Microsoft to layoff 18,000 employees

[Ed]

I don't disagree with a word you said there

[STC]

Consider that MS as a whole is/was bloated. If they don't act now they will continue sliding down hill and ultimately many more jobs would go. They bought Nokia to get a head start on the cell phone space and now want to get shot of the pieces they can't put in their model.

[barnabas1969]

Well, STC, you live in Canada. From my perspective, Canadian government (and the Canadian media) makes a whole lot more sense than ours does here in the USA. Your perspective isn't the same as that of an American citizen/resident.

[Ed]

From my perspective, Canadian government (and the Canadian media) makes a whole lot more sense than ours does here in the USA.

That's highly, highly subjective. I'm sure if we lived in Canada we would know of/be aware of a bunch of crap that the Canadian Gov/corps pull that doesn't fly in the US. Remember, the grass is always greener on the other side; no matter what side you're on.

I love my country, not the government that runs it (the American government is not, and has never been, America); warts and all. Couldn't give a crap about 99.999999999% of the corporations here though.

[barnabas1969]

Have you visited Canadian government websites? They are worded in plain English. Comparable US government websites are so convoluted and filled with "gobbledygook" that they require you to hire a lawyer to figure them out! The Canadian equivalents are much, much simpler.

[Ed]

Have you visited Canadian government websites? They are worded in plain English. Comparable US government websites are so convoluted and filled with "gobbledygook" that they require you to hire a lawyer to figure them out! The Canadian equivalents are much, much simpler.

By that logic, because Anonymous DDOS'd the CIA website a while back, America must be the weakest country on the planet too. We know that is literally the exact opposite though.

[adam1991]

Eh, glass half full here. I'm guessing that was a lot of people who were overemployed.

18,000 sounds like a lot--but what percentage of the MS workforce is that?

Are you kidding me???? Have you EVER worked for a company with massive layoffs?

Been there, done that, wrote the handbook.

[barnabas1969]

Have you visited Canadian government websites? They are worded in plain English. Comparable US government websites are so convoluted and filled with "gobbledygook" that they require you to hire a lawyer to figure them out! The Canadian equivalents are much, much simpler.

By that logic, because Anonymous DDOS'd the CIA website a while back, America must be the weakest country on the planet too. We know that is literally the exact opposite though.

You've obviously never experienced the wonder which is the US legislative process. I can assure you that our process of enacting laws is broken. It's amazingly complicated. I never imagined how screwed up it is... until I got involved.

[barnabas1969]

Been there, done that, wrote the handbook.

I got out before I got canned. Everyone I worked with thought I was crazy... until 6 months later when half of them were looking for a job. I may have been spared if I had stayed because I was always #1 or #2 in the pecking order (the company actually started publishing a list of employees in each department in order of their value... which is what they used to lay off people... not seniority) but I didn't want to stick around for the eventual demise of the company.

[Ed]

Have you visited Canadian government websites? They are worded in plain English. Comparable US government websites are so convoluted and filled with "gobbledygook" that they require you to hire a lawyer to figure them out! The Canadian equivalents are much, much simpler.

By that logic, because Anonymous DDOS'd the CIA website a while back, America must be the weakest country on the planet too. We know that is literally the exact opposite though.

You've obviously never experienced the wonder which is the US legislative process. I can assure you that our process of enacting laws is broken. It's amazingly complicated. I never imagined how screwed up it is... until I got involved.

And I'm not saying any of that is incorrect. But to say because 'X' is broken here, 'Y' country IS better than here, when you haven't lived in 'Y' country to actually know (and get to know 'Y' country's own faults, compared to here)....is just, well, ignorant. By the very definition of the word.

[adam1991]

They are to try play catch up with all the other big boys. Mr. Nadella CEO has re branded MS as "the productivity and platform company for the mobile-first and cloud-first world".

Put simply they are way behind Google and Apple so time to start with scraping away all the unneeded crud if they are even going to attempt to get close. Severance pay out of $1.1-$1.6bn.

Just yesterday I got a Windows Phone. Lumia 635, running 8.1 with the new Cortana.

I got it because I was furious with how badly Samsung screwed up my Galaxy S3. Upgraded it right into the ground. Flagship phone? If that's how you treat your flagship customers, good luck.

So I dipped my toes into the Windows Phone arena, to see what was going on. The phone was cheap enough that I could play around, and if I like it I can dive into a move expensive model later without any regret.

So far: either MS is paying attention or Google is not. Whatever. For $120, this is a very nice experience so far.

I originally got an Android phone because I was going to an enterprise that uses all Google Apps for Business. I figured, that must be a slam dunk. Imagine my surprise when I discovered the truth. My gripe with Google all along has been, it just doesn't get enterprise. I came from Blackberry, the real stuff, and I was stunned at how badly Android dealt with even the simplest of enterprise tasks. I mean, come on, Google--why the hell did somebody have to create a separate third party app just to browse my Google-maintained corporate address book? Why isn't that built into the freaking OS of the phone??

Anyway. A tip of the hat to T-Mobile for daring to separate out the handsets from the handcuffs, and letting me buy whatever phone I want whenever I want, just like it should be.

Microsoft hasn't given up yet, not by far. Cortana is pretty nice so far; I wonder what she'll be after she has some time to observe my habits. I must say, Google Now was...underwhelming at best.

[barnabas1969]

@adam1991:
Well, I'll say that my Galaxy S4 has been getting slower and slower as time goes by. I'm also on T-Mobile, and I'm thinking about installing a custom kernel on the phone to get out of the "upgrade" process. After having multiple "smart" phones on various carriers, I'm convinced that the software "upgrades" serve only one purpose: To make the phone run slower so that you feel the need to buy a new one.

@Ed:
American "exceptionalism" has been ingrained in us since we were little kids. When you start to travel the rest of the world (and actually spend time in those places with the people who live there, and pay attention to what is going on around you), you realize that things are not what we have been told all our lives.

[Ed]

Upgraded it right into the ground.

I'm curious what you mean by that. I'm assuming you're talking about the Kit Kat update that just recently got released for the S3.

[Ed]

@Ed:
American "exceptionalism" has been ingrained in us since we were little kids. When you start to travel the rest of the world, you realize that things are not what we have been told all our lives.

I've been to Spain, Ireland, England, Mexico and Cuba. I haven't traveled the world, but I've been outside the US on more than one occasion (I've been to Puerto Rico too, but that's a US territory; so not relevant). But I couldn't tell you what it was like to live in any of those countries; only to visit. That's my point. I couldn't tell you if it was actually better to live in 'X' country vs 'Y' unless I actually lived in both 'X' and 'Y' country; and for long enough to actually make an informed decision/statement (not just after living wherever for one day or something). Not just visiting or reading about it. That is what I'm getting at.

[barnabas1969]

@Ed:
American "exceptionalism" has been ingrained in us since we were little kids. When you start to travel the rest of the world, you realize that things are not what we have been told all our lives.

I've been to Spain, Ireland, England, Mexico and Cuba. I haven't traveled the world, but I've been outside the US on more than one occasion. But I couldn't tell you what it was like to live in any of those countries; only to visit. That's my point. I couldn't tell you if it was actually better to live in 'X' country vs 'Y' unless I actually lived in both 'X' and 'Y' country. Not just visiting or reading about it. That is what I'm getting at.

I edited my post just before you quoted me. There's a big difference when you actually spend time in people's homes and stay with them instead of staying in a hotel or resort. You get to know the people who live there, and have the opportunity to discuss things that matter to them. Go shopping with them, help butcher a pig, pick fruits and vegetables with them. Watch TV with them, read their newspaper (with their help to translate it), read the labels on the products they buy... etc. Real stuff. Real life. You'll learn amazing things. Many of the things we've been told all our lives are wrong.

[Ed]

I edited my post just before you quoted me. There's a big difference when you actually spend time in people's homes and stay with them instead of staying in a hotel or resort. You get to know the people who live there, and have the opportunity to discuss things that matter to them. Go shopping with them, help butcher a pig, pick fruits and vegetables with them. Watch TV with them, read their newspaper (with their help to translate it), read the labels on the products they buy... etc. Real stuff. Real life. You'll learn amazing things. Many of the things we've been told all our lives are wrong.

And that's still entirely different though than you living in that country as a citizen, adhering to and experiencing everything in that country that you wouldn't have time to or simply just didn't have to by just being a visitor. Like I said, I don't have blind faith in my country, but I do love it. But, I also know I can't tell you another country is better unless I actually lived there (not visited) for an extended period of time. It might very well be better. It might also be a lot worse in certain regards. You can't make a declarative statement like you did though based on ignorance (not living there for an extended period of time). Well, I mean, you can; but that doesn't make it correct

[barnabas1969]

Sure, some things could be better, and other things could be worse. I've definitely seen both in my travels. I didn't elaborate enough about Canada, but I've found that their news media is more about facts and less about entertainment. Their laws are written in ways that allow a common person to understand them and actually defend themselves in court without a lawyer. Our laws, in contrast, are written by lawyers, for lawyers. Ever wondered why it's so difficult to state your case in a US court without a lawyer? It's because the lawyers' advocacy group (the "Bar") influences the legislation so that it ensures that you need to hire a lawyer!

I used to think that it was because most legislators are/were lawyers. But I've learned through involvement in the process that it's actually because the Bar Association gets involved in the process of writing laws, and the legislature trusts the Bar without question. The Bar's stated goal is the advancement of the legal profession, but somehow... the legislature doesn't recognize this, and we end up with laws that benefit the lawyers more than the citizens.

From what I've seen, this isn't the case in Canada.

There are many things in Europe that are better than the US... and many that are worse. The thing is... we've been told all our lives that everything is better in the good old USA. It's just not true.

[Ed]

The thing is... we've been told all our lives that everything is better in the good old USA. It's just not true.

Right, and I never once said that's what I thought. But like I said, I still love my country, warts and all. And that the grass always appears greener on the other side, no matter what side you're on. I mean, why the hell do so many people still emigrate to the US then? Plenty go back, plenty stay. It's all subjective. I just can't make a declarative statement myself about living in 'X' vs 'Y' is better without actually living in 'X' and 'Y'.

For example, I am one who holds a lot of socialist views on things (as well as liberal views on some other issues and I have strong conservative views on other topics as well. I identify as an independent though, cause no one side is completely right; even myself). So, as you could imagine, I think a lot of things in the US could be better/have a lot of problems with the way we do things here. But, that doesn't mean I'm ready to move out of the country and renounce my citizenship to move to China or something because it's a socialist state. It means I work with people here in the US who share my views to change things for what I believe to be the better; no matter how uphill the battle seems.

[adam1991]

Upgraded it right into the ground.

I'm curious what you mean by that. I'm assuming you're talking about the Kit Kat update that just recently got released for the S3.

T-Mobile doesn't have that upgrade yet. I'm talking about when I went from 4.1 to 4.3 just recently. Ohmigod, what an utter piece of crap it turned into. A smoothly running phone became the SS Minnow after it hit the rocks.

Even after I reset it completely, it still burned through battery like crazy. And, they broke Bluetooth; when call waiting happens, it blows the active BT connection away. ???

I ended up resetting it twice; once to see what would happen, and I let all my apps be reloaded. Well, that was a big mistake. If anything, it got worse. So I reset it again and left it bone stock. Frankly, bone stock I hate it. I used Aviate as a launcher, Swiftkey for my keyboard, Dialer One for my phone dialer, and K9 mail for my personal mail. Those were my customizations. That's it. And yet, 4.3 blew chunks when it was set up like that--even after the reset. Especially after the reset. And then it blew chunks as a stock phone--TouchWiz launcher is clunky and weak, the dialer is incredibly non-useful, the keyboard SUCKS, and the stock email client--while a functional upgrade from Android 2.2--still isn't as good as K9.

I have a couple gripes with MS so far--while the stock keyboard is WAY better than the stock Samsung keyboard, it's still not as good as Swiftkey. And like Apple, MS doesn't let third parties do keyboards. But now I get the whole tiles interface and a few other things done in the MS style, AND--now this is the best part--I get to use the phone's Exchange client to talk with my Google Apps for Business. And what THAT gets me that freaking Android couldn't do is integration with my corporate directory to the same degree that Blackberry gave me.

Yeah. The Google Android phone with its native Gmail client software does not integrate with the Google Apps for Business corporate directory. Back in the day, we'd see Microsoft pull such boners and laugh. Now MS is actually fixing the issue themselves, and I'm past laughing; Google should be ashamed of itself. Google is the new Microsoft.

As for Google Now, I thought it was OK but nothing earth shattering. (And Samsung's S Voice assistant sucks big time.) MS Cortana, though, seems to be a big step up. What I'd like to do is have an iPhone person play with this thing, and tell me how it compares. I suspect Cortana today (technically beta) is what Siri is today.

Cool Windows Phone factoid: you can load apps onto the SD card. That's right, fanbois, my phone has a removable battery and an SD card slot. That seems to be an MS thing: you can build the phones cheap, because we can put everything onto a customer-supplied SD card. Up to 128GB in this model. I'm using a 64. I wonder what will happen when I change phones and move the card over. I presume all good things.

Good luck, Samsung. Fool me once, shame on you. You even make Windows phones, but so do others--HTC especially. If all this works out for me, I'll dump this cheap phone onto my kids or something and get a higher end model.

[Ed]

Right that's what I was gonna get at. 4.3 doesn't have the low resource requirements/improvements that Kit Kat does, so that could be part of the problem (which you could lay at the feet of Google for needing an OS update to improve performance; and not having it like that from the get go). Or another part, or the whole part, of the problem could be Touchwiz itself. If that were the case, no matter what version you're on, you still are stuck with the problem. But, that would place the blame at the feet of Samsung, and not Google. I'm admittedly an Android fanboy (I've owned numerous Android and iOS devices, never Win Phone though) for full disclosure.

No matter what platform though, I would avoid HTC. The company is infamous for breaking promises on updating phones. This is coming from personal experience as well (they announced no more updates for my old phone after only 7 months on the market! On a 2012 model, and not the only 2012 model they f*d users over on). Don't reward their bad behavior is my advice. That company deserves to spin around the drain like they are. It's their own doing. I wouldn't shed one tear if they went out of business. They say they've changed with the introduction of the HTC One M7, and haven't given any real indication that isn't the case so far; but, like you said, 'fool me once'.

I own a Moto G LTE though currently. So I'm in the next best thing to heaven (owning a Nexus would be heaven in the Andorid world). Worried if these constant speedy updates for the Moto E, G, G LTE and X will continue though once Motorola transfers from being owned by Google to Lenovo.