BBC NEWS | Business | Microsoft to cut up to 5,000 jobs:
"Microsoft has said it will cut up to 5,000 jobs over the next 18 months, including 1,400 immediately.
The firm also reported a net profit of $4.17bn (£3bn) for the three months to 31 December, down 11% on last year and less than analysts' expectations."
Other than the economic climate... ideas as to the main reason for cut backs? Change in attitudes towards software? Change in attitudes to operating systems? Lack of responsiveness to change? Let's face it, Microsoft haven't exactly jumped on the web 2.0 vibe, have they? Slowly, slowly unlocking themselves from a business model which saw them through the 80s and 90s quite happily. It's not easy to make change when you're a lumbering behemoth... :o)