Bonum Certa Men Certa

The Future of Computing is Mobility and Microsoft Cannot Do Anything But Patent Extortion Against Android/Linux, So More Massive Layoffs Are Announced by Microsoft

Summary: Microsoft officially announces yet another massive round of layoffs, but it spins/denies the cause and misleads about the effects

"It’s a criminal gang bent on stifling competition any way it can," wrote Robert Pogson about Microsoft, which has caused layoffs in many companies over the years (many of these companies went completely out of business). "In this case it was “Embrace, Extend, Extinguish” to control Nokia rather than letting Nokia go with */Linux."



Pogson's comments are correct and they help highlight the reason why Microsoft layoffs are always good news. They help secure the jobs of many outside of Microsoft -- jobs that actually are ethical and involve workers who obey the law. Microsoft has a long history of using criminal activity to drive companies out of business (layoffs). Now it does it to a nation (Finland) because of Nokia. Whenever considering why Microsoft is bullying Linux and Android (not just with patents and FUD but also with moles) think about Microsoft layoffs and what they really mean. It's aggression from a cornered bully. Ethics have been thrown out the door.

Microsoft calls the latest layoffs "Restructuring". Funny that "Restructuring" can involve nearly 8,000 people without a job... that instantaneously redefines the word Restructuring".

Well, Microsoft is still extorting Linux using patents because it worries about the present and future that is Windows-free, not free Windows. According to media that spoke to manufacturers, Vista 10 won't improve computer sales (i.e. Vista 10 will fail) and Pogson decided that "GNU/Linux works fine for them." Yes, therein lies Microsoft's biggest headache. It's not Apple that is hurting Microsoft but Linux. The developers have moved away from Windows and Microsoft now virtually begs them to come back. Well, the boat has sailed away and it ain't coming back...

"Elop the mole was allegedly (Microsoft's narrative) forced out after he had destroyed Nokia (Nokia became a Microsoft-centric patent troll) and pocketed a massive bonus from Microsoft for it."Almost all of our readers must have heard by now about additional Microsoft layoffs, even if Microsoft manipulated the media into belittling the impact and distorting the facts. "Finding any good news in this announcement is a very difficult task," wrote Adam Hartung, but some people really did try.

I heard about this from an insider a while ago, but it wasn't anything official until Wednesday. The latest big rounds of layoffs were mentioned in much of the corporate media. It's nearly another 10% of the company that's being eliminated. "One year after announcing a massive round of job cuts impacting 18,000 employees," wrote USA Today, "Microsoft is wielding the ax again."

"In a statement released Wednesday, Microsoft said it will slash up to 7,800 additional jobs. Most of the cuts are connected to the company's phone business."

Well, that's what Microsoft says. The latest (not last) time it announced nearly 20,000 layoffs it misled the media by trying to paint it as a 'Nokia thing', as it had done before (Microsoft is always trying to downplay the severity of its layoffs by diverting attention).

Elop the mole was allegedly (Microsoft's narrative) forced out after he had destroyed Nokia (Nokia became a Microsoft-centric patent troll) and pocketed a massive bonus from Microsoft for it.

Microsoft boosters attempt to distract from the layoffs over at IDG and other networks, putting a positive spin on it. They're not alone because they have already misled others (non boosters) into repetition of this spin. We need to counter it.

So basically, another huge proportion of Microsoft staff is to be laid off. That's the real news. Microsoft spin says it's "mobile" layoffs; this is mostly untrue, but they try to belittle the impact, as they always do. Here is how Gizmodo put it:

Near the end of his 14-year-long run, Microsoft’s head honcho, Steve Ballmer, did a pretty bad, not-so-great thing and bought Nokia’s phone business. We know this because Microsoft just admitted it by writing off that entire $7 billion purchase and laying off 7,800 people, most of whom work directly on Microsoft phones.


We have seen one journalist claiming to be trying to find good news in this whole Microsoft layoffs thing. Why? A spin campaign surely has begun in the media, probably well coordinated by Microsoft's unethical (peripheral) PR agencies. They try to sweeten layoffs, using slogans/motto like "lean". This is marketing nonsense. Staff of Microsoft is being shuffled and has moved into smaller/shared offices (based on our sources). This has been going on for a while now. Microsoft layoffs are not much to do with Nokia as people from inside the company reveal the layoffs to be far more wide-reaching. Microsoft doesn't want to publicly speak about this.

The Nadella transition is more of a preparation for demise. The demise of Windows will result in many Microsoft operations (Exchange, 'security', probably Office too) coming to complete shutdown or gradual demise. Microsoft is understands that, so it is so unbelievably desperate to keep Windows (or Vista 10) a common carrier. Microsoft is willing to even lie repeatedly about Vista 10's cost, about Windows' value, etc. we gave many examples as even Microsoft itself later refutes its own lies (once challenged).

If an article you see about Microsoft layoffs says "Nokia", "writeoff" (AOL is framing layoffs as “Writedown”), or "Nadella", then you are almost definitely reading shallow spin, or something more like PR or 'damage control'. We can still vividly remember all the Novell spin that management/PR was coming up with every time Novell announced shrinkage.

Recent Techrights' Posts

In defence of JD Vance, death of Pope Francis
Reprinted with permission from Daniel Pocock
Three Years in Prison for Disney Employee’s ‘Menu Hacking’: The Economic Fallout of Digital Menus
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Approaching 10,000 Articles/Pages Since Going Static
Trying to silence or derail the site was always a dumb strategy
Microsoft is Shedding Off Loads of Staff and That Can be Dangerous Too
Working for Microsoft is a choice; nobody forces you to do it
Richard Stallman and the Unix Philosophy
When asked about systemd people must remember that RMS speaks as an active Board member of the FSF and also the founder of the FSF
Get Rid of Back Doors, Don't Obsess Over Bounties and Other Corporate PR Stunts (or Needless Reboot Rituals)
Security as a term has mostly lost its meaning due to repeated misuse for many years
Serial Sloppers Are Killing the Web (They Probably Don't Care, Either)
Slop is a disease on the Web
 
Links 26/04/2025: Facebook Layoffs Again, Remembering What's Real, and Say No to Mass Surveillance
Links for the day
Links 26/04/2025: NOAA Budget Cuts and "Dog Days Ahead"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Friday, April 25, 2025
IRC logs for Friday, April 25, 2025
Links 25/04/2025: Slop Fatigue and Patent Judges Flocking to Fake, Unconstitutional and Illegal Kangaroo Court (UPC, Captured 'Justice')
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Night Manager and Devuan in Hosting
Links for the day
Windows Falls to New Lows in Nicaragua, Now Below a Quarter (It Used to be Almost 100%)
Another all-time low for Windows
The Cost (to Linux) of LLM Slop
Slop 'artists' like Fagioli are far from harmless
Links 25/04/2025: Ubisoft Spyware, Hegseth Fails at Tech on Every Level
Links for the day
Gemini Links 25/04/2025: Food Forest Update and Facebook Destroying the Net
Links for the day
Streaming Apps Are “Investor Fraud” That Kills the Planet
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Things Get Increasingly Nasty at Microsoft Ahead of the Fake Results and May's Mass Layoffs Wave
They try to get people to 'resign' so that they won't count as layoffs and the company's 'wellbeing' will seem better
IBM's Debt Ballooned by 8.5 Billion Dollars in Just 3 Months!
Hallmark of a company in a state of disarray, trying to spend its way out of trouble
Big Trouble in GNOME
even GNOME people admit the CoC went wrong
Slopping the Trough: Disney Plus Loses Billions and the Decline of Physical Media in America
Reprinted with permission from Ryan Farmer
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, April 24, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, April 24, 2025
Links 24/04/2025: GAFAM Problems and No Peace (or Ceasefire) in Sight
Links for the day
Slopfarms on the Web Almost Always Generate Anti-Linux FUD When They Produce "Linux" Output
Welcome to the dying Web
Richard Stallman's Oxford Talk Has Just Ended, Here Are Some Photos
he might hop over to another European country
Gemini Links 24/04/2025: Birthday and Good Work of Academia in Esotericism
Links for the day
Links 24/04/2025: EU fines Apple and Facebook, Another Microsoft GitHub Security Blunder
Links for the day
New Article Explains How the GPL Came About and WordPress Having Copyleft Obligations
Having been involved in the WordPress development community since almost the beginning, I know why it chose the GPL and how it restricts abuse by Automattic
IBM Gained Almost 6 Billion Dollars in "Goodwill" Value in Just 3 Months, According to IBM
Congrats to the management!
In Belarus, Yandex is Now Measured as 50 Times More 'Popular' (by Usage) Than Microsoft
Yandex continues to gain, whereas Bing cannot even register at 1%. Last month it was registered or measured at a measly 0.65%.
IBM Cannot Lie to Shareholders Anymore
"I would not be surprised if we see a layoff every quarter this year."
Dr Richard Stallman (RMS) Gives Talk in Oxford University in 4 Hours
If you live nearby, go there (it's free as in gratis)
Using a Law Firm's Licence to Exercise Politics Through Frivolous SLAPPs and Nastygrams (to Silence People, Remove Pages, Demand Fake or Forced 'Apologies')
Things must be getting really bad when lawyers act for raving antisemites
We're Working to Make Full-Site Search Available
This site has over 1,000 'wiki' pages, many thousands of documents, several thousands of videos, and about 50,000 blog posts or articles. We need to make them easier to find/navigate.
Links 24/04/2025: IBM Loses Many Contracts, Intel to Lay Off Over 20% (Not Counting Those Who Leave 'Voluntarily')
Links for the day
Richard Stallman Can Explain to Oxford Artificial Intelligence Society Why LLM Slop is Not Artificial Intelligence and Why It Hurts Society
another 'crop' of LLM slop that damages GNU/Linux and facts
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, April 23, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, April 23, 2025