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from the perhaps-they-should-have-asked-Cortana dept.
The job cuts were revealed in paperwork filed on Thursday with US financial watchdog the SEC. The doomed staff will leave the business by the end of next June. They all work in Microsoft's sales teams and its Windows Phone hardware division. [...] We understand 900 people in the global sales unit have already learned of their fate.
As for the latest redundancies, here's the relevant sections of Microsoft's annual 10-K report to the SEC:
In addition to the elimination of 1,850 positions that were announced in May 2016, approximately 2,850 roles globally will be reduced during the year as an extension of the earlier plan, and these actions are expected to be completed by the end of fiscal year 2017.
As of June 30, 2016, we employed approximately 114,000 people on a full-time basis, 63,000 in the U.S. and 51,000 internationally. Of the total employed people, 38,000 were in operations, including manufacturing, distribution, product support, and consulting services; 37,000 in product research and development; 29,000 in sales and marketing; and 10,000 in general and administration.
While the layoffs affect just 2.5 per cent of Microsoft's workforce, they are very precise and telling cuts: Windows-powered mobiles managed to seize just three per cent of the global smartphone market, and now Redmond is dismantling that failed operation.
(Score: 2) by turgid on Saturday July 30 2016, @09:19AM
I just bought a car at Mrs Turgid's insistence, mainly for her to use. The brand she insisted on has software from Microsoft for its navigation and in-car entertainment systems... Still, Slackware 14.2 just came out and my official installation media are in the post.
I refuse to engage in a battle of wits with an unarmed opponent [wikipedia.org].
(Score: 1, Insightful) by Anonymous Coward on Sunday July 31 2016, @06:04AM
If I had seen a Microsoft logo pop up in a car I was considering, I would not help but remember all the nagging I got from my desktop to do this and that or I won't be "supported".
That kinda crap is fine if someone else is paying for my time. Businessmen do not seem to mind paying for stuff or losing time over this kind of stuff.
But I do.
Microsoft is for the Business Office. I need something a little more robust in a car. It *has* to work. If its some juvenile software that always has to get permission from its daddy to do anything, I really have little need for something so unrobust in my personal life.
I see no use for a computer in a car at all, but one does come in handy for just monitoring things and letting me know if something's amiss. I may go as far as microcontroller for timing and fuel mix trim, but that's where I draw the line on how much authority I personally feel comfortable granting to a machine full of proprietary software.