Microsoft Layoff 2009 - Now What?
22 January 2009: here we are at Microsoft: realigning resources and reducing costs. And laying people off. The day that has been rumored for a month now has come. And the staff reductions I've been wanting since starting this blog back in 2004 are here, though within an economic context I certainly Do Not Want. I wanted intelligent, well-thought-out leadership to have seen long ago that we've doubled our ranks far too fast and exceeded our ranks beyond what we can sustain (let alone need). Yet here we are now, in the choppy waters of the global economic crisis, being reactive rather than opportunistic.
Microsoft should be better than this.
This will start as a short post to kick off the biggest event at Microsoft that I can remember: severe cut-backs and staff reductions.
Initial coverage:
- Microsoft Reports Second-Quarter Results Modest revenue growth despite difficult economy; announces cost management initiatives.
- Steve Ballmers Entire Memo to the Microsoft Troops About Layoffs and Weak Results Tech Ticker, Yahoo! Finance
- Tech Trader Daily - Barron’s Online Microsoft FY Q2 Misses; Cutting 5,000 Jobs; Stock Slides
- Microsoft to cut 5,000 jobs All about Microsoft ZDNet.com
- Microsoft says it will slash 5,000 jobs
- Microsoft Pri0 Microsoft cutting 1,400 jobs today; up to 5,000 in next 18 months as recession hits harder Seattle Times Newspaper Blog
Some quick, shallow impressions:
- Not much is getting done today and tomorrow.
- 1,400 gone today (Who? It's a drop in the bucket) and now we have the remaining 3,600 hanging over our head during the next 18 months - what does that mean? I assume at this point that it means aggressive performance management is the rule over, and over again for each MYCD and annual review from here on.
- No raises as part of the annual review this year.
- No SPSA payout? No details there.
- Travel and contingent staff cuts. Very sensible and already in progress.
- Building expansion cut backs that Mr. Tartakoff at the Seattle P-I has already taken an early preview of.
- An outplacement center will be established. And hey, "some of you" may find jobs internally (good luck with the rush - I do hope over this past month you're already ahead of the game if affected) and there will be a severance package for the rest.
- The conference call this afternoon will include Steve Ballmer. And we have our Town Hall Friday morning. What questions do you hope get asked to Mr. Ballmer as part of this staffing reduction?
- Don't go asking your manager many questions today: this is news to 99% of us.
- Dang, sometimes anonymous comments can be truthful in what they share.
Administrivia: moderation turned off in the near term - note that I will delete:
- Comments I wouldn't have approved in the first place.
- Comments that quote comments I wouldn't have approved - so don't have a great comment that goes and spends a little time quoting an offensive comment because I'll have to blow the whole thing away.
629 comments:
«Oldest ‹Older 201 – 400 of 629 Newer› Newest»Bottom line: SteveB needs to go. He is not getting the job done. His leadership has led nowhere.
Don't be too harsh on SteveB, he lost almost $1 bln today.
Mobile is experiencing some cuts and jobs that were eliminated are being up leveled.
As a top performer, it affected me, but not the 10%er's we had on the team. Sad day.
Looks like "balmer and company" are starting to use "scare tactics" to scare people and get them to shut up and work. Same tactics as the Republican party.
After all, if it was the money, they would have layed off all 5000 this week.
Expect layoffs to be part of MS from now on. I used to work there from 2000 to 2006. I am glad I left
I was just let go today. Have worked in MS for almost 8 years, consistently received very good reviews. Not sure what they use as criteria for laying people off, since I'm new to the group that I'm in. However, it seems bogus to me that they don't look at your track record.
Again, this isn't the first layoff at MS. MS just hasn't widely publicized them before nor called them as such. They've been doing it quietly for at least five or more years. From now on, it'll be public.
The comments that it's about who likes you vs. your skills is absolutely true. And the politics has gotten worse in the years that a lot of people have left.
MS is still a good company but there is a lot of dead weight, and those who actually do the work will feel the brunt of things since those who don't understand what work really looks like ... well, you get the picture.
Leaving MS is not a death sentence. Even if you are there, keep your eyes open and treat it like you would if you were not at MS. Don't get caught with your proverbial pants down.
I can't believe Ballmer actually joked on the conference call about the $25 tender and how they once thought that was an attractive price. I mean why not just go ahead and dare the market to take the stock to $5?
Prospective employers know that the MS environment sucks and creates all kinds of horrendous employee behaviors.
When I left MS, this was the biggest thing I had to overcome as I went to my new employer. My final interview with the CEO was spent almost entirely trying to see how much of the MS kool-aid I drank. Fortunately, the reason I left MS was that I was not a yes-man and yet that was what was expected of me.
If anyone wants to know why Microsoft needs layoffs, read this interview:
http://www.pcpro.co.uk/news/245859/qa-microsoft-defends-return-to-drm.html
Read it again because you won't believe a Microsoft public relations rep would say those things about a product. And the product itself!
From Irish papers:
Microsoft announced this afternoon that it is to cut up to 5,000 jobs worldwide, including what it said was a "small number" of jobs (less than 20 according to reports) in Ireland after posting worse than expected profits.
12:20 PM ET, Microsoft Crashes U.S. Stocks: A morning sell-off picked up speed on Wall Street Thursday, after an influential earnings report painted a bleak picture for the tech sector and overall economy.
There's a headline to be proud of.
Read it again because you won't believe a Microsoft public relations rep would say those things about a product.
Actually, David Gerard, I would believe it. That whole Q&A spiel is 100% Microsoft. Pathetic.
"Many of you want Ballmer to go! What's about ideas who can rule da MS instead of Steve?"
How about a business man, innovator and not a 'techie'..
- someone who inspires like Jobs,
- someone with vision like Bezo,
- someone with business chops like Whitman
- someone that can bring the "sexy back"
I dont know of anyone that has all these qualities, but Sinosky, Turner come to mind.
So will the 'good attrits' get the same package as the 5000?
To Anonymous who mentined this was "Still well below th 15k rumored earlier" - you're not taking into account the bottom 10% being forced out by tomorrow. Headtrax is locked until those changes go into effect. Watch the first floor conf room bookings - betcha can't find an open one today or tomorrow in most buildings. You've got 1,400 regretted attrition and another ~3,000 unregretted coming today, and more by the end of mid-year reviews.
Still, this is better than the shrimp-n-weenies days. :)
What I wonder is what % of the 5,000 are H1Bs. I didn't get that called out on my org, but it was mentioned earlier as an issue.
Good attrition is when people leave on their own ... no packages. If someone is downsized, that's when they generally get a package. But then again, if you're going somewhere better and possibly for more money, it doesn't matter.
I left MS literally two days before the first stock market crash last September.
A large reason for leaving was I despised the arrogance of many. the comment posted by Anonymous on Thursday, January 22, 2009 11:51:00 AM further demonstrates what I'm talking about:
"...publicizing the fact that they're a collective waste of human blood."
Nice! Pride comes before a fall, my friend.
P.S. I swear I must have worked with you at one time. Your arrogance sounds familiar.
"No email from Robbie yet. E&D is the future of MS."
LOL to max dude!
Get rid of E&D!
What a crock about Xbox sales when income fell by whopping 60%! Its like sell more and lose heck of lot more.
Here are the "real" #s breakdown per 24/7 Wall St. Blog:
The bad economy took a significant toll on the two parts of the company which have never done well. The devices operations which houses the Xbox and Zune had flat sales at $3.2 billion but operating income fell apart, down from $375 million in the last calendar quarter of 2007 to $151 million in the current report. In other words, after being assigned its share of Microsoft's corporate overhead, it probably did not break even.
Link here: http://www.247wallst.com/2009/01/microsoft-msft.html#more
What about cutting costs such as...
- recyclable "green" forks, cups etc. Plastic works better and is cheaper.
- Towel Service: showering at work is nasty anyways
- Free soda
- Connetor Buses: take a city bus or car like the rest of the world
- Shifting People to new offices: It happens every 6 months, costs 2K per move and disrupts productivity. WTF
- Landscaping: It looks like the botanical gardens on most campuses, just let the crap grow for a year or two.
- Let people WFH more via Internet: Its the future lets start acting like we are part of it.
In terms of protected class people, certainly you should make sure everything is above-board, but I'm sure legal has been all over this for weeks, if not months. If you've ever been invovled in managing someone out, you know it's not a quick process with legal. I'm not sure why this would be different. I am interested to see whether or not legal just settles with everyone (Which I find annoying when bad people get let go) or if they fight a little more this time.
While I agree doing things like cutting off the free soda spigot may help (especially considering how many people are in Redmond alone), this move was just unavoidable. MS has expanded very quickly in the past 10 years (look at the lack of office space and the buildings being built just over the highway from the main campus as prime examples). I know some of the benefits such as free soda are core to what MS was, but this is reality. It's an easy expense to axe.
I never understood MS' insistence on having most PMs be in Redmond and in the office. They could save some money by allowing more remote work, but the culture isn't changing any time soon.
"Good attrition is when people leave on their own ... no packages. If someone is downsized, that's when they generally get a package."
10%'ers don't get a package when they're cut or maybe that changes now
I am curious what this means for people who were admist the interview/hiring process? Will there still be new hires or will that be getting the axe for any certain amount of time? I guess this explains why my recruiter has yet to return my calls when she said she would.
If someone is cut/fired due to poor job performance, they generally don't get a package. That's just normal stuff. I was referring to a general laid off person who wasn't in the 10% category and was earmarked anyway.
Part of good attrition - and I remember it from Ballmer's mouth at MGB in Miami many years ago - includes people leaving on their own.
How disingenuous does this sound to you now:
"Thank you for all that you do"
Yes Kevin, 'THANK YOU VERY MUCH'
It's unfortunate that Microsoft employees are uasing a public forum to trash their own company. I do not see anyone writing about their wives or children - so why write about the compnay that puts food on your plate folks? c'mon.. Lisa has created an internal anonymous forum where you can take our your internal pent up anger - why show the world how you like to spit in your dinner plate? The economic situation has worsened exponentially. The fact that Microsoft had never done the layoffs in last 33 years says something about the philosophy of the leadership and the fundamentals of the company. Do you think this all was easy for Lisa, Steve and the leaders? Have you taken time to read SteveB's email? It 's one of the most mature and awe-inspiring email I have seen in my career (and it's been a long and prorsperous one). C'mon - tough times need tough measures. If you are so unhappy with the company - leave! At least some of us who are committed and focused and inspired in Microsoft's potential - can continue to work. If you are pissed off at anything - write to Lisa, use the internal blog - don't trash your company publicly here - and let the world do that and see that.. You all are unilaterally hurting Microsoft's image and the stock price.. wake up..
Re: Anonymous at 1:17:00pm - DO NOT FEED THE TROLL. THANK YOU.
What about scenario:
- Layoff non performers;
- Stock drops with bad results;
- MS buys off all of their shares;
- Cut down all the hopeless business
And then this is a start of New MS?
Xbox taking hits.
Never done layoffs? Bullshit. Talk to the people affected by the RIFs over the years ... especially in services. I know quite a few.
What's about firings in other countries than US? In my country there will be no layoffs this time, according to GM email. What's about you?
Good news --- at least those hired before 2003 don't have to exercise their stock options as they are way below water.
To Anon at 1:17 who said "The fact that Microsoft had never done the layoffs in last 33 years says something about the philosophy of the leadership and the fundamentals of the company."
Wake up! That is simply NOT TRUE. I was a manager involved in layoffs 5 years ago. And, they were lay offs, not weeding out the bottom 5/10%. Jobs were eliminated, resulting in people being laid off. Others happened in my organization at the time. They were publicized because they didn't coincide with crappy earnings report and weren't on the scale as those announced to day.
But, it is true, Microsoft has done lay offs for years.
Re: Anonymous at 1:17:00pm: I bet you have never heard of server logging... Nothing on Corpnet is "anonymous"
Oops. Meant "they WEREN'T publicized" in my earlier post.
I got cut today - very dissapointing after 6 years with the company. Looks like overall, MSN, will be taking a big percentage of the culling.
I hope Microsoft seriously revamps it's marketing department. We spent $10 million hiring Jerry Seinfeld to do a crappy advertising campaign for Vista that we yanked. (http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/the_seinfeld_ad_microsoft_paid.php) Let's ask the 50+ RIF'ed employees who's salaries could have been paid how they feel about it?
Honestly I am astonished at some of the ignorant comments on this board.
The shock many of you are showing that raises, level and perceived value is determined by your manager's perception of you is pretty surprising. This is not a Microsoft issue. This is an issue at any organization in the world. Just because you think you are the best employee at the company, if your manager (and their bosses) don't think you are good, clearly you are doing something wrong. What most of you call “politics” is not simply making people think you are good when you are not. That doesn’t work – it is important however for your to do good and make sure people know you are doing good. Those of you who think the people around you are getting respect and attention they don’t deserve because of politics are conceded and ignorant. Clearly you are not adding as much value as you think. Wake up.
It is everyone’s responsibility to not only work hard but to build your own personal brand. If you manager has a problem with you, you are by definition doing something wrong. It's not your manager's fault, it's your fault! If you cannot learn to adapt to your boss and how to advocate for yourself, you will never succeed and might as well stop trying now.
To those who have resorted to "F this place, F our management and Microsoft sucks" congratulations, you have proven why we need to cut some people. The doors and exits of every building are clearly marked, and there are boxes in every building that you can use to pack up your stuff and find something you think would be better. If you don't want to be here, go ahead and do us all a favor and leave. You might think you are indispensible, but I don’t that is true. I think we will manage. Between the 90,000 of us, we will figure it out without you.
Our senior leadership has a hard road to plow - our business is incredibly complicated and diverse. Economic conditions are changing rapidly. Those of you who think you have all the answers are wrong. There are no simple answers to this issue. The situation is being handled as best as it can and I think most of us agree that there are duplicative positions and teams here. It happens at every company - the economic conditions are just accelerating that review.
I love working here, compared to most companies in the US, the benefits and potential impact we can make here is unrivaled at almost any company. I actually salute our leadership for cutting unnecessary groups and people as opposed to doing what most of corporate America is doing - reducing benefits. We have the best benefits package of pretty much any employee at any company anywhere. Again, if you think you can get better somewhere else, you are wrong, but you are welcome to try. Good Luck with that.
Thank you Microsoft management for staying the course, making a tough but necessary decision, and not burning the house down in the process. Keep up the good work, I have faith that this company and your leadership will continue to strengthen our position in the market. I for one am a happy Microsoft employee and think that the over-reaction and blatant ignorance of some on this board is the most depressing part of this whole announcement.
To Anon at 1:17 who said "The fact that Microsoft had never done the layoffs in last 33 years says something about the philosophy of the leadership and the fundamentals of the company
This is a complete lie. How about the RIF when morons such as yourself decided to move hundreds of PSS jobs from the Puget Sound to India?
It is ars kissers like yourself that converted a great technological company into a mediocre, politically correct, all flas no substance company
It was great to open the mail saying that we experienced a 2% growth in PROFIT month on month, and to thank you, we are taking away your merit increases.
Have yet to see what cuts Steve and the partners are taking, my thought...NONE!
This is such a typical big corporate move; product the top 1% profits by screwing the 99% who made them for you.
Thought this company was better than this. Yet another reason in my book why Steve should just move on...
2% growth in revenue
6% drop in profit
Boy - that $6 billion payoff for aQuantive shure has paid off hasn't it? Maybe in 1,000 years?
Today in the stock market:
Google Up 11%: Google Inc (NasdaqGS:GOOG - News) posted strong fourth-quarter earnings on Thursday, beating Wall Street forecasts, as its Web search advertising business remained strong despite a bleak economy.
Apple Up 6%: "Apple's revenue totaled $39.038 billion compared with $28.339 billion during full-year 2007. This represents 38% revenue growth year over year. Profit growth rates are even better. Net income for full-year 2008 came in at $7.054 billion compared to $4.722 billion in 2007, resulting in 49% year over year earnings growth. Apple ended the year with $28.1 billion in cash compared to $18.4 billion in cash last year, for an amazing cash growth rate in 2008 of 53%!"
IBM (after hours) up .48% - "earnings per share expanding by 17% to $3.28
And lets not forget MSFT:
Investors actively trading Thursday have been stung by Microsoft, after the company’s earnings fell short of consensus, and the PC giant coupled that with layoffs and a decision to keep mum on guidance for coming quarters due to the muddy economic situation.
For some, the disappointment may be magnified after a pair of technology giants, International Business Machines and Apple Inc., surprised the market with better-than-anticipated reports. That these companies are, in many ways, vastly different than Microsoft is besides the point; in the shorthand world of trading, the big-cap tech stocks are bunched together, and the surprise from MSFT eroded any positive sentiment.
I know that in the eyes of MSFT employees there is no Zipcode aside from 98052.
But seriously how can MSFT claim to hire the smartest people...and you still have Ballmer as CEO?
the "revenue" producing USPG is not touched...seriously. After missing numbers (that they know they don't affect it anyway). Smart, eh
No raises in Sep, but to keep you motivated there will be merit decreases for those in Underperformed and Achieved. We need to keep the meritocricy right?
Bottom line: SteveB needs to go. He is not getting the job done. His leadership has led nowhere.
Don't be too harsh on SteveB, he lost almost $1 bln today.
Seriously? You want us to feel bad about a billionaire losing a billion in stock? Sorry, not here...
Steve is terrible in what his direction is and more than half the reason we continue to fall behind in the market.
aQuantive is counted as 'goodwill' in MSFT balance sheet. Do you think it's a good or bad will?
Interesting counterpoint to today's news...
While Microsoft announces layoffs, GOOG just announced they are offering to re-price options for about 14,000 employees who are underwater (source - CNBC).
"Have you taken time to read SteveB's email? It 's one of the most mature and awe-inspiring email I have seen in my career"
BWUUUUHAHAHAHAHA. Whatever! His email sucked the big one. The entire concept of laying off 1,400 people right away - but keeping EVERYONE in the company guessing whether or not they are part of the 3,600 yet to get chopped is a pathetically bad business tactic.
FAIL.
"It's unfortunate that Microsoft employees are uasing a public forum to trash their own company. I do not see anyone writing about their wives or children - so why write about the compnay that puts food on your plate folks? c'mon.. Lisa has created an internal anonymous forum where you can take our your internal pent up anger - why show the world how you like to spit in your dinner plate? "
Lisa and team are in the habit of removing comments they don't care for from InsideMS.
As for why I don't write about my wife and family, well... they don't treat me like an indentured servant and they're not evil. That's why, dumbass.
"Have you taken time to read SteveB's email? It 's one of the most mature and awe-inspiring email I have seen in my career"
In that case, you are retarded and the reason we're laying people off to begin with.
Nobody!
The main problem we have is that w do not have a leader!
Steve is not a leader, he do not expire neither excite people!
Bill was not a leader.. but just a "model".
Kevin? He do not care on HOW the scorecard looks like.
He simply cares to see green light. Doesn't care that there is a bloody red light flashing simply painted with a green paint!
Kevin.. go back to the supermarket, please!
Steve job is the kind of leader we need and we've missed since too much!
Cuts, cost reduction etc will not change our position.
We need to focus on areas we know we can win the market! And we need real leaders! Not monkey top managers!
Who got cut from GFS? Which group?
LisaB and her POS internal blog have shown 0 accountability and results. LisaB has been a complete failure and is certainly deserving of getting trashed
Even though I left Microsoft some years ago after a decade long stint, things are still pretty much the same. MS managers do not get trained in mgmgt very much, they certainly dont go to finishing school and are not promoted for their people skills. That works ok some of the time if you are only measuring hard results, but it doesnt make for a happy or sane workplace. Sometimes you get lucky and get a great manager, sometimes you get a monster, and then you are likely going to go down. I feel for those caught in that trap, for everyone else make sure that you manage up and that what you are doing is visible and clear. Thats about the only way to survive.
I do not work for Microsoft but I have a lot of friends who do. I would like to point out a few things that I dislike about Microsoft:
1. The company's performance review system - as someone pointed out earlier it encourages back-stabbing of colleagues just to earn a measly raise of $50/month. Someone I know told me as a matter of fact that is the only way they could do it because of the size of the company. If they were objective in carrying out the reviews, they would waste the entire year in doing just the reviews. What an absurdity and lack of ethics.
2. No or very little cooperation between teams and even between team members. Again, someone within the company told me they had a discussion about why they could not do pair programming in Microsoft - because of the pride and ego of people in the company.
I guess the company would have to change it's culture to increase it's productivity, improve it's product line, increase it's share price and avoid another set of layoffs.
Wahoo! I got laid off today!
I love getting a year paid job search.
It makes life worth living that MS cares so much about me that they are willing to pay me for doing absolutely nothing for that year too!
What a deal!
Now I just hope the pending job offers where I have interviewed don't actually make an offer!
Here's the problem: from talking with people I know around the company and from reading posts here, this is a Peanut Butter layoff. There is no strategy here other than "axe the bottom rungs". Whether you are 10% for poor performance or 10% because you're maxed out or whatever. Leadership and vision would be to cut entire products. Leadership would be to put an end to the redundant efforts around the company. Why do we have so many teams creating basically the same website? Why do we have marketing teams paying tons of money to vendors to copy and paste our own documentation into whitepapers? Why do we allow development teams to recode the same features just because they don't want to use another team's code?
Layoffs are usually--but not always--a result of poor management. Ballmer screwed this one up, and he can't fix it. Microsoft will not recover its coolness factor until Ballmer is run out of the company.
Get it back to Gates. He did a good enough job then.
If you cannot detect sarcasm in someone's written words, at least refrain from flaming them based on that misunderstanding.
Now I have a question. How many MSFTs are paralyzed from getting work done until you know for certain you aren't getting cut today or tommorow? I'm looking at two days of lost productivity because of RIF anxiety.
"raises, level and perceived value is determined by your manager's perception of you is pretty surprising. This is not a Microsoft issue. This is an issue at any organization in the world."
Aah, but every place I've worked the managers' perception of their staff has generally reflected reality.
There was one case of a "new MBA" mid level manager who played politics, sucked up to the department head, caused good staff to resign in disgust... and finally resigned himself just before his flaship SAP project was discovered to be impossible to complete without a doubling of the budget.
The point is, this "Big A" was found out after two years and left with his tail between his legs.
Imagine how bad the politics and arse kissing is going to get with the 3600 hanging over everyone's heads.
:Pukes on Zune:
::Thanks God it wasn't Iphone::
MSFT folks. Sorry to hear the news. I work for the original high tech company in the NW and we are reducing our IT 'overhead' 20% this year. Mainly the high paid employees with many years in the company are targeted. Low paid new hires fresh out of college are exempt. I think our management are at the same RIF meetings with your management.
RE:
>>>>>>> "To Anonymous who mentined this was "Still well below th 15k rumored earlier" - you're not taking into account the bottom 10% being forced out by tomorrow. Headtrax is locked until those changes go into effect. Watch the first floor conf room bookings - betcha can't find an open one today or tomorrow in most buildings. You've got 1,400 regretted attrition and another ~3,000 unregretted coming today, and more by the end of mid-year reviews."
I don't get how "the bottom 10%" equals "3,000"....
MSFT Closing price
17.11
Wow...... Good time to buy I guess.
The problem is that the job cuts being announced today at not enough, are not the correct ones to make, and will only create problems in the short term, and long term.
In the next few months the problem is that there are still “pending job cuts”. What will the high performers do? Review their resumes and leave as soon as possible. Loyalty to the company is gone. Everyone that tells you from now on that Microsoft is a great place to work is certainly just hanging around in “strategic meetings” and doing no real work.
In the long term, the main problem is that the company is not “focusing”. Why announce that no products are being cut? There is certainly more redundancy in Microsoft products than in Microsoft people. Too many products exist just to allow for one more GM, one more PUM, and several layers of “managers” to exist.
This was the day to announce things like: Microsoft is cancelling CRM, Dynamics, and all these money losing products acquired over the years and not used even internally. Make it clear that Microsoft uses SAP and Siebel, and work to make SQL Server the best database you can use with such products.
Since Microsoft cannot forecast it own revenue, it is clearly it should get out of the Business Intelligence area.
Given that people are getting netbooks and using services online, it is time to stop bloating Office and Windows. Product like InfoPath, and OneNote can be cancelled without a single tear being dropped.
Given that nobody can find anything on Live Search, let’s be logical and go for the portal option. Google doesn’t make money on “search”, it makes money on “ads”. If Microsoft creates a portal with good content and prevents other crawlers from indexing it, there is good money to be made.
Finally: could Microsoft stop wasting money in internal crazy projects? Why pay some consulting company (of ex-employees) some millions to change the review system from Word to the (nobody uses this outside MS) InfoPath?
"They" are sacking some solid performers in DevDiv.
You might think you are indispensible, but I don’t that is true. I think we will manage. Between the 90,000 of us, we will figure it out without you.
I have been readings comments like this for a while now on this blog, ironically it seems like no matter how many people MS throws at the problem you CANNOT figure it out.
People like you are part of the problem, MS looses every time a good employee leaves (either via attrition, layoffs, etc), remember that the biggest asset MS has is their people, and you DO need the best talent if you want to dig yourself out from the hole you created.
In terms of having to play the political game, that is what screwed MS, in my time there I enjoyed almost everything I did, except the backstabbing that happened very often, what you call "politics" ends up being an excuse to shit all over others careers to launch yours, not a healthy practice
Ex-MS employee speaking here
>>>>>>> "They" are sacking some solid performers in DevDiv.
They certainly are. Some of the DevDiv cuts are amazing.
"I am a male WASP. Is that a protected class?"
Yup! When they implement their dream of cleaning up the Ennemies of the People, you and yours are first in line for a Gulag position. Your "manager" there will be a Lesbian Transgendered Person of Color named Latri'Nah with a drug habit and many piercings.
Read Orwell and Robert Conquest. It's all in there :-)
It’s hard for me to feel sorry that people want to comment on an outside blog. In services where Maria writes on her blog about MYR for services that headcount will stay flat for at least the remainder of the year. Then today to send an email telling us oh you know what we will have to reduce the headcount. I’m sorry but MS keeps telling us to be honest and live our values. Well I’m a bit confused as to what level of honesty and values I need to be living.
I not sure what’s better, getting laid off now or living on the edge the whole time not knowing if you going to have job next week. Things are going to turn into a survivor situation, witch hunts with plenty of back stabbing taking place. I’m not sure that’s going to make a great environment to inspire people.
I think it’s a good time for folks to step back for a minute and to evaluate their own lives...
Where do you want to go today ?
As a former group manager who left 2.5 years ago, I have to say how hugely relieved I am to not be part of this dysfunctional management chain anymore. MS was pretty good to me, but even so the weight of the review system and stack ranking and dumb upper mgmt decisions was too much to bear.
So relieved that I'm not sitting in my old office today with my free/busy time hidden on my calendar quietly letting people know they've been canned or figuring out who I'm going to let go over the next 18 months.
Wow. Good times
IMHO I think this is the best thing MS has ever done. With the amount of pure talent that is released from the 'nest', it would be imaginable that the next great product or company will come out of this talent pool. That is how Silicon Valley works, just look at how Intel was formed out of Fairchild Semiconductor. Many great companies and products were formed from the failure of Netscape and so forth.
"someone with business chops like Whitman"
Slim Whitman? Good idea. That guy could yoddle Microsoft back into the rigth track.
news says that laid off employees will get "generous severance package".
Curious what package people have been receiving today.
Can anyone who got severance today - post the details (anonymously of course).
Thanks.
"MSFT Closing price
17.11
Wow...... Good time to buy I guess."
LOL! people said this at 28, 25, 22, 20, 19...
This stock is a dead dog and buying it is spectacularly stupid at any price.
"MS buys off all of their shares"
Microsoft is rich, but with ~10B shares outstanding and the stock at $17 today it'd take $170B to go private by repurchasing the shares. Mind you, it could probably be swinged one way or another financially-wise.
Just got some good news for new-hires or college-hires out there:
"We do not plan to withdraw offers that have been extended subject to the normal requirement that each candidate for employment in the U.S. must meet all conditions of hire (e.g. background check, U.S. employment authorization, etc.)"
Sorry for everyone let go from MSFT today.
Ballmer has no balls!
I'm happy to leave Microsoft 3 years ago and sold all MSFT stocks before it crashed a week later. The sky outside Microsoft is bigger, brighter and cleaner. A lot less stress, politics or ugly reviews.
BZ
I was one of the 1400 laid off today. I expected it and knew about it for a while. I do want to comment on some aspects of what's being discussed.
I'm not a slacker or poor performer. I have a lifetime 4.0/20% history. And I've worked on and built businesses that I can point to that have brought several billion dollars of revenue into the company during my tenure.
The cuts are not about the 10% performers. At least not today. I hope that our managers focus on those 10%ers during MYR and the annual review process. If you want to save money with head count reduction and attrition then this is the needed next step.
I personally don’t believe that the company is making the hard choices that are needed. I have experienced too many bad and/or delayed decisions, and at some level my personal situation is a result of poor decisions by executive management stretching back a year or more. I agree with many comments about the partner-level and above decision makers not doing their job. But I do see that bad judgment stretches further into the middle-management too. Dealing with these two issues are going to be the company’s harder challenges.
I also don’t get why we’re in so many businesses. Many of you have complained about Mobile, Zune and other projects. What happened to the days when we would get into a business to win it? That just doesn’t happen today. Part of that is because we are stretched so thin on resources because we’re doing too many little businesses. We need executives and partners that are willing to shut down (or even better not start) businesses that we’re not going to be serious about. Focus on what we can do well and for God’s sake go back to letting great engineers and smaller teams do that they do well, which is innovate and compete with passion.
As for me, I’m not bitter. I consider myself a good manager and more importantly a good leader. We should take the words of President Obama to heart and as employees help pull Microsoft back up and dust it off. Complaining and ranting doesn’t get us there. Learning that change is needed and taking a personal and proactive approach is what’s needed. Not everyone will do this but if enough of those who really care do then who knows what is possible.
I don’t know if I will stay at the company or not. I would like too because I came to this company (a long time ago) because of what it could do. I just hope that enough of those people who still care are willing to stay and step-up to make a difference.
What I don't understand here is why I am continually bugged by recruiters with MS jobs (mostly contract, but only this month)?
Sounds like another typical CF to me...
2009 rolled around and rumors flew wild
Job cuts were coming and would not be mild
Vendors were leaving as their contracts expired
FTE's with good options went elsewhere or retired
Forced out were those whose commitments were not met
If your're at less than 10%...you deserve what you get
Many cried foul, as so much cash was at hand
MSFT was making money and well in command
The economic woes served as a perfect excuse
Sr. Management took advantage and cut 10% loose
Yahoo's on-line was acquired later that year
Overtaking Google appeared to be quite near
2010 came upon us and surprises were in store
Steveb was retiring and heading to the NBA floor
Ozzie took the lead and captained the ship
Until Billg returned and started cracking the whip
Normalcy was restored and the stock started to climb
Beer was a plenty, just like back in a better time
What a day!
To all the non-Microsoft employees reading this blog:
Please believe me when I say that the views expressed here are not representative of the employees as a whole.
I've read posts on this blog a couple of times today, at first because I was interested in real insights into what's going on. But it's clear that, with some exceptions, the majority of the people who are posting are either (1) not really associated with the company or (2) total whiners. Get a dose of reality folks. The economy has gone to hell. It's not Microsoft's fault. The fact that it is hurting the bottom line should be no surprise if you have a high school diploma. Is it a happy day? No. But turning this into a bitch session is counter productive and boring. Go back to work or, better yet, look for a new job somewhere else. The majority of FTE's I've talked to today are saddened by the situation but focused on the future, not bitching about this exec or that BG or flnging around xenophobic comments about H1b visa's etc.
Signed - 13 year Microsoft employee who is still proud of the company and see's better days ahead.
AAPL, MSFT, GOOG, IBM
"Can you guess which kid is doin' his own thing?
Come on, can you tell which one?"
CSD and DevDiv are taking some hits today. I'm torn about how to think about this all.
FWIW, I really believe that CSD is a great group to be in. The level of engineering discipline, standards conformance, and all around smart devs and test make this really a great environment to be in.
Sadly, management completely dropped the ball in recent months. In my group within CSD we got into a rhythm of "strive for 12weeks of work in 8weeks time and hope we get 10weeks of work done". This served us well for many releases and gave the group something challenging to work on. However, with our current project we're probably only going to get 6weeks of work done and many, many teams and friends have wasted years worth of time chasing the rabbits down the wrong holes.
The fact that the signs were visible last January in this particular group is just all the more troublesome. Now we're on a death march to support our big internal customer in hopes we can get something out for the next release. It all stinks of poor project planning, poor forward thinking, abysmal support from Arch, and horrible accountability for the major players involved. TFS, for your sake, I hope you actually ship something worth using because if you don't, you've not only cost your team dearly, but you've dragged another team down with you...
Never done layoffs? Bullshit. Talk to the people affected by the RIFs over the years ... especially in services. I know quite a few.
THIS IS THE FIRST TIME MS HAS HAD TO INVOKE THE WARREN ACT - SO YES -THESE ARE THE FIRST OFFICIAL LAYOFFS IN THE COMPANY'S HISTORY.
Hopefully the entire MS marketing department will get tossed.
From the Brod Master - Treasury is part of phase 2. Mass Layoffs in Q3.
Please believe me when I say that the views expressed here are not representative of the employees as a whole.
Thank you Mr. Iraqi Information Minister.
The reason this blog exists in the first place is non-existant based on your comments.
Such deep denial is one of the main causes of the problem that MS faces, not accepting the problems in the first place is the main reason why MS cannot switch strategy and cannot see how much the culture internally has deteriorated
Now, I am pretty sure partners and 64+ have a different picture of the company
Please believe me when I say that the views expressed here are not representative of the employees as a whole.
Sounds like perhaps you are talking to the ones who are crafting the cuts. Try stepping out of the offices into where the ICs work. Ask them their thoughts?
Think they enjoy working harder knowing they won't be rewarded? looking to the future?
Saying most employeees agree is an ignorant statement and indicative of the failed management decisions at Steve and directs level.
I got laid off today, not a 20% but always in achieved/70 bucket and this came as a surprise to me.
In thes same level for 36 months though.
For level 64 and less-
severenance 1 week per year of service + 60days paid including insurance. this is what i was told. not sure if this includes my unaccrued vacation.
is there an ex msft or msftlaid off blog
"LOL! people said this at 28, 25, 22, 20, 19...
This stock is a dead dog and buying it is spectacularly stupid at any price."
How do you know. Are you a Financial Analyst or just another poster that talks out of their Arse like a lot of folks in this forum.
How do you know. Are you a Financial Analyst or just another poster that talks out of their Arse like a lot of folks in this forum.
Funny, because not even financial analysts can tell, and end up projecting stuff out of their arses.
Now, me, if I had a million dollars I would be buying MS stock. That is just me.
>>For level 64 and less-
severenance 1 week per year of service + 60days paid including insurance. this is what i was told. not sure if this includes my unaccrued vacation.>>>
Someone mentioned earlier its 1 week for every 6 months..One also mentioned he got full year paid for looking another job.
This is not enough for 8+ years of service.
I'm happy to leave Microsoft 3 years ago and sold all MSFT stocks before it crashed a week later.
Er, it crashed in 2000.
I do not work or never have worked for Microsoft...matter of fact I'm not even in the technology field. I came across this blog site by accident but saw that it's like a "virtual union hall". It seems like that's exactly what all of you needed to do many years ago at Microsoft..."UNIONIZED". I know that's a dirty word for you "techies" but if you had unionized years ago maybe you all wouldn't be in such a state of dispair regarding layoffs and jobs. Being unionized probably wouldn't have stopped the cuts you're facing, but it would have made it much easier knowing whether you're threatended with job losses. Most of you were "UNDERPAID" all these years anyways....when the head honcho, who by the way STOLE everything about Microsoft from OTHER companies over the years, wanted the HB VISAS to bring foreign workers. You American-born workers should have revolted over this...it was used to keep your PAY LOW....you guys and gals should have gotten DOUBLE OR TRIPLE your pay...instead the foreigners were brought in keep your PAY LOW. Hopefully, the HB 1 VISA holders will be let go before American born workers at Microsoft....but I doubt it. UNIONIZING the company may have forced the HB 1 VISA holders to be the first ones laid off...now I'm sure that will not be the case. Good Luck to all those losing their employment in these very hard times.
It is sad to hear that MS is laying of folks. I was at "The Soft" for almost 10 years.
The atmosphere and spirt of the comapny is so much differnet than it was when I was there. The industry is different so I guess that is to be expected
I miss a lot of my friends and folks I worked with but I have to admit, I don't miss the company.
I had to leave the company and step outside to get a clear picture of what is truly important in life.
MS is the type of company that to do well you have to give a lot. It is not a matter of the hours worked but even when you are not at work you are thinking about work, worrying about it. I was a solid performer, I received promotions and I received awards but after awhile, I still felt very unfulfilled and empty.
At the end of my time at MS, I felt less like a human being and more like a piece of software installed in a big machine.
It just became a job. I knew that once it became a job, it was time to move on.
I feel that I have my life and soul back. My mind is not clouded with a bunch of noise and I am much more mentally, physically and spritually healthy.
MS is a good company and software is important but in the big picture of life, it is not that important.
There is a life outside of MS and it is good. To those impacted,and to those that were not. Good luck and God Bless
They took our jerbs!
lol what this obsession with H1b workers.. it makes good economic sense for US as nation to allow H1Bs.
Now these workers pay US taxes.
In the abscence of H1B, the jobs are going to be outsourced to India/China where the same amount of work can be done for 1/5th the cost..
Believe it.
Anyway, the people who matter and make decisions know this... so i guess your opinons dont count. Wonder why i reply to these posts.
"I do not work or never have worked for Microsoft...matter of fact I'm not even in the technology field. I came across this blog site by accident but saw that it's like a "virtual union hall". It seems like that's exactly what all of you needed to do many years ago at Microsoft..."UNIONIZED"."
Dear God. Please go back to the mountains. You don't know what you're talking about in this industry.
Anyone know how to get ahold of the outplacement center SteveB talked about? I have open jobs for developers/consultants that I need to fill. For a company much better to work for than MSFT.
The severence seems very low given the circumstances and facts that we actually did ok with earnings. Any one getting severence should demand or bargain for a 1 month pay for every year worked.
You do realize MS doesn't owe you a thing right? Feel fortunate that there is a severance package at all in this economy.
As a former PR and video vendor for several of the large agencies, I would strongly suggest it is time to look at the millions spent each year on bloated, ineffective media relations campaigns and grandiose, $100,000+ Hollywood-caliber video productions shown once at an MGX, WWPC (see AWatson as exhibit A) etc., with no tangible ROI.
And after trying to evangelize many of the core products and services for years, it really is time to admit some of them just plain suck or aren't competitive and not worth continuing to invest in (or waste money on).
MS has a lot of great people, but my experience is that many of the great ones have both hands tied behind their backs by incompetent managers promoted solely for political acumen or longevity rather than skill.
My best to everyone out there. All of us in this region need you to succeed in order to keep us from becoming the next Detroit :o)
"Correct me if I am wrong - a H1B cannot receive any type of job description change. They are "stuck" with their current job description until they get a Green Card. Even though they can get merit increases, they cannot get a promotion (new title, new duties). M$ saves money this way.
"
You are wrong. I personally know at least 3 H1Bs in my group alone that have received promos, new titles, and new duties.
Outplacement is going to Drake Beam Morin (DBM) Outplacement Services. 800-245-0891.
For level 64 and less-
severenance 1 week per year of service + 60days paid including insurance. this is what i was told. not sure if this includes my unaccrued vacation
mistake, 1 week per 6 month of service and unused vacation
So many people are talking about "Thank God, left MS n years back, found a better job". Do they mind sharing what JOB did you find in the NW corner of the country?
@Anonymous (like that helps since there are 50,000 anonymous posters here):
I'm with you, forget Ballmers email and Microsoft's press release, it'd be nice if Msft HR posted something on the blog, even a note that stank of blatant BS would be a nice touch. Google posted a comment on their blog last week when they gave 100 employees the boot and it was a nice touch.
There seems to be a lot of venting here but not many details... I've put together a list of the known facts thus far:
http://www.thedailyanchor.com/2009/01/22/microsoft-layoffs-5000-jobs-to-be-cut-over-next-18-months/
IBM beats, stock goes up
Apple beats, stock goes up
Google beats, stock goes up
MS misses badly, stock has biggest one-day loss in three years.
Anyone still confused about who is badly run?
I just read some of the ubiquitous complaints about MS management and how it hurts to lose good folks. It reminded me of one of my first experiences at MS when I arrived towards the end of a highly visible project at the time. There was this guy - call him Joe. Joe was a really bright young college hire - any company would have loved to have him. Joe was assigned a major component as were an entire team of guys like Joe. The dev manager was senior and had been at MS for quite a few years, but he let these kids run off and design a complete mess. Of course, having only course work under their belts, they had no clue. No mentoring, no real oversight, sink or swim it seemed. Joe's particular assignment was one that really couldn't be done properly at MS due to top level business reasons with partners and competitors and govt regulators, but he made a valiant stab at it. And then he coded himself into a corner with it, trying to angle around all the artificial MS constraints imposed upon him, when there just was no useful solution available. A pile of complexity and abstraction with no real purpose, and no hope of being adopted by any partner. No hints on that from management though. They seemed to be busy lying to each other about what a success this would be. (I wonder what they were telling BillG, who was very interested in this project until he finally pulled the plug?)
After a couple of months, I noticed Joe was getting more quiet and depressed. He had a large ego like most collegiate superstars who get a spot at MS (at least in those days), but that was fading quick. The last thing I heard from Joe was when he very quietly told me he was leaving the company. Didn't have any real plans, just was going to leave. In less than two years more than half of this team turned into Joe's and quit - none quit to new positions immediately - some went to hang out with friends, some back home to their parents, and one simply started smoking lots of dope. The most talented young dev on the team went to test, but stayed at MS.
I know some of you folks are wanting to pull out the violins and say, "What a stupid sob story!" And in a way you are correct - most places I've been suck at mentoring and bringing up new folks - it's sink or swim dude. But in my doddering old age, I think it is a horribly inefficient way to do business. It would not have taken much for someone to:
a) Provide better technical oversight and leadership over the design. Not heavy handed - hints and suggestions and small kibitzing sessions go a long way.
b) Ease fragile egos over a perceived failure - especially if the task was nearly impossible to start with. It's not that hard to pick someone up, dust them off, and get them back on track with some very valuable experience about what didn't work. Everyone screws the pooch someday - better to get it over with the small stuff anyway.
Microsoft invested a lot of time and money getting these Joe's on board, and they were smart and talented, but poorly led. MS has the resources to winnow out people this way I guess, but what a waste.
RE: So many people are talking about "Thank God, left MS n years back, found a better job". Do they mind sharing what JOB did you find in the NW corner of the country?
--------------------------
Thats exactly Microsoft mentality right here. They want you to believe they are the only in the world. I know I've been there myself for 8 years.
Just start looking around you will be surprised. Seattle IT market is not bad at all. Look at startup sponsored by local venture companies and also at big companies like GOOG or Adobe. Plenty of contract jobs as well. It is not bad trust me.
Wow I think Ballmer or KT just posted at Thursday, January 22, 2009 1:32:00 PM
Some people have clearly drank too much kool-aid
Silicon Valley Campus only few FTE are affected. Windows Live Agents got bad news today.
They final had q great Business Intelligence / OLAP force when they acquired ProClarity in 2006.
Today they were told to go.... I am sure guys from Cognos, BO and other like to hear this now they have to face less competition.
It is not as bad to be fired today with good compensation, instead of exiting later on your own. If I have a choice, I would think about that.
I have been with Microsoft for nearly 5 years and have worked for other technology companies for many years prior. For those of you who have never worked anywhere else, be careful how you tread. It is so very true that the grass is not greener on the other side. Try paying a large chunk of your money for benefits; not getting any raises for years and the thought of a bonus is completely unheard of. I am sure that you are all talented individuals, which is why you came to work for MS. But this is a very tough time for everyone. Regardless of what company you work for there will be numbers that you have to hit, deadlines you have to meet and heaven forbid, there will be places without free soda and gourmet meals coooked for you.... If you don't like it here, then leave on your own accord and don't look back. Chances are, you won't be missed if you feel the way you do about OUR company!
It looks like E&D 's Zune team is hitting hard
Severance. Continued benefits. Job Search... Yeah - Life it terrible. I mean at this rate, it might be hard for me to head over to the Pro Club, sit in one of four hot-tubs in the guy's locker room and check out the full wall mural. I mean, that - my matched 401K - the endless amount of Microsoft partners that would LOVE to have a former Microsoft employee work for them - I'm even going to have to clear my shit out of my locker below one of the buildings because I won't be able to take an extra hour of work time beyond lunch and play soccer on a professionally maintained field. ...
Give me a break. Life, even for those let go today isn't too bad. ... Hard day, sure - but ... come on.
MSFT too big, too slow, too much people, no innovations, loosing ground everywhere, self centered, where's the vision, core values? Even on the layoff is doing wrong making people that stays in the first round feel anxious about the next wave, use to admire MSFT, now, it is just another big company, slow...
For some levity to such a dark day, here are some Depression Era recipes to help you through! :-)
http://www.recipezaar.com/cookbook.php?bookid=225279
"Scare employees into producing."
That is what Steve related to me this afternoon. :)
"The severence seems very low given the circumstances and facts that we actually did ok with earnings."
Did okay? What part of the 12% decline in the stock did you miss?
There is no "protected class" people. Which idiots came up with the term? No one is protected.
The term is bad for everyone. People looking from the outside might think it's something special. It's not. You will not be protected from layoff. Now, if you are someone's pet, it might make a different but it wouldn't be because of this "protected class"!
Has Microsoft already did let know all the employees who get laid off on Thursday? Can they let some others on Friday too? Please post if somebody knows the answer. Thanks,
European Development Center in Ireland has announced 17 people will lose their jobs immediately. No specific group mentioned.
Typical MS BS...
Let go 1.4k today and create stress and angst among 3.6k survivors over next 18 months...
Folks, get ready for mean spirited back-stabbing dog-eat-dog and find the scape goats work environment!
Yipee!
Folks, these layoffs are nothing personal. It's just business.
Microsoft is still a great company and still cares deeply about its employees, its products, and its brand.
By the way, for those exitinig and about to exit, there is life after Microsoft also. But you are responsible and accountable for taking care of you. Work on your credentials (certifications, education, etc.) and make yourself attractive to a very competitive market. That's the secret to do well, no matter what shappe the economy is in.
Best wishes to all.
Dear Mr. Balmer,
Please retire:
1)It will make MSFT employees happy
2)It will make MSFT Shareholders happy
3)It may result in Billg's full-time return to MSFT.
Please buy an NBA team and bring it to Seattle:
1)It will make many locals happy
2)It may inspire Billg to start investing in professional sports
Thank you,
"...It reminded me of one of my first experiences at MS when I arrived towards the end of a highly visible project at the time. There was this guy - call him Joe. Joe was a really bright young college hire - any company..."
Is this the Cairo object file system?
>>FWIW, I really believe that CSD is a great group to be in. The level of engineering discipline, standards conformance, and all around smart devs and test make this really a great environment to be in.
And what, exactly, has CSD shipped? And when are they expecting to ship? And what will be the revenue impact? CSD has some great talent, all dressed up with nowhere to go.
"For the people who get axed today, you'll soon discover that msft is not the center of the universe it believes itself to be and that you can find a real career path elsewhere."
As an ex-MSFTee this is SOOO true. You just have no idea how full of koolaid that place is. The sense of entitlement of some of the posts here is amazing, and evidence that they do indeed need to be let go and welcome to the real world! Acting like a bunch of spoilt little rich kids.
Well, being at the end of my career (35+) years out of which 18+ years with MS (lvl 63 & below) I must say that I have not seen a bunch as thankless as this one about the company they work for.
MS is by far the best place I have worked for with unparalleled benefits. In every company their are whiners who always finish last and yet demand that they be treated like winners, but this company for some reason hired too many of them.
Although I agree that Steve deserves the blame and should leave but for very different reasons i.e.
1. Steve changed the rules with WHI poll and manager feedback which severly disincentivized the managers from getting the best out of their teams. It created a culture where bottom performers were always unhappy/whinning yet it took years to manage anyone out, if a manger decided to do the right thing and not worry about those stupid polls
2. Previous RIFs in MS along with this layoff are tiny compared to what you normally expect in such economic scenario. Again I have heard Steve always talks about employees, their morale and families etc and goes for minimal impact on people. However this is the wrong approach in these times. MS should think about cutting 30 to 50% of its org.
Here are some ideas on how to do it:
1. Let all the 10% go
2. Reduce number of partners by 75%. Their output is highly dubious
3. Spin-off live in to separte group. Let it sink or swim
4. MSIT is a behemoth 5000+ folks by industry standards, should be trimmed down to less than 1000
5. IDC is the biggest joke with 1000+ people and no output to show for. Need to be shut-down completely, no half-measures will help here
6. E&D needs to be rationalized
7. Minimize the cutting in the most profitable division i.e. STB (most of these cuts crazily are coming from the STB org)
7. Most importantly the severance package with people getting (6-10 months of salary & benefits) along with 2 months of internal job-search is insane and needs to be trimmed down to industry standards.
Finally, manager feedback, WHI and all that morale boosting bs, should be stopped. It is time to bring back "drive for results" and "accountability" at all levels. Bring back the passion, get rid of whinners and reward the top performers.
mini - this is EXACTLY what you wanted - you wanted heads to roll - and now you got what you wanted. are you happy?
"There is no "protected class" people. Which idiots came up with the term? "
Lookup "http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Protected_class" or the EEOC website.
"No one is protected in a layoff"
If a whole division is laid off - then that might be true. But if people are individually targetted and laid off, then you could be a victim of some managers bias. And believe it or not there are such managers even at Microsoft.
While legal can look at the aggregate to see that bias was not a company wide phenomenon, they cannot determine if a certain individual emp was laid off becasue of bias.
Complain to HR if you believe that is the case. If they don't do something about it then you have the EEOC.
Wonder if mini got mini'ed.
::It looks like E&D 's Zune team is hitting hard
did you mean Zune got hit hard, or is hitting hard? Engineering was pretty much unaffected, only some marketing got hit.
The only way to save MSFT is to get BillG back.
Steve B doesn't know software. He has NO prediction what will be happening and what the future is for software. Even for the best, he won't do better than wall street people (and we saw what wall street becomes).
Steve B's words don't mean anything. For example, when he was talking how to beat google/apple, it's meaningless because he even doesn't know how the Google search works(mapreduce) and what the iPhone lacks.
Eek, DBM is doing the outplacement? I got 4 or 6 weeks of their services after the dotcom bubble burst and the tech company I was in laid off whole divisions. They were a place to go each day with interesting vaguely job-related exercises to do, but in the end they didn't find me anything. Fortunately during that downturn the unemployement insurance was able to go on for a long time... hopefully something like that will get worked out soon with our new President.
"Fortunately during that downturn the unemployement insurance was able to go on for a long time... hopefully something like that will get worked out soon with our new President."
Yes, because there apparently is an endless supply of money. Just keep printing or borrowing from China.
As a shareholder, I am disappointed.
IBM beats, Google beats, Apple beats and MSFT? These all live on the same planet, where economy is hitting them all!
Why would you not blame the VPs & GMs who have taken poor decisions over past few years (and were also promoted, mind you)? Clearly, they spent $s cooking up wrong strategy!
Any VP or GM wants to take up the hard questions?
On the outside now but let me guess... management memos urging everyone to "stay focused!".
Reminds me of 'Finding Nemo's' Dori: "just keep working, just keep working..."
Layoffs are temporary window dressing for the Street but effectively kill any innovation and productivity left.
Why don't I hear of any SVPs or execs getting pay cuts? They should equally share the pain! SteveB should cut his salary to $1!
May be Billg should come back (it has happened in other companies like Apple, Starbucks, Dell and worked for some) or the board should find a better manager...I believe SteveSi would be 100x better than SteveB.
Either ways it will be better than Ballmer f***ing the company and making it a political playgroud.
My team in E&D was hit hard. I was one of them. There were 20+ people in the room getting the same news, plus I know others higher up the food-chain who had 1:1 meetings to get their news. The cut went up 3-4 layers of mangement taking people at all levels.
Is it true that people on the laid-off teams can't post to this blog? Many have tried here today and all have failed.
A company like MSFT can only keep its position with a leader like BillG --- just like Apple under Jobs.
Typical business school will say management should be handled by a professional MBA or whatever, and CEO doesn' have to know techniques. It might be true for other companies which don't rely on technology alone, but not for MSFT, not for Apple, not for Google, which totally depend on their technique products.
If the company is in a stable and slow-changing industry, yes, the CEO doesn't need to know C++ or .NET. He can only watch how the stock price changes. However, in a fast-changing tech. industry, things are different, totally different because every step you make will have great impact.
For example, if you are the CEO of auto industry, you don't need to know how to build a car---why? because the fundamental doesn't change for decades, and the future trends is pretty limited (alternative to gas). So you can only focus on sales/marketing.
But for software industry, this is absolutely NO! Software industry changes so fast that a CEO MUST know what will be happening. It takes Toyota 5 years to change the design of Camery/Corrola, but it will take Apple less than 1 year to upgrage iPhone. You simply cannot understand what the OpenCL (new 3D API from Apple) means if you don't have some programming experience. Steve B might say "hey, it's just another product from apple"---so what is the difference? will it be successful? You need to make your own decision, which impacts the whole company. For sure, Steve B doesn't have this capability.
To the person who said "complain to HR if you think there was discrimination".
Its a CLM at MS becasue of the way HR handles these complaints. The manager is asked to go through diversity training or the HR person provides guidance, which has the side-effect of providing a manager with the information on how to discriminate without looking as if he is discriminating.
While HR supposedly investigates, the manager is going the extra mile to show you are a poor performer and its a continuing problem. They are documenting every little mistake you are making so that if you take a legal action they have a well documented case.
@Anon 4:44:00PM:
"Yes, because there apparently is an endless supply of money. Just keep printing or borrowing from China."
Whatever, guy. I don't, can't, care where it comes from right now. I have a family to take care of. If you can take the long view, good for you, but I have a little one and I'm keeping the wagons circled and accepting whatever resources I can.
Our whole team (>120) was laid off today, except for a few people who are responsible for ending current contracts. Our team works on well-known products, is profitable, strategic, and includes many star performers, so don't believe for a moment that this can't happen to you. Severance seems to be 60 days pay during job search, plus 1 week's pay for each 6 months of service, though >=L65 get more. A few people were told they must surrender their badges and won't have access to corpnet after EOD tomorrow, but they still get the severance. There will not be a press release stating that the projects are cancelled, so as not to hinder sales of product already on storeshelves. (Barfbag anyone?)
Anonymous Anonymous said...
A company like MSFT can only keep its position with a leader like BillG --- just like Apple under Jobs....
>>> Thats what said 3 years ago leaving Microsoft.
I hate to see people lose their jobs, but this is badly needed and 1400 is a real wimp move. It should be 10,000.
A huge problem has been TOO much money - this causes people to think there's no need to prioritize since we could do everything. Then you have to put it all together with huge managment and technical complexity.
When times are tight people are forced to think about which work is really important. Lets create products with fewer higher value features.
As a shareholder, I am disappointed.
IBM beats, Google beats, Apple beats and MSFT? These all live on the same planet, where economy is hitting them all!
Why would you not blame the VPs & GMs who have taken poor decisions over past few years (and were also promoted, mind you)? Clearly, they spent $s cooking up wrong strategy!
Any VP or GM wants to take up the hard questions?
They final had q great Business Intelligence / OLAP force when they acquired ProClarity in 2006.
Today they were told to go.... I am sure guys from Cognos, BO and other like to hear this now they have to face less competition.
Excuse me: half the people from ProClarity wouldn't pass a Microsoft interview... even if given the questions a month in advance. Nothing personal: they are just one more of those companies that should have failed, but instead made enough noise to be bought by some crazy GM at Microsoft (who, by the way, left soon afterwards!).
Where is the Business Intelligence if Microsoft cannot forecast even the range of its revenue next quarter?
Team with +120 laid off - which product? Zune?
From Seattle PI MS Blg. 2% laid off from Redmond? No offense to E&D but glad to hear that it got hit hard. Now let's spin E&D into oblivion.
Tally: 872 Microsoft jobs cut in Puget Sound
Microsoft said this afternoon that the company had laid off 872 employees in Puget Sound. Previously, the company had only said that the majority of the 1,400 job cuts announced today were at its Redmond headquarters.
The cuts will reduce Microsoft's local work force by about 2 percent to 40,608, down from 41,480.
Jobs were cut in various business groups, but most reports from employees seem to suggest that the company's Entertainment and Devices Division, which is responsible for the Xbox, Windows Mobile, and the Zune, has been hit hardest.
http://blog.seattlepi.nwsource.com/microsoft/
>>>"There was this guy - call him Joe. Joe was a really bright young college hire - any company..."
>>"Is this the Cairo object file system?"
Good times! No, OFS had senior devs, and it eventually shipped as parts of W2k and XP. I think he's talking about Bob 2.0.
Bob 2.0 - wasn't Melinda Gates the PM on that?
re: Ireland
the 17 jobs in EDC were localisation (Office, E&D). some managers are saying that is all and no impact from the rest of the 5000.
anybody hear about other offices in EMEA?
From the small (relative) size of the layoffs (not to diminish the pain of those affected), it looks and sounds more like someone dropped a stack of dinner plates than an actual train wreck.
Keep moving, nothing to see here....
Microsoft is laying off people, the sad part is that it does not solve the bigger issue. ROI. Behemoths like Windows and Office that generate revenue thanks to their volume licensing agreements can afford to keep their employees while profit making groups like B&E div have to cut back. The unfortunate part is that heads of folks like Ballmer don't roll. Ballmer who has not let the stock price budge for the past 6 years. Ballmer who should have been held responsible for every fiasco from investing in poor products like WinFS to losing ground to Google. That entire management structure that is not product dev centric should leave and bring in fresh blood to lead Microsoft. For those of us in the company, just make sure you belong to a team that has a strong VP or good ROI numbers.
Is it true that people on the laid-off teams can't post to this blog? Many have tried here today and all have failed.
I think a standard clause in severance agreements is you don't talk about it, sue, etc... so I'd at a minimum not post to this blog from corpnet!
Are we forgetting the additional 3600 layoffs coming? I think these might be based off MYR. If you are working on a crappy product or have no clear work assigned - you are at risk! And would incldue myself too!
Rough estimates from Fargo would place numbers at about 50-100.
The Fargo campus expansion will continue (buildings are at about 70% complete) with leased office space being dropped in the future.
As an ex-MSFTie with more than a decade there, I'm very glad to have left on my own terms in the last year.
I can sympathize with a lot of the comments here.
Unfortunately as others have pointed out some of the cutting is at the wrong end of the pay scale. Level 61-64 who perform well are really the people who deserve a lot of the credit for the products that get shipped.
There are some level 65-66 people who also manage to earn their pay.
Knowing quite well what the 67+ people are getting, though, it's very hard to justify to me based on my experience with several 67s, a few 68s, and a 69.
In some cases these people are making $200k+ base, plus 40-60% bonus possibilities (and 20+% target bonus), plus six-figure stock awards each year. In most of my experience working with them, the conclusion that I came to was that they were not being paid for delivering results, but rather being retained to keep them going elsewhere and competing.
Of course the bigger problem at Microsoft is that virtually all management from first level leads to general managers are really inept as people managers, and barely capable as product managers.
They might be able to keep a schedule in a pretty format, but they have no idea what to do to hire and retain great people, esp. to keep them challenged.
This is why I left - I was bored for years with work that wasn't challenging and after changing jobs a couple times near the end, I realized that most of Microsoft is filled with similar positions that aren't going to be challenging to someone with nearly 20 years of experience who spends time outside of work improving skills, etc. I could have easily moved into any team at Microsoft and delivered, but chose to find something very challenging and exciting to work on elsewhere.
As others have pointed out, there are other opportunities out there. I left for a job paying around 15% better overall (yes, including target bonus award and stock - total compensation plan).
I am truly sorry for those who got bad news today, and for those who will over the next eighteen months, and wish them success in finding something satisfying moving forward.
For those remaining, just consider the fact that the attitude at Microsoft has *always* been "What have you done for me lately?", and having good reviews for the past few years isn't going to help you when this year's review comes around. If you think you're having a bad year, you might want to start the job search now.
Once Windows 7 goes out the door, I wouldn't be surprised if SteveSi and JonDe reduce their headcount.
Nothing happened in these divisions today as the company is betting big on Windows 7. But, once Windows 7 RTM's, who knows ...
As an ex-msftie, I can't express how disgusted I am when I see how utterly clueless and miserably run this group is. Atleast w E&D, you see the XBox and Zune fighting it out and even having a few wins in the market- atleast we're not last and we're giving others a fight here!
With Windows Mobile, you can actually see them failing and failing while other companies do better and better. I'm sure the Management of this group is completely useless but I wonder what kind of engineers elect to work in such groups. Have they no pride?
It wouldn't hurt me one bit to see this entire group get RIF'd.
I'm not sure the psychological blow to the MSFT image was worth the cost savings. Weakness has now been shown.
A quiet tightening of performance expectations combined with a dramatically raised bar on hiring qualifications would have accomplished this same thing while improving the quality of our talent pool.
My dept is actually looking to increase headcount so we all knew we were safe yet somehow we don't *feel* safe. Productivity tanked today...A hard think to accomplish given the caliber of our crew.
The ridiculous part of all of this is the notion of rather modest layoffs over the long period of time of 18 months.
Given the generous severance packages, plus the inevitable legal expenses, this won't actually save much, if any real $$ in the short run. If they really want to impact costs in the short run, the layoffs have to be deeper and immediate.
So, given the long run, it's either an admission that the company is fundamentally wrongsized and therefore shouldn't have been hiring like gangbusters for the last year or two or an indication that SteveB somehow knows more about the future of the worldwide economy than anyone else in the world and that it can't possibly even begin to recover for the next 18 months.
I'm betting neither. This is just a ham handed attempt to signal the market.
Well to those let go today...
This is probably for the best. Your skills are valuable and there are better opportunities out there. Those that go in the first round are the lucky ones in terms of the severance package and jobs available outside. There is world outside MSFT and it is full of opportunities much better than in MSFT. Just ask the folks like me who have left MSFT and are very happy outside.
I also don’t get why we’re in so many businesses. Many of you have complained about Mobile, Zune and other projects. What happened to the days when we would get into a business to win it? That just doesn’t happen today. Part of that is because we are stretched so thin on resources because we’re doing too many little businesses. We need executives and partners that are willing to shut down (or even better not start) businesses that we’re not going to be serious about. Focus on what we can do well and for God’s sake go back to letting great engineers and smaller teams do that they do well, which is innovate and compete with passion.
This is one of the more "on the mark" comments I've read here today.
I believe that Bill and Steve both take some blame for Microsoft being involved in too many things. I think post-1995/post-"we almost missed the Internet" Microsoft's exec's took on a paranoid, scattershot approach to doing business. Microsoft had the money to throw at many different business opportunities so they did and, well, trying to win the lottery by buying tickets with every possible number combination isn't a smart way to go about it.
But it wasn't just Bill and Steve's paranoia that got Microsoft into this mess. The company culture is such that steady workers are axed (Kimmed) and the gungho types are promoted. Managers engaged in empire building and started business ventures out of desperation -- not because it was the smart thing to do but because it gave them the "visibility" amongst the executives that they needed to keep their jobs and get promoted.
Let's face it, when you have tens of thousands of employees all grasping at straws in a desperate effort to impress Ballmer and Gates you wind up with one hell of a mess. I'm not sure if Steve Jobs really deserves the accolades that he seems to get but I suspect that one thing he has done for Apple is stand firm on his vision for the company and keeping his minions from running amok. Ballmer in particular seems to have blown it here -- probably in part due to the fact that he has no vision to begin with.
Were there any extra layoffs with contingent staff? It seems like today was unanimously blue bladges, correct?
The india center should go, it is one of the least efficient group in all the subsidaries, a lot of expenses but not much to show for it. Close it! only hot air comes out anyways. Let's get all of them here and become leads/managers.
Deep cuts in Server and Tools Online (MSDN, TECHNET, Expression). Looking like 20% on top of deep attrition lately.
None of the three levels of managers cut. None of them had input to cuts either (at least that's what they say).
Be interesting to know how many of the managers with 1 or 2 or 3 directs got cut. Anyone want to lay money on NONE?
my group has 4 non-performers to the level that they don't even show up. they deliver little, other then the occasional 'R'eply to email threads. all are 63+. today was a golden opportunity to get rid of them. but, they are still here! i am amazed!
microsoft has peaked, and the cloud is going to kill our relevance.
the baby boomers running the company haven't figured this out.
When you're pockets are this deep, you don't have to make hard decisions.
And so what we have is a bit of reduction here and there...a haircut or a trim, if you will.
Realistically, the patient needs surgery and it isn't cosmetic.
The Popfly team has been disbanded. The product (http://www.popfly.com/) was profitable -the team had several books and college courses being taught(http://cis.bentley.edu/mfrydenberg/web/Technology/Popfly/tabid/102/Default.aspx) which were paying licensing costs(covered the total development costs).
The Popfly dev team was also being shared across several other products.
It's sad that such an innovative product and such a great team is now for the history books.
Most of the team has the standard severance package and the 6 weeks to try and locate a new internal position.
Innovative, Profitable, just not hitting the adoption numbers needed to justify the resource investment.
Glad I got out in Sept when I did (nothing against working at MS, loved it actually, but due to personal reasons of wanting to move to 80 degree year-round weather ;) ). Anyway, glad I got out since I don't think I'd be able to handle 18 months of uncertainty. Just knowing how some groups work out there, I think I'd be infuriated seeing the wrong people (aka the ones who know how to work the political landcape, but don't actually really contribute) not be laid off. You all know them well, I'm sure.
Good luck to the rest of you.
"mini - this is EXACTLY what you wanted - you wanted heads to roll - and now you got what you wanted. are you happy?"
To be honest, I'm of the opinion that mini is largely responsible for what happened today. That one pre-Christmas blog post is the source of all the other news reports since, and I've read more than one analyst say that the Street *exected* layoff news on today's call as a result of the earlier reports. That blog post created expectation. We knew we weren't going to meet guidance expectation, and we knew we weren't going to be giving forward guidance (not meeting another expectation), so we have to meet something. Hand them a few layoffs and hope for the best.
Again, this is just what I believe. I am not one of the affected, but I'm watching 20%ers and upper 70%ers walk out the door tomorrow, not the 10%ers everyone would like to see go. Something smells.
I've followed this blog for a long time, but after this I'm done. You got what you wanted, and you very well may have had a large hand in it. Hope you're happy.
I think SteveB's days as a CEO are numbered. Once Sinofsky ships Win 7 (which will brutally kick ass), the board will have no choice but to nominate the guy for the top job.
Mini, can you create a section where we (ex Msft) can post our job openings? There are MANY incredible good opportunities in local mid size companies, packages are at par or better than msft, in general 20-30% better cash wise (including stock bonus) and of course one has one chance in one million of hitting jackpot if the company is acquired or go through a successful exit. I have so many colleagues looking for developers, program managers, marketers... one caveat is that one cannot contact msft employees for one year and a good chunk of good leaders left in the last 12 months, but I assume HR will give clearance to those being fired and let them work for an ex microsoftie? Or maybe we create a mini-microsoft job section in linkedin? I worded at msft for 14 years and I know the great talent working there (under not so great leadership). Like many I am happier and making more money outside, but that is not what my post is about, I am just trying to figure out how to help. I sent similar request to Microsoft HR but do not expect a response.
What about Vendors in BOSG? Would they be retained?
Facebook group:
Microsoft January 2009 Alumni
If you were RIF'd this week, please join. Let's stick together. We can help each other out.
Has anyone else noticed a spike in LinkedIn invites?
I think this layoff has been very poorly thought out and implemented. The layoff is too light to have any noticeable impact on the bottom line, so it achieves little. And yet the impact on morale is significant, especially given the announcement that there will be ongoing layoffs for the next 18 months.
Now employees -- current and prospective -- know that Microsoft is not necessarily a stable employer. A few months ago I had the opportunity to join a successful startup based in Seattle. I declined that opportunity because jobs at startup companies are not stable. If I had a similar opportunity again it would be hard to decline, now that I know that my MS job is not so stable either.
What should MS have done? First, avoid layoff if possible. Given that this layoff is light, with little benefit, it should have been avoided. If and when a layoff becomes unavoidable, the layoff should be deep and done just once instead of spreading it over a period of time. That way the surviving employees know that their jobs are still relatively stable.
The amazing thing about this layoff is that good developers have apparently been laid off. That's very surprising. At other large software companies developers are almost never laid off. Only sales, marketing and consulting people are laid off. R&D is laid off only as a last resort. The rationale being that during a recession you don't need sales or marketing people, but you need engineers so that you have good products to sell when we come out of the recession. It is surprising to me that Microsoft doesn't see any wisdom in that.
"Wonder if mini got mini'ed."
Haven't you been keeping up with the news? It's pretty much an accepted fact that Mini is a partner. Partners don't get RIF'd, laid off, mini'd, or any of those other quaint phrases that we like to use for "fired".
"Partners don't get RIF'd, laid off, mini'd, or any of those other quaint phrases that we like to use for "fired"."
So totally not true.
Poor business strategy is a big reason for today's problems, but I would like to suggest another area that is broken.
The engineering process at Microsoft is broken. Prior to MS I was a developer. In ten years at MS I have been a technical program manager shipping so great online services. The problem I notice since day 1 and continue to notice today is the challenge to accomplish anything. I am continually underwhelmed by the time it takes development to code and astonished when my test counterparts find any defect that is not trival. Yet, we spend months documenting processes, designs, test cases, that are never read nor headed.
Don't even get me started in the bueracracy you need to fight to ship a service in GFS or MS.COM data centers.
Google is eating our lunch. We are not even keeping pace, with our current engineering religion, we are only following behind. It is not due to the lack of smart people but the mechanism is which we developer and produce our goods.
I am a shareholder. I feel sorry for myself.
Get rid of those non-performer empire builders, so called senior leaders or execs. They are everywhere. Shame if you can't find them and then you need to go as well. I am sure an outsider can find those for you with little data.
Re: "Partners don't get RIF'd, laid off, mini'd, or any of those other quaint phrases that we like to use for "fired"."
Yeah they aren't fired, they "part ways", or they "pursue other interests" or they "spend time with their family".
One of my friends is whacked today, he is wreck a right now and needs help. This guy is on H1B but has filed I485 and pending so currently he has a EAD. He heard rumors that he might be ok to stay in the states and try to find another job with the EAD. Any ideas?
Yes Virginia, there is life after Microsoft.
I've been engaged with Microsoft since '95 as a contractor, FTE, contractor, vendor, contractor, FTE again (layed off due to extended illness brought on by overwork), IC, and then vendor again. Personally I prefer being a vendor because I have the most control over my life and can also work for other companies, rather than putting all my eggs in the MS basket. The downside is that I don't get to be deeply involved in developing products (which explains the two FTE stints). I'm just the hired help. If you're passionate about technology and want to make your mark on the world, I'd say to spend 3-5 years at Microsoft and make all your dumb beginner mistakes there, then move on to a more innovative company, or else start one of your own. Don't expect MS to "care" about you or even treat you with humanity if it isn't expedient. If you just want to do your time and let MS pay your bills, you're smart enough to figure out how to make that work, too. You'll be fine as long as you keep your expectations in line with reality, and always have a contingency plan in your back pocket because you never know when the execs will have their next bright idea at your expense. Or, just do what I do (with a rainy day fund at your back). It's a good life.
A few months ago I had the opportunity to join a successful startup based in Seattle. I declined that opportunity because jobs at startup companies are not stable. If I had a similar opportunity again it would be hard to decline, now that I know that my MS job is not so stable either.
--------
It is a hard lesson which I learned myself. There is no such thing as "stable job" in the universe. Only way to improve your job security is to make yourself valuable, keep your skills sharp and your resume up-to-date. If Microsoft is so uncomfortable then just get out like I did. There is great world outside!
Steve and Chris are minimizing the competitive implications. While it's true that no one is immune from this downturn, IBM, Apple and Google have shown that they're better positioned to weather it. And since MS hasn't had success against Apple and Google during good times, it will be even more difficult now without a radically different approach. They'll be investing and hiring closer to plan, while MS will be pulling back. And they will be able to use their stock to attract new talent or buy companies, while MS can't even convince its own partners to take stock over cash as compensation anymore. I'd be more optimistic if Steve had indicated a willingness to rethink things. But on the call with analysts he was almost adolescent in defending the status quo. Read this particular exchange (but you need to hear it to get a sense for the tone):
Robert Breza – RBC Capital Markets
Hi. Thanks for taking my question. Maybe Steve, can you talk about as you look at the portfolio of businesses you have and obviously if you go through this economy the way it is, I mean when or if do you think you and the Board would take action to review your portfolio and make a strategic decision to possibly divest off certain assets or technologies, any color around the strategy in particular would be helpful? Thanks.
Steve Ballmer
I like our portfolio.
Robert Breza – RBC Capital Markets
Okay.
Steve Ballmer
The Board likes our portfolio.
It's an important question which these results only served to highlight. Steve and the Board should be using this opportunity to reassess, and that could and should have been communicated. Instead, he showed the intransigence that already has investors worried.
Anonymous said...
"Partners don't get RIF'd, laid off, mini'd, or any of those other quaint phrases that we like to use for "fired"."
---------------------
so true.
Look at developer division. So many of them and the once-windows loyal developers have been steadily going to other platforms
Look at the MSN & Live. For last 10 years they are squandering $s and all partners & leaders are still there - except the good ones, who left to join leader companies - sigh
Look at developer division. So many of them and the once-windows loyal developers have been steadily going to other platforms
---------------
Sure thing. Look at me - Windows developer with 10 years behind me all switched to Linux right now and enjoying it.
I love this company, quit your bitchen.
I hope they take into consideration the EU gouging more money from MS in this latest go round.
We see in today's layoffs the huge lack of forward-thinking on behalf of Steve Balmer and others. Mini has been saying for years that the company needs to be leaner and meaner. In reality, what has happened? ...(crickets).... Yep, nuthin'.
Eight years ago, at the AntiTrust proceedings, the fiction that IE was an 'integral' part of windows was proclaimed. later on, the EU fined MSFT because of the IE monopoly in Windows. Since then we have had XP, Vista (aborted version), Vista (rewritten version) and now Windows 7. So what has happened during that period to separate IE from the bulk Windows code?
.......(crickets)..... Yep, nuthin'.
The longer Steve Ballmer and the current Board of Directors are allowed to hang around producing their poor decisions, the faster will be MSFT's demise.
Developers Developers Developers Developers Developers Developers
Developers Developers Developers
I love this company and my work, but as I sat through my first all company meeting last September I remember thinking as Ballmer spoke, a man this frenetic can't be a good candidate to run a company. It seems I might be right.
How could a company with literally 10s of billions in CASH in the bank be in this position. Surely laying of 5,000 people isn't going to make any sort of noticeable dent. If you are going to do it, do it right. Spin off divisions into separate companies, etc.
I like Microsoft and wish them the best, but I am not sure about their direction right now.
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