Which (from the show) seemed to be largely down to a lot of luck in securing that big contract at the end of the day. From that point the episode became fairly uncomfortable viewing, as Lucinda’s team (who’d all gotten along brilliantly till that point) suddenly 180′d and the knives came out.

I’d been really rooting for Lucinda. She’s really struggled over the last few weeks, and took an awful lot of abuse from first Jenny, and then Helene which (near as I can tell) was undeserved. She really shone as a project manager though. Hers was a much more hands-off style of management than we’d seen up until this point. She assigned everyone to appropriate roles, and then let them do their job. Something that seemed to be a winning strategy. After all the flack she’d taken it was great to see her turn everything on its head and really shine. Even Margaret seemed impressed with her.

When it was announced that her team had lost, I feared the worst. But it was the sales team who’d been singled out as being at fault. Lindi’s eventual firing made sense in that context. The exclusivity offered to the cinema chain and pub were a bad move, although as was pointed out in You’re Fired, if they’d attached stronger conditions to that exclusivity, then they’d have probably gotten away with it.

I’m still not sure how far Lucinda’s going to go in the competition. There’s a few team members now who’ve taken a dislike to her, and I fear that in this competition, someone as nice as Lucinda tends to end up with a knife in their back.