Microsoft is Shedding Off Loads of Staff and That Can be Dangerous Too
Microsoft is quietly pushing people over the plank/cliff this month
Today: Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
Earlier this month: Nearly 5,000 Microsoft Layoffs Disclosed on Week of Microsoft 'Anniversary' (Media Noise), The HR Digest Says More Layoffs Coming
We have had a very productive month with many articles about Microsoft layoffs and many very (or moderately) long articles, which is what we aim for. A lot of the news we read and write is good news. In May - and maybe in June as well - we'll expose some more OSI scandals, set aside the EPO.
But let's focus on Microsoft for now. A site that isn't LLM slop (unless we haven't kept up and unlike so many other sites) reiterates reports based on Microsoft whisteblowers: "'No More Coddling': Microsoft Cracks Down on Low Performers With Two-Year Rehire Ban and No Severance"
This repeats a lot of things we covered here last week and earlier this week. A reader jokes that "if they are at Microsoft, then they are indubitably low performers to begin with" (maybe it's not even a joke!).
Microsoft loses not only a lot of staff but also developers, developers, developers. Now its proprietary spyware (which the media loves to falsely describe as "open") for developers is shutting some more doors ("Microsoft subtracts C/C++ extension from VS Code forks"), as one could expect and predict all along. An associate has rightly noted that people can use: "1) geany, thonny, kate, emacs, Eclipse, KDevelop, NetBeans, QTCreator, etc" and "2) GNU/Linux is itself an IDE if one uses its capabilities" (e.g. command-line compilers/debuggers with versatile scripting capabilities).
It's a bit worrying that many of those dyed-in-the-wool "Microsoft developers" (not just Microsoft staff) will end up promoting the same stuff outside Microsoft. It's not a new problem, but it generally gets worse when many workers leave Microsoft or many Microsoft fans go elsewhere, demanding or spreading what they were accustomed to. Consider what a Microsoft-funded publisher published earlier this week ("‘Trusted Workforce 2.0’ ushers in new era of personnel vetting, but big challenges remain"). I saw it yesterday and some other people took note as well. The associate asked, "will the employees be vetted to ensure distance from Microsoft?" Because "only that will improve system integrity, stability, and operating costs".
If Microsoft was not a ruthless for-profit monopolist (but a mandated religion or race), it would sound rather "bigoted" to say Microsofters need to be shunned or vetted extremely carefully. Responding to corporate FUD from Mark Shuttleworth (as if Microsoft is some vulnerable minority group), more than 15 years ago I published "Nobody is Born a Microsoft Employee". Working for Microsoft is a choice; nobody forces you to do it. █