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Yesterday, word came down that Microsoft was starting to lay off some 18,000 workers. As of June 5th, Microsoft reported a total employee headcount of 127,005, so they're cutting about 15% of their jobs. That's actually a pretty huge percentage, even taking into account the redundancies created by the Nokia acquisition. Obviously, there's an upper limit to how much of your workforce you can let go at one time, so I'm willing to bet Microsoft's management thinks thousands more people aren't worth keeping around. How many employees does Microsoft realistically need? The company is famous for its huge teams that don't work together well, and excessive middle management. But they also have a huge number of software projects, and some of the projects, like Windows and Office, need big teams to develop. How would we go about estimating the total workforce Microsoft needs? (Other headcounts for reference: Apple: 80,000, Amazon: 124,600, IBM: 431,212, Red Hat: 5,000+, Facebook: 6,800, Google: 52,000, Intel: 104,900.)
via SlashDot
Microsoft: The Devices and Consumer Segment | Stock Discussion ForumsShare
There is no middle ground between devices that have the Modern UI and devices that have the desktop. You either have the desktop or you have the Modern UI, you cannot have both. As reported around a month ago, the Start Menu for desktop users in Windows Threshold can 'act' like a full screen Start Menu however, meaning if you want that functionality you can have it on the desktop. This will be helpful for devices like the Surface Pro 3.
The removal of the desktop has been talked about about in the past, and will be mostly apparent with Windows RT devices. Current Win32 applications are being replaced with Modern UI alternatives which means the desktop will have no real use. Of course, the removal of the desktop isn't for all devices, so don't be alarmed fellow desktop users.
Patrick McBride, a spokesman with iSight, says the hackers targeted specific officials using a well-known kind of attack called spear-phishing. Hackers would craft a message with a PowerPoint document attached. For example, they'd say, "We'd like to be involved in the conference."
And when an unknowing recipient opened the corrupted PowerPoint, the file was exploited to load a piece of malware onto the computer that the attacker could then use later to "exfiltrate documents," McBride says.
The hacker group, dubbed the "Sandworm Team," allegedly pulled emails and documents off computers from NATO, Ukrainian government groups, Western European government officials, and energy sector and telecommunications firms.
In the mad dash to grab information, McBride says, the hackers got a little sloppy and dropped hints about their identity. He says they're Russian, "but we can't pinpoint if they work for the Russian government or work in a particular department in the government."
The Russian embassy did not immediately respond to NPR's inquiry. Microsoft says that Tuesday, it's patching the security flaw so that PowerPoint and other Office products can't be exploited again in the same way.
Microsoft: The Devices and Consumer Segment | Stock Discussion ForumsShare
A Microsoft smartwatch could be here within weeks Summary: Microsoft's smartwatch could be available before consumers can get their hands on Apple Watch.
By Liam Tung | October 20, 2014 -- 09:09 GMT (02:09 PDT)
Microsoft's long-rumoured smartwatch could be announced within weeks, giving the company a device to square up to wearables from Apple and Google's Wear partners.
The last emblems of Nokia are being removed from Microsoft products. "Microsoft Lumia" is the new brand name that takes their place. The name change follows a slow transition from Nokia.com over to Microsoft's new mobile site, and Nokia France will be the first of many countries that adopt "Microsoft Lumia" for its Facebook, Twitter, and other social media accounts. Microsoft has confirmed to The Verge that other countries will follow the rebranding steps in the coming weeks. Nokia itself continues as a reborn company focusing on mapping and network infrastructure services.
via SlashDot
Microsoft: The Devices and Consumer Segment | Stock Discussion ForumsShare
Microsoft Devices (Lumias & Surface tablets) in CQ3 2014 ...
"Sales of its Lumia smartphones hit 9.3 million in the first full quarter since the close of the Nokia deal. Sales of the Surface tablet more than doubled to $908 million from $400 million in the year-ago quarter." - Reuters on Microsoft Q3 -
Microsoft Devices and Consumer revenue grew 47% to $10.96 billion, while Commercial revenue grew 10% to $12.28 billion.
It's results time again, with an interesting couple of statistics coming from Microsoft's (effective) Q3 financials - it seems (according to Reuters) that 9.3 million Lumia smartphones were sold in the period, a slight increase year on year from Nokia's 8.8 figure in the same quarter last year.
With the sale of Nokia to Microsoft in the intervening year and the disruption that this inevitably caused, the rise in sales is reassuring. In fact, Microsoft generally had a very good quarter. Devices and Consumer revenue grew 47% to $10.96 billion, while Commercial revenue grew 10% to $12.28 billion.
9.3 million Lumias in a quarter (plus, no doubt a million or two from other licensees, including the new ones, a contribution which will only grow and grow) should be put in context against typical Apple iPhone sales of 30 million or so (i.e. only a third as many as iPhone shipments) and typical Samsung Android sales of up to a hundred million per quarter. Worldwide smartphone market share for Windows Phone is still somewhere between 3 and 6% (depending on how you define 'smart', as always), though of course higher, up well over 10% in some markets. Still, Windows Phone is very much still in the game, especially with the Windows 10 thrust/unification happening over the next 12 months [see Below]. ###
>> The next-gen version of Windows Phone to be called "Windows 10"
In an event in the USA today, Microsoft announced the name and desktop features of its next-gen version of Windows, to be dubbed 'Windows 10', and the version that nominally integrates phone, tablet and laptop/desktop in one platform. According to Microsoft, Windows 10 will encompass "one product family, one platform, one store." So, in theory, come the end of 2015, we could be used to talking about Windows 10 on our smartphones.
Details are still very sketchy, and the requirements for Windows 10 are likely to be such that very little 2014 phone hardware will be upgradable. So it's not something most of us will have to worry about in the short term.
Will the software on our phones really be the full 'Windows 10'? Obviously not, Joe Belfiore confirmed that there won't be a 'desktop' in the phone interface (thankfully), and my bet is that the build for smartphones will be an evolution of what we have today, but with even more in common with the desktop in terms of compatibility/universal applications, and so on.
What's next for the 2012/2013 Snapdragon S4-powered phones like the Lumia 920/925/1020? Maybe one more major OS update, WP 8.1 Update 1, maybe Update 2 in the Spring? But probably no more than this. It's possible that Snapdragon 800-powered phones like the Lumia 1520 and 930 might get a sniff of Windows 10, but at this stage it seems unlikely.... and a long way off! ###
- Eric L. -
Microsoft: The Devices and Consumer Segment | Stock Discussion ForumsShare
