Microsoft exploring significant job cuts. (small business, license, corporations, organization)

[seattlenextyear]

Uh, well I'd guess Silver Spring would be, since getting fired from a federal government job requires you to be an axe murderer who rapes puppies.

[StealthRabbit]

Originally Posted by coldbliss

Qualified IT professionals are going to be on the unemployment rolls for a longer period. The quality of life in the Seattle area will get real expensive fast if you are not drawing a paycheck; ... I want to relocate there some day and I am just ticked that there is no one place safe from the recession.

You might want to drop by Nebraska, SD, or Kansas on your way west. They have pretty stable employment prospects and several companies have moved IT work there, as they find very congenial workers, especially farmers who will work night shift to support their day habit (farming). Pay is certainly less, but so is cost of living, ESPECIALLY houses (like under $100k). It would not be a bad place to weather a recession, as the people are pretty nice, and will probably keep you fed from the excess of their gardens.

[neil0311]

Originally Posted by coldbliss

I bet those 5,000 knifed souls from Redmond

Certainly, I empathize with anyone in Redmond who got the bad news, but many of the folks affected are not based in Redmond. Microsoft is a huge company, with sales, services, support, marketing, and many other jobs located outside of Puget Sound. If anything, it sounds like the developers in Redmond came away relatively unscathed.

Again, not to minimze the impact to anyone affected, but just pointing out that this was not just a Redmond or Washington based cut.

[jm31828]

Originally Posted by janb

You might want to drop by Nebraska, SD, or Kansas on your way west. They have pretty stable employment prospects and several companies have moved IT work there, as they find very congenial workers, especially farmers who will work night shift to support their day habit (farming). Pay is certainly less, but so is cost of living, ESPECIALLY houses (like under $100k). It would not be a bad place to weather a recession, as the people are pretty nice, and will probably keep you fed from the excess of their gardens.

There is truth to this. It is harder to find a job right now here in Nebraska than usual but still not too bad. Our unemployment is still down around 3.5%, no real lay-offs going on locally, so we are weathering the storm (so far) better than other areas. For IT professionals I would recommend Omaha- as odd as it may sound Omaha is somewhat of an IT hub with a healthy economy and low cost housing (you can get very nice new homes for around $150,000). Of course Omaha is no Seattle, but I just wanted to add these comments for anyone who may be looking.

[toughguy]

Just spoke with one of my Microsoftie friends, and he believes a lot of the cuts will be overseas and satellite campuses like Fargo N.D. and elsewhere.

[Radnor]

According to the comments at Mini-Microsoft all full-time employees are safe from today's 1,400 job cuts. 3,600 more people will lose their job over the next 18 months though, which really stinks. Hopefully their main campus isn't hit too hard.

[allforcats]

Originally Posted by Radnor

According to the comments at Mini-Microsoft all full-time employees are safe from today's 1,400 job cuts. 3,600 more people will lose their job over the next 18 months

And MicroSofties being as resourceful as they usually are, it'll be no surprise five years from now to find that many new start-up companies will be traced back to today's news

[teamirene]

Some interesting quotes from the following Seattle Times piece today RE Microsoft layoffs:

Microsoft Pri0 | Majority of today's Microsoft job cuts to be in Redmond; total reduction is roughly 3 percent | Seattle Times Newspaper Blog

"It plans to cut up to 5,000 positions over 18 months while adding new staff for a net reduction of 2,000 to 3,000 jobs."

The reporter's take on it is that this is a net reduction of around 3.1%, and according to the article Microsoft's annual attrition rate as quoted in 2007 was around 8% per year with about 3% being what was called 'good attrition', meaning under-performing employees that were let go. He finishes with:

"...the bottom line is Microsoft is reducing its work force by roughly the rate at which its low-performing workers leave the company anyway."

-------------

However, 'good attrition' is probably a constant, which would mean that the layoffs announced today are in addition to that - it is not an 'all things equal out to a net zero effect' situation. I realize this is not speciifcally what he said but it seemed like the tone of the article leaned in that direction.

Psychologically I think the effects are going to reverberate throughout the Seattle economy more than the actual direct economic effects of 1400 jobs lost. MS has been seen by many as the 'rock', and the upcoming layoffs also put a lot of people 'on hold' as far as plans for the future. MS is still hiring however, according to the news and also my own clients who work there, so it's not a completely dismal scenario. Many employees also seem to think that the company had gotten too bloated and that this is long overdue, even though it's painful.

[coldbliss]

I am trying to think what I like about Microsoft products?

The operating systems? There are millions of consumers who will pay $500-$1,000 MORE for a Mac just to avoid dealing with the terrible MS OS. Worms and viruses continue to plague the MS operating systems. Gee, how did VISTA work out for MS? I don't have much faith in the upcoming Windows 7 system either.

MS Word? Corel's Word Perfect has much more user-friendly, word-processing features. Seriously, WP totally rocks.

MS PowerPoint? You got me there. Corel's Quattro is garbage.

XBox360? Ninento Wii is cleaning Microsoft's clock with the competing game systems. And despite Sony's botched roll out of Play Station 3, the quality of the hardware is far superior than XBox360. In fact, there are numerous reports of glitches galore and recalls with the XBox. Only if Sony would wise up and drop the prices on the 80 GB consoles, you would see sales of the XBOX360 really decline.

The Zune? The Edsel of MP3 players. LMAO...no competition to the iPod whatsoever. But I think the Zune would make an awesome collector's item for infamous consumer goods that never had much fortune in the market place.

On the consumer side of things, Microsoft is becoming a big failure. They will have to rely on more sales of business server systems and Office Suite packages for the work place.

I don't think Microsoft nation appreciates how realistic those "I am a Mac and I am a PC" ads really appear. Those ads could have a permanent devasting effect on the image of Microsoft.

[toughguy]

I think you are overstating Microsoft's weaknesses in the consumer market. Yes, Apple market share is on the rise, but they aren't competitive in the budget/mid-range pc market, which is vastly larger than the high end market. We will have to see how Windows 7 is received, but so far most of the tech pundits are cautiously optimistic about it.

No one is seriously challenging the dominance of Word and the rest of the Office suite. Corel? LOL get outta here...Even OpenOffice, the $0.00 open-source competitor, is not really gaining any kind of traction.

Also, despite the hardware failures of the Xbox 360, it's still outselling the PS3 handily.

Hardware Comparison Charts | VG Chartz.com - Video Game Sales Charts - Nintendo, Sony, Microsoft, Wii, PS3, Xbox360, DS, PSP, PC

Sony cannot afford to reduce the cost of their console, because their electronic entertainment division is already bleeding cash profusely, and they are in the midst of a profound corporate restructure and massive layoffs. They can't score third party console exclusives to save their lives, and their 9 year old console-that-just-wont-die the PS2 is still cannibalizing PS3 sales. The PS3 could yet overtake the Xbox in sales, but the trends say otherwise. The Nintendo Wii is selling like gangbusters, but I think that it is carving out a new casual market that Sony and Microsoft are not really trying to compete in at the moment. I bought a Wii the day it came out, and recently purchased an xbox 360 a few months ago. The Wii has been sitting there collecting dust, I have literally not turned it on once since purchasing the Xbox. The reason? The Wii has a few good games and tons of terrible games. Most of the games appeal to much older non-traditional gamers and small children. If Microsoft and Sony went after Nintendo in the casual game market, I don't think Nintendo would be enjoying the same meteoric success it is maintaining currently.

You are correct about The Zune vs. iPod debate, which is pretty much over. No one at the moment is going to take the iPod's crown. The Zune is actually on par with the iPod as far as features and useability, but it just cannot overcome the Apple marketing machine.

Overall I think a lot of people have animosity towards MS and perceive every negative news item as the death of Microsoft. I understand they face serious threats and no company lasts forever, but I don't think they are anywhere close to the brink of collapse like many people are saying.