From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

Just some interesting background about Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella
that he revealed during a recent rCLtown hallrCY meeting with employees <https://www.theverge.com/tech/780946/microsoft-satya-nadella-town-hall-comments-ai-era-notepad>:

rCLOur industry is full of case studies of companies that were great
once, that just disappeared. IrCOm haunted by one particular one
called DEC,rCY said Nadella. Digital Equipment Corporation once
ruled the world of minicomputers with its PDP series in the early
1970s, but it quickly faced competition from IBM and others that
made it irrelevant. It also made some strategic errors by betting
on its own Virtual Address eXtension (VAX) architecture instead of
the emerging Reduced Instruction Set Computing (RISC)
architecture.

NadellarCOs first computer was a VAX, and all he wanted to do when
he was growing up was work at DEC. rCLSome of the people who
contributed to Windows NT came from a DEC lab that was laid off,rCY
said Nadella. rCLI think about that, and I think about what it takes
for a company not to just thrive at one time, but to continue to
actually have the smartest, best people who are going to only work
if theyrCOre going to have the opportunity to get both great
economic rewards and great job opportunities.rCY

This as Microsoft seems to be facing its own set of crises right now.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

On 9/19/2025 4:17 AM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

This as Microsoft seems to be facing its own set of crises right now.

Revenue is going up.

Profit is going up.

Stock price is going up.

That is a nice form of crisis.

One may be a little skeptical about whether their gigantic
investments in AI will pay off. But the shit has not hit the
fan yet.

Arne




--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

On Fri, 19 Sep 2025 08:23:03 -0400, Arne Vajh|+j wrote:

Revenue is going up.

Profit is going up.

Stock price is going up.

That is a nice form of crisis.

They laid off 9000 employees just a couple of months ago, and it seems
like there is more to come.

The article says that this might be inculcating a rCLculture of fearrCY within the company. Which Nadella did not address in his talk.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

On 9/19/2025 8:38 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

On Fri, 19 Sep 2025 08:23:03 -0400, Arne Vajh|+j wrote:

Revenue is going up.

Profit is going up.

Stock price is going up.

That is a nice form of crisis.

They laid off 9000 employees just a couple of months ago, and it seems
like there is more to come.

The article says that this might be inculcating a rCLculture of fearrCY within
the company. Which Nadella did not address in his talk.

Microsoft has had several layoff rounds.

But most of the big tech companies are laying off lots of
employees despite operating with huge profits.

Many possible reasons:
* layoff employees with some skill sets and hiring
other skills sets to adjust to changing demands from
business
* fixing the problem of over-hiring in the past
* layoff employees in high cost countries and hiring
employees in low cost countries
* replacing employees with AI
* reducing OPEX (employees) to increase CAPEX
(AI infrastructure)
* preparing for potential recession

Take you pick(s).

Employees are obviously not happy about it. But when it is
the entire industry or at least a big part of it, then there
is little they can do about it.

There is even repeated rumors that new AI startups in
California try to push the 996 model.

Arne

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

On Fri, 19 Sep 2025 21:08:55 -0400, Arne Vajh|+j wrote:

On 9/19/2025 8:38 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

They laid off 9000 employees just a couple of months ago, and it
seems like there is more to come.

The article says that this might be inculcating a rCLculture of fearrCY
within the company. Which Nadella did not address in his talk.

Microsoft has had several layoff rounds.

But most of the big tech companies are laying off lots of employees
despite operating with huge profits.

You seem to be thinking that they can continue such actions that are demoralizing their staff, and continue to make huge profits
regardless.
--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2

From Newsgroup: comp.os.vms

On 9/19/2025 10:05 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

On Fri, 19 Sep 2025 21:08:55 -0400, Arne Vajh|+j wrote:

On 9/19/2025 8:38 PM, Lawrence DrCOOliveiro wrote:

They laid off 9000 employees just a couple of months ago, and it
seems like there is more to come.

The article says that this might be inculcating a rCLculture of fearrCY
within the company. Which Nadella did not address in his talk.

Microsoft has had several layoff rounds.

But most of the big tech companies are laying off lots of employees
despite operating with huge profits.

You seem to be thinking that they can continue such actions that are demoralizing their staff, and continue to make huge profits
regardless.

They probably can continue with an "acceptable" impact.

The job market is a market and work like that.

If MS was the only company with a high layoff risk, then
it would hurt, because existing top employees and potential
new employees would prefer other companies.

But other big tech companies are also having layoffs.

Small startups have always had a huge risk for layoff.

US federal today also have a huge risk for layoff.

That will curb the talent loss.

That leaves just the motivation/engagement loss and
companies have mechanisms in place for limiting that.

Arne

--- Synchronet 3.21a-Linux NewsLink 1.2