Microsoft Announces Major Downsizing - 60,000 Affected

[Meengla]

well just take as example last iran war, months without internet, it was not the walking dead but things like project nomad is useful then.

it's to expect more internet disruption lasting months in future regional wars.

here in Spain we had a whole country power outage one day in april 2025, internet stopped to work after one hour without power grid, never happened before, but in developing countries it happens often. In Cuba there is one full island power outage every 3 months in average.

btw one key technology of project nomad is lora (LOng RAnge) to send data over few miles with minimal power consumption, few bandwidth, just for text messages size, as it's used in meshtastic project. In Spain interest in Meshtastic grew after april 2025 power outage.

You are talking about short term affects. Give the richer countries just a a year and there would be riots and anarchy. We are--including me--spoilt brats!
BTW, I don't believe in the stupid 'depopulating the world' theory 'by the elites'. Big, rich countries are not that smart or dumb--depending on your perspective. Countries are like 'Day Traders': Make quick profits while they can. Countries/Nations are reflective of their people. There is no grand design. There is decreasingly long term thinking. Speaking of which, just 10-15 years ago, America was given the credit for long term policies. I doubt that very much looking at Biden and Trump tenures, if not before. But that would be going into totally offtopic, which the Mods wont like.

 

[ustaad]

Oh for sure, 60,000 will be going. Just many doing the mental calculations of trying to hold out for a few months til the axe swings or taking the voluntary offer, while all at the same time brushing off their CV.
Irony is the best (especially in sales and engineering) will take the offer and find a job easily elsewhere, so you could be left with the mediocre, who will now be even more demotivated.

So is it a blind offer to everyone? I can see how it can totally backfire for the company as the most skilled will be the first ones to take the offer leaving behind even less productive/$ workforce than before.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

So is it a blind offer to everyone? I can see how it can totally backfire for the company as the most skilled will be the first ones to take the offer leaving behind even less productive/$ workforce than before.

Not likely.

Senior management already knows which divisions / departments / employees are targeted. Those individuals have likely been notified.

 

[Yasser76]

So is it a blind offer to everyone? I can see how it can totally backfire for the company as the most skilled will be the first ones to take the offer leaving behind even less productive/$ workforce than before.

No, selected people

 

[PakFactor]

So is it a blind offer to everyone? I can see how it can totally backfire for the company as the most skilled will be the first ones to take the offer leaving behind even less productive/$ workforce than before.

They're not blind; they know which areas to target. Often in these situations, the marketing department will be axed, then sales, then individual projects will be targeted. It's often a bottom-up approach.

 

[Yasser76]

They're not blind; they know which areas to target. Often in these situations, the marketing department will be axed, then sales, then individual projects will be targeted. It's often a bottom-up approach.

Utter BS, best not comment on stuff you do not know about.

"then sales"????? You sure about that?

 

[PakFactor]

Utter BS, best not comment on stuff you do not know about.

"then sales"????? You sure about that?

Come back to me once you learn to read your Constitution, sir. Until then, don't pollute this thread with your hostility. Furthermore, put me on your ignore list so you do not have any need to engage with me.

 

[Yasser76]

Come back to me once you learn to read your Constitution, sir. Until then, don't pollute this thread with your hostility. Furthermore, put me on your ignore list so you do not have any need to engage with me.

Ah, so you admit you dont know what you are talking about when you make sweeping generalisations. Have you even worked at a multinational or you just enjoy giving advice in a desperate attempt to gain credibility on here?

For someone who thinks "Pakistan Administered Kashmir" is a rightful statement that does not surprise at all in terms of the intellectual capability on display here....

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

Folks, let's not, ok?

I think most of the participants in this discussion are sufficiently mature to not go there.

 

[Musings]

Come on boys. Topic first

 

[Meengla]

I heard, Intel is thinking about a 20% reduction in force. That would be massive. I hope a dear friend of mine survives; he has been there since 1998! I helped him drive to Portland, Oregon from South Carolina when he was accepting that job. Since then, he married and has 2-3 kids. My guess is kids are late teens now. He has been worried about his job for years. I hope he is given at least a generous terms if forced to leave.

 

[AZ_HighCountry]

I heard, Intel is thinking about a 20% reduction in force. That would be massive. I hope a dear friend of mine survives; he has been there since 1998! I helped him drive to Portland, Oregon from South Carolina when he was accepting that job. Since then, he married and has 2-3 kids. My guess is kids are late teens now. He has been worried about his job for years. I hope he is given at least a generous terms if forced to leave.

What you heard has a lot of truth. Like you, I've a number of friends who work at the Chandler, AZ campus as well as a couple in Portland. It's Motorola all over again.

 

[Meengla]

What you heard has a lot of truth. Like you, I've a number of friends who work at the Chandler, AZ campus as well as a couple in Portland. It's Motorola all over again.

My friend at Intel just told me he has survived the latest cuts. He saying it is an ongoing process at Intel and they try not to make too much noise about the layoffs. He must be worried and relieved at the same time: Surviving the cuts but still needs to put his multiple kids through college.

 

[Meengla]

I have three friends who are 50+ and are in precarious job situations due to the current job market and the impact of Ai:
1) A college professor close to 60; his two kids are in 2-3 years in their college; the guy's job likely ending as early as coming May due to continued funding concerns.
2) A recent Amtrak employee also close to 60; he has twins of 8 year ages. Wife is on his case daily to get any job--even as a Walmart greeter. He finally has an interview in a day or two and is really worried.
3) The Intel friend--who is I think 55-- and has three kids: 18, 15, and 12. The younger kids are in private schools. Poor guy has long way to go before the younger one graduates from college.

All above had long successful careers but all above have to work because of their respective kids. And this job market and the destructive role of new technologies is very worrisome to them. And not to sound smug: They envy my peaceful life. I had shorter career than them but by not having kids of my own, by choice, I have been living a mostly carefree, peaceful life. On the other hand, they would have the 'support system' from their kids when they would be too frail later in life while me... no such thing but no regrets about my choices.