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This allows Ballmer to keep more doughnuts for himself.

Apr 21, 09 - 08:41 am Comment from: almux

Usually shareholders love it!
But will M$ be better or worse with less people??? Hum?

"He adds that he has few details on the size, timing of the announcement, timeframe of cuts, geography or affected business units or contractors,"

so that means he knows what exactly? classy reporting these days, a rumor from a guy that admits to know nothing.

Apr 21, 09 - 08:51 am Comment from: KingMel

@almux
Depends on who they lose. Every company carries some baggage that reduces productivity, responsiveness and quality. The problem is sorting out that baggage without catching good employees in the roundup. And even if this process is effective, you can destroy the morale of your workforce if it is not handled properly.

M$ has a large number of active projects, and some of those are surely expendable. So this is not necessarily a bad thing for M$ - it could help them to focus on the products that are more critical to their long term survival.

Apr 21, 09 - 09:02 am Comment from: silverhawk

"So this is not necessarily a bad thing for M$," but very bad for the people involved.

Apr 21, 09 - 09:04 am Comment from: onionhead

… it couldn't make things worse surely?

MDN take: "Live by the Borg, die by the Borg."

While it appears to be true that the Microsoft byline is Borg by nature ("You will be assimilated; resistance is futile."), I always figured Microsoft was more like a wholly owned subsidiary of the Ferengi Alliance. But then again, you have to a fan of "Star Trek: Deep Space Nine" to get that.

Apr 21, 09 - 09:36 am Comment from: Jersey_Trader

What ever happens, DON'T FIRE THE DANCING MONKEY!

He has to be the best thing going to extend the clueless fall of Microsoft.

Apr 21, 09 - 09:39 am Comment from: Jersey_Trader

Kevin J. Weise, you are very close. Microsoft is very much like an assimilated Ferengi.

Companies that lay off thousands of employees at a time are “down-sizing”. Eventually they downsize themselves out of existence. Example: General Motors. MS is currently at about the same stage as GM was 15-20 years ago - in a state of denial and falling further and further behind the state of the art.

Apr 21, 09 - 11:07 am Comment from: Roberto

Start by firing anybody who worked on Vista.

Apr 21, 09 - 11:09 am Comment from: HMCIV

@MDN Take:

As opposed to Matthew Barney who lives by the Bjork and dies by the Bjork.

Apr 21, 09 - 11:12 am Comment from: HMCIV

@ Jersey_Trader

I wonder if the Ferengi ever gave the Borg headaches like they did those Dominion guys.

Keep the engineers, fire the all the damned managers and VP's who don't know how to inspire their underlings. With all those employees at Microsoft, you think they'd be able to produce better software in a more timely manner. They definitely need to start thinking about restructuring and start from the top.

Apr 21, 09 - 01:09 pm Comment from: LordRobin

As much as I'm not qualified to give Microsoft advice, I can't help but think that any layoffs would be a big mistake.

Think about it? Where are the layoffs taking place? They can't be in the Windows and Office division -- those are still making money. But those are the only divisions making money, so if they start slashing other divisions, well, there goes Microsoft's hope of finding another way to make money.

------RM