Bonum Certa Men Certa

US Layoffs Accelerating

Reprinted with permission from Ryan

Yesterday, over 1,000 US tech layoffs were announced in one day, and that’s just from looking at Layoffs Tracker.



Some numbers don’t even get published because they try to keep it in an Internal Memo and threaten people’s severance pay if they discuss details with the media.



And companies that lay off generally also do a hiring freeze and don’t replace people who quit. (Stealth Layoff)



Today, there’s several big examples.



For starters, Intel, which just got many billions of dollars in bailout money over the CHIPS Act, which Bailout Biden signed, announced that its sales are a disaster and it will be cutting thousands of jobs as the (Windows) PC market collapses.



Techrights has been covering the demise of Windows “Vista” 11. Microsoft has a self-inflicted gunshot wound. They figured that they could artificially juice new PC sales by disallowing most upgrade installs for PCs that are older than 2018(!) through ridiculous requirements like TPM 2.0 and a software block that blocks some computers even if they have a TPM 2.0.



So Windows “11” depends on a new computer, pretty much, and nobody is buying them because thousands of people lose their jobs each day in America now.



The market share of Vista 11 is very tiny and many people who want an upgrade path are choosing GNU/Linux distributions, Chromebooks, and Macs (if they have money for it in this environment).



Windows was already losing 2% of its desktop marketshare every year for the past several years, according to PornHub Insights and was down to just 64.7% last year (all versions). A trend which will no doubt accelerate.



On top of Vista 11’s failure to achieve any sort of market penetration, Microsoft went ahead and bolted on the new APIs that may even be somewhat interesting into Vista 10 updates. Vista 10 is less bloated than 11 anyway.



Microsoft cutting them off and demanding a new computer is no longer a threat, because the new computer wouldbe a Chromebook or a Mac, or they would format the system and install GNU/Linux.



So Microsoft is in the unenviable position they’ve gotten themselves into of splitting “Windows” into two things that need to be “maintained” and with little to show for it other than the liability.



Microsoft and Intel still have each other, for a combined total of a balkanized legacy platform full of bugs, bloat, security vulnerabilities, horrible power management, and other LULZ.



Now their empire of legacy software doesn’t seem to be saving them, so they’re getting very aggressive and disabling (by default) the “Secure” Boot (Security Theater Boot) certificate that they sign GNU/Linux distributions with so that it adds more of a hurdle for the user to escape while still leaving the possibility open (for now) to avoid triggering a major lawsuit.



Moving on…



Cartoon Network was essentially shut down (Creative Talent like writers/animators sacked). 125 job losses and 43 open positions eliminated, but the parent company has its first Black CEO, says WGN Chicago. (WGN distracts from layoffs by mentioning the irrelevant race of the new CEO of Warner Bros/Discovery.)



Walmart announced that it is laying off 1,500 more people (after the hundreds of corporate jobs) and they’re blue collar workers this time in an Atlanta “fulfillment center” (warehouse).



Crypto.com lied about the size of its layoffs in June. It turns out that it was at least 40% of the people working there. At the time, they said it was 260 employees, and turns out that it was well over 2,000.



Mortgage originator bankruptcies are piling up. Layoffs in banking and credit unions all across the country, thousands. Too many to track or list here individually. Due to mortgage rates spiking, few loans. No real need of loan officers anymore.



Pharmaceutical company layoffs. All over the place. Amneal recently announced it was closing their entire facility on Long Island, cutting 86 jobs.



Oracle laid off 200 more people in California today.



SalesForce in California fired another 90 and went on a hiring freeze.



I could keep going and going, but it’s over 12,000 today alone.



And when you start hitting “days” like this, it’s not hard to see how we’ll all be feeling pretty miserable next year. Investor-facing “news” predicts mass job losses (like this report from Bank of America published by Business Insider…..175,000 job losses per month soon in the “very mild” recession…mild for the billionaires, you know) while consumertard-facing “news” like CNN and Fox are still saying bullshit about strong economy and strong jobs growth.



But articles like “The “quiet quitters’ will be the first to get sacked!” are popping up now too. Victim-blaming. Blame-shifting. Disgusting. Gaslighting. Bullshit. They’re starting to admit you’ll lose your job, but it’s going to be entirely “your fault” you know. They’ll have you know.



Bailout Biden, Trump’s Fed Chair Jerome Powell, and Congress have left us with a jobless economy in hyperinflation where they think that what cures it is to leave people broke so that they’re not just cutting cars, houses, and trips to Disney, but can’t even put food on the table, while they raise our taxes to fund useless new government programs that don’t help anyone and don’t solve any real problems.



Trump threatened to fire Jerome Powell but kept him after Powell promised him cheap money to help him win the election, which is partially where the hyperinflation now comes from. But under Biden, it went on for over another year while the Federal Reserve said “inflation is temporary and not a concern”.



That and Trump’s massive fraud bill, the CARES Act. Now they admit that almost all of the money has been forgiven and there’s hundreds of thousands of fraudulent loans, most of which will just be a taxpayer loss that never gets prosecuted.



This is America now.

Recent Techrights' Posts

X.Org is Still Not Dead
Oracle still developing it
Microsoft is getting ready to cause many employees to resign
Having already laid off many workers earlier this month, it now tries another approach
"Maybe the Problem is You"
they probably felt like they had no choice because they really needed this Microsoft money
GNU OS, Powered by Hurd
Choice is good, as long as choices exist that respect the users' freedom
 
Links 15/08/2025: Flight Attendant Strike, Floods, and Tropical Storms
Links for the day
Links 15/08/2025: German Government Falls Short on Free Software, Russians Breach EU Systems
Links for the day
Microsoft is Still Losing Cyprus
The market share goes down, so share prices go up
Microsoft Accenture is in Trouble
For one thing, its debt doubled in a matter of months
News Will Slow Down and Slop Will Contribute to the Slowdown
In recent years every time there was some holiday or major break the number people who "came back" shrank
Upgrading IRC Network of Techrights
a new version of the daemon we've used since 2021 was released very recently
"Register Debate Series" About Microsoft in the UK is Controlled by Microsoft (US)
The Register is run by Microsoft "Analysts", so the debate is doomed from the get-go
IBM is a Terrible Model for Red Hat
"Most likely caused by laying off too many people"
Microsoft Problems in Palestinian Territory and Israel
Microsoft stock (share price) goes up when market share goes down
Slave is Not a Bad Word, We Need to Use It Sometimes
Who does such exclusion of words benefit? What sort of expression will be deemed impermissible and subjected to CoC enforcement?
National Day of Action
"This Friday, August 15th, there is an organized, petition-based, protest of Wells Fargo in major cities across the US," Richard Stallman wrote
Our Gemini Editions Now Contain 100,000+ GemText Pages
Our Gemini Editions aren't small, even if Gemini Protocol is still the 'underdog'
The Relations Between the United States and Europe Deteriorate, Should Europe Continue to Rely on American Tech Giants?
The shallow notion that made-in-USA software is fairly safe for Europe to rely to is coming to a standstill
Techrights and Tux Machines Running as Usual During Vacations
No interruptions, maybe temporarily slowdowns
Gemini Links 15/08/2025: ADHD and "Random Weird Things"
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Thursday, August 14, 2025
IRC logs for Thursday, August 14, 2025
"Article 52. PATENTABLE INVENTIONS" in the European Patent Convention
Some time tomorrow we'll have a complete local copy of the EPC
Serial Slopper (SS) Still at It, Still Misusing Plagiarism Tools and Cheatware for Images and Text About "Linux"
All the slopfarms are a very big problem
Reddit Deletes Stuff, But Not for Being False or Misleading
Yet another one of those articles that speak of a man in his 50s as if he's terminally ill
Times of India and India.com Are Clickbait and LLM Slop
Google continues to reward bad actors
The More "Market Share" Microsoft Loses, The Higher the Shares Go
People joke about the same sort of thing in relation to IBM
To OIN, Software Patents Are Not a Problem
Had software patents ceased to exist, OIN too would cease to exist and its staff would be unemployed.
Microsoft's Bankruptcy in Russia is Only the Beginning
Due to politics it mostly makes sense that Windows is being phased out, also in part due to policy changes
Microsoft-Funded Publishers Lied to Us About Vista 10 and Now Advocate Us Owning Nothing
They want you to own nothing, but they also want you to buy a PC on which to become Microsoft's slave and they make it harder if not practically impossible to remove Windows
Articles Promoting and Celebrating Wayland Are LLM Slop
New example (100% slop)
European Patent Office (EPO) Reformation Project
It's a stain on the EU's reputation
The Register MS, Dominated by American Editors, Says UK Should be Run (Digitally) by Microsoft US
The Register MS is sponsored by American money, run by Americans, and its chief editor is a Microsofter from the US
Slopwatch: Google News and Other Slopfarms
Google News is rewarding sites that misuse LLMs and cheat the Web
Gemini Links 14/08/2025: Drought, Climate Experiments, and LLM Slop Considered Detrimental
Links for the day
Links 14/08/2025: Second-hand ThinkPad and Enhanced Surveillance on Chipsets from the United States
Links for the day
Moral Standards From the Masters of Linux
They get hung up on minor language issue and promote this crazy theory that racism will go away if only everyone spoke a little differently (no matter where he or she came from)
Links 14/08/2025: Data Brokers Hiding Opt-Out Pages From Google, "Fight Chat Control"
Links for the day
FSF Infrastructure Under Constant Attack
The disconnect (literally) has had an effect on credibility
Feels Like The Register MS is Trying to Diversify a Bit
If The Register MS goes back to being The Register US (or UK), that will be a nice improvement
Gemini Links 14/08/2025: Reading Journal and LLM Fatigue Revisited
Links for the day
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Wednesday, August 13, 2025
IRC logs for Wednesday, August 13, 2025
Hopping From One Set of Buzzwords to the Next
Rotating hype and vapourware
Currys PCWorld Hates GNU/Linux Even Though It Runs the World
If more and more people choose to remove Windows, then Currys PCWorld will feel the financial impact of its dumb policies
Internet Relay Chat and Gemini Protocol Help Us Relive the Net of the Dial-Up Era
The kids were alright
The Register MS Takes More Money to Boost Slop Hype, This Time From Snyk, a Notorious FUD Source
At some stage or at some point they might even decide to stop doing so
"GPT-5" is Another Microsoft Dead Cat Trying to Bounce
The hype, the momentum (or the inertia) is wearing off
Microsoft Windows Losing Its Grip Near Turkey and Russia
The 'corridor' nations connecting Iran to Europe
Slopwatch: LinuxSecurity, Google News, and Serial Slopper (SS)
The slop, the bad, and the ugly
Links 13/08/2025: The “Incriminating Video” Scam and Corruption in South Korea
Links for the day
Gemini Links 13/08/2025: Movie Memories and Mystery Machine Bus
Links for the day
"AI" Hype or LLM Slop is Not About Efficiency, It's About Lowering Standards
It does not seem like IBM is genuinely committed to the same goals (or commitments) as the original Red Hat
Links 13/08/2025: GitHub Trouble and Openwashing by Microsoft OSI With the Typical Buzzwords
Links for the day
If Free/Libre Software is Adding Trillions in Value to the European Economy, Then the European Commission Must Crush Software Patents
Further to what we wrote yesterday
Microsoft Swallows GitHub Losses
Only Microsoft knows how much money it has already lost on GitHub
Gemini Links 13/08/2025: Climate, Coffee, and Deploying Troops in Washington DC After Pardoning 1,000+ Insurrectionists in Washington DC
Links for the day
The Register MS Lowered MS Focus This Week
We hope The Register recognises its errors and tries to make up for them
Learning Ethics From Jeffrey Epstein's Enabler/Client/Ally, Coca-Cola, and Microsoft Accenture
Whatever merits vocabulary changes initially had are being tainted or obscured by later iterations, which tell us to avoid word like "normal", which apparently offend some people (so they argue)
Personal Attacks From Rust People Serve to Confirm They Have Lost the Argument
"The discussion I find around the net so far has no technical merit and centers around ad hominem"
Physical Meters and Purely Mechanical Meters Aren't Dumb; It's Dumb to Mock or Dismiss Them as Antiquated
I've learned a lot this week, both online and over the telephone
Over at Tux Machines...
GNU/Linux news for the past day
IRC Proceedings: Tuesday, August 12, 2025
IRC logs for Tuesday, August 12, 2025