Microsoft lays off 18,000 people

[Clayton]

Apparently having Windows 8 and Xbox One tank is a good way to lose consumer confidence but I guess they are taking it out on Nokia. Any of you tech guys know what Microsoft is thinking lately?

 

[HammerDown]

Microsoft pays more in taxes than Apple's entire market capitalization.

 

[Clayton]

Microsoft pays more in taxes than Apple's entire market capitalization.

Yeah, I guess you can't really tax corporations these days. Large corporations can use slim margins to get by with tech and consumers get the windfall...and likely the tax bill at some point. I keep hearing about budget shortfalls due to low receipts because retail isnt getting taxed. It all comes around eventually. Meanwhile, I'm enjoying the great value of the internet (complete with no Adblock)

That explains the cuts at Nokia. I assumed it was because they were coming out with bad idea after bad idea but they're just trying to compete with google and apple.

 

[WizardHawk]

I live in MicroSofts back yard and I work on their products every day.

All I can say is fuck MS.

Hate that company. Hate everything about them. Pretty sure every original idea they have had since their DOS days was terrible and everything they copy is less than that which they copied. They buy out smaller companies to take their ideas and then ruin those concepts, or at least water them down.

Compete against them? They just buy you out and kill your product.

I wish the whole company would go bankrupt.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

I live in MicroSofts back yard and I work on their products every day.

All I can say is fuck MS.

Hate that company. Hate everything about them. Pretty sure every original idea they have had since their DOS days was terrible and everything they copy is less than that which they copied. They buy out smaller companies to take their ideas and then ruin those concepts, or at least water them down.

Compete against them? They just buy you out and kill your product.

I wish the whole company would go bankrupt.

Now that is a bit harsh IMO. They have had a lot of bad or let's say poor products and ideas, but the have hit on a few, I think Windows 7 is a winner. Also looking at their competitors , I don't see a one that is any better, Google (need I say more), Apple IMO is on a down hill slide, Linux isn't in the same zip code.
Every thing MS has done is being repeated by their competitors .

 

[RegentDenali]

The Indian they put in charge is clearing house. Some of this was long overdue as Ballmer had built up a lot of divisions that were bleeding money. But still, this is a company that made 77.85 billion in revenue for fiscal 2013. They are still making money by the truck loads.

I'm sure the majority of these employees getting the pink slips will the the american and european employees. After the massacre, they'll be replaced with more Indian H1Bs. That's been the Microsoft way for over a decade now, but with Nardella now in charge, get ready for Microsoft to even more resemble a Hyderabad call center.

 

[RegentDenali]

Now that is a bit harsh IMO. They have had a lot of bad or let's say poor products and ideas, but the have hit on a few, I think Windows 7 is a winner. Also looking at their competitors , I don't see a one that is any better, Google (need I say more), Apple IMO is on a down hill slide, Linux isn't in the same zip code.
Every thing MS has done is being repeated by their competitors .

Windows 7 is a winner. Especially as a stable OS that businesses running XP can upgrade to for it's desktops and do the job. I'm currently working a project that's upgrading a major hospital network from XP to 7 for all it's desktop and laptop systems. They have to for security reasons. The upgrade is going fairly smoothly and no application issues so far.

 

[HaroldSeattle]

Windows 7 is a winner. Especially as a stable OS that businesses running XP can upgrade to for it's desktops and do the job. I'm currently working a project that's upgrading a major hospital network from XP to 7 for all it's desktop and laptop systems. They have to for security reasons. The upgrade is going fairly smoothly and no application issues so far.

 

[KansasSooner]

Windows 7 is a winner. Especially as a stable OS that businesses running XP can upgrade to for it's desktops and do the job. I'm currently working a project that's upgrading a major hospital network from XP to 7 for all it's desktop and laptop systems. They have to for security reasons. The upgrade is going fairly smoothly and no application issues so far.

If it was really for security reasons they would have went to Windows 8.1 which is more secure than 7. They're doing it only because XP isn't supported or they wouldn't do it all. And save the trash talk about Windows 8.1 for another thread. It isn't that much different from Windows 7 especially now that the desktop is the first screen seen by the user. The modern interface is still there and it really acts like a super huge start button once you get over its garish looks and fear of the unknown.

 

[WizardHawk]

Now that is a bit harsh IMO. They have had a lot of bad or let's say poor products and ideas, but the have hit on a few, I think Windows 7 is a winner. Also looking at their competitors , I don't see a one that is any better, Google (need I say more), Apple IMO is on a down hill slide, Linux isn't in the same zip code.
Every thing MS has done is being repeated by their competitors .

Problem is windows 7 wasn't really original and neither was windows in general. Someone else creates something and they attempt to 'do it better', but mostly fail. Highly profitable company because they won the war early on and now everyone is more or less stuck with them.

They have been playing catch up for many years in areas there is no excuse for having to catch up on like the overall file structure. Widows 7 introduced some NTFS self diagnostics and repair, but as is their usual M.O. it is far less than perfect.

Having memory, hard disk, and other hardware diagnostics built into the OS just makes sense and yet it took them 20 years to even try and their attempts have been disappointing.

I could go on for pages with examples of how they copied or bought out good products only to make them worse. They are the only ones that can make apps attached to their core code so they should make better apps than what everyone can that are stuck with API extensions.

If it was really for security reasons they would have went to Windows 8.1 which is more secure than 7. They're doing it only because XP isn't supported or they wouldn't do it all. And save the trash talk about Windows 8.1 for another thread. It isn't that much different from Windows 7 especially now that the desktop is the first screen seen by the user. The modern interface is still there and it really acts like a super huge start button once you get over its garish looks and fear of the unknown.

The windows 8 platform is another example of a horrible roll out of a new line. Like Vista and ME before it, they attempted to push out a new concept and failed to give us a well thought out and fully vetted product.

Business users just flat out hate the entire platform. It was created specifically for touch screen use and to push the idea of a common interface across PC's, tablets, and smart phones and in that regard has so far been a massive flop. Especially in the business realm.

I manage around 100 computers and exactly 2 of them have 8.1 on them: My desktop in my office, and the laptop of one of our managers and he flat out hates it. Not because of the layout, but because of all of the issues he has had with drivers and comparability. May not happen to most home users, but businesses are often using older software and/or connecting to resources from vendors that are not friendly to new browsers (don't even get me started on IE>9 and compatibility mode ) and it leaves them stuck with the older stuff until MS finally fixes the bridges to the other stuff.

Obviously 8 was a disaster or they wouldn't have rushed out 8.1 to appease everyone. Removing the start button was just flat out stupid. It was probably one of the most boneheaded things they have ever done.

Sure the OS is fairly stable and once you learn the modern interface you can get around fine, but it is still less than ideal. Many defaults force their modern versions of apps on you and without a touchscreen are just far less usable than their older win7 counterparts. Take picture viewing for example. The modern interface one just has almost no options of what you can do with a picture. It may be awesome if you have a touchscreen, but for the rest of the 80% of users that don't it freaking sucks.

I use it and I don't hate it for myself, but as a support person it's the worst thing they have ever put out. There is no way the inevitable change over to it is going to go smoothly. The education of the end users is going to be a freaking nightmare. I hear the same from IT all over the country. If you support a base of users that isn't highly tech savvy you are dreading the changeover big time.