Microsoft shedding jobs

[DimPrawn]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/7845237.stm

Microsoft has said it will cut up to 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months, including 1,400 immediately.

The firm also reported a net profit of $4.17bn (£3bn) for the three months to 31 December, down 11% on last year and less than analysts' expectations.

Microsoft added it was "no longer able" to give a profit and revenue outlook for the fiscal year amid current volatile market conditions.

Microsoft said the announced job cuts would take place in research and development, marketing, sales, finance, legal, human resources and information technology.

It added it would also be making other cost-cutting measures, including a reduction in spending on travel.



Now I've worked at MS UK several times, and I've never heard of cut backs like this, even Dot Com crash time.

If a company with an effective monopoly is in the tulipe, it's bad news.

[swamp]

The corporate upgrade cycle has stopped.

We're still using Windows 2000 here on the corporate desktops, and it works fine. Mind they are currently trialling a limited roll out of XP!! No Vista, no Windows 7, still on Office 2000 here, so no money for Micro$oft.

[Solidec]

They are in doodoo because Vista was/is so tulip.

Corporations are vista averse, they are patiently waiting on WIndows7, to see if it offers any value over XP.

lets face it, not much demand for Vista features in the corporate desktop worlkd is there.

[jmo21]

plus the billions they have been throwing at Xbox and Zune

[BlasterBates]

When DP puts in a it must be bad.

[HairyArsedBloke]

There was someone on Bloomberg saying that those 5000 are actual employees. Another 7000 contractors on top of that are likely to go as well.

[Spacecadet]

I thought Jobs worked for Apple

[thelace]

Will they all be product testers, afterall, they've shown they've no need for them in the past?

[d000hg]

Will they all be product testers, afterall, they've shown they've no need for them in the past?

What a poignantly accurate yet totally hilariously original comment.

I'd bet MS have testing policies as pedantic as any company... but I've never seen a system where bugs won't appear even after the most demandingly thorough testing. And when you're MS, you have MILLIONS of IT-ignorant users doing the most stupid things to your software... it's a coder's nightmare.

[Doggy Styles]

They are in doodoo because Vista was/is so tulip.

Corporations are vista averse, they are patiently waiting on WIndows7, to see if it offers any value over XP.

lets face it, not much demand for Vista features in the corporate desktop worlkd is there.

Apparently some people like Vista. Not me though. I had it for three months and dumped it.

I've bought two machines in the last year or so, and luckily Dell have an XP option by popular demand.

WTF were Microsoft thinking of?