AS ALWAYS, Microsoft is using its people in the press to hide the severity of this, but bloggers are not as stupid and obedient as Microsoft needs them to be. GNU/Linux has cracked Microsoft's margins and it shows. In the first quarter, Ars Technica wrote: "Client software felt the slump in PC sales, and was further harmed by the shift to netbooks; many of these run Linux, which helps Microsoft not at all." CRN wrote: "Microsoft, like much of the IT industry, was caught off-guard by the rapid rise of the netbook category, but moved quickly to offer a netbook-specific version of XP Home to stem the tide of Linux on netbooks."

“With such a sharp dive in profit, Microsoft may find it hard to justify keeping the current size of its workforce.”From the Microsoft-sympathetic press arrives mostly spin that excuses revenue drops.

With such a sharp dive in profit, Microsoft may find it hard to justify keeping the current size of its workforce. Rumours of further layoffs [1, 2] which Microsoft did not deny make more sense now, but the market closed shortly after these results were published, so it may take a day (or a few) to find out what Microsoft will do next. ⬆