Microsoft shedding jobs

[scooterscot]

Sounds like a Mac victory

[Doggy Styles]

Sounds like a Mac victory

XP does everything I want.

[NickFitz]

Will they all be product testers, afterall, they've shown they've no need for them in the past?

Although, to be fair, MS have what must be the most highly accomplished team of testers in the world. Given the combination of deployed platforms (at various levels of upgrade), the enormous number of different locales and languages, and the preposterous number of possible hardware combinations that they have to support, they actually do an astonishingly impressive job when it comes to testing, and deserve kudos for it

In fact, they do such a good job that I'll resist the temptation of making cheap jibes about testing turds and so forth. Whatever one thinks of the quality of Microsoft's products, they put an enormous investment of both human and financial capital into testing.

If I ever found myself on a project where testing was the responsibility of somebody who had previously had such responsibility at Microsoft, I would be delighted. I hope they would also be delighted to find that I gave them something good to work with, rather than a crock of tulip.

Ah hell, I fell at the last hurdle there in my attempts to praise MS

But joking aside, I do have enormous respect for Microsoft's QA people. Their task is unimaginably complex, and they do it well.

[threaded]

Actually it's probably a combination of other things.

Now Obama is in power, and the increasing interest in certain regulatory rules due in part also to the credit crunch, coming into play, M$ probably won't be allowed to get away with some of their interesting accountancy practices. Hence M$ is being proactive now at putting their house in a little more order.

Also, as one of M$'s biggest development centres is in Denmark, this could be seen as a way of putting pressure on the Danish government to try and get them to play ball on the latest EU thing kicking off against M$.

[AlfredJPruffock]

Big Blue to the Rescue !

Good Old IBM !


IBM's latest quarterly profits rose 12% and the technology services firm issued a rosy forecast for 2009 - a rare ray of light for the gloomy tech sector.

IBM believes it can benefit as cash-strapped companies seek its help to cut costs and improve IT infrastructure.

The firm has also been able to cut its own costs sharply.

IBM's net profit in the fourth quarter rose 12% from a year earlier to $4.4bn. IBM boss Samuel Palmisano said it had been an "outstanding year".

IBM said it expected to earn $9.20 per share in 2009 - significantly more than analysts had expected.

"To be honest, I didn't believe they could show something like this - I think the results they posted were stellar," said Peter Misek, an analyst with Canaccord Adams.

"They just executed really well - really, really, really well."

IBM's profit margin was 47.9%, up three percentage points from a year earlier.

The news boosted IBM's share price. In after-hours trading in New York, it climbed 4.5% to $85.64.

Other technology firms have fared less well.

Intel reported a sharp 90% profit drop in the final quarter of 2008, while Bloomberg said it could report its first loss for more than two decades in the current quarter.

[jmo21]

Actually it's probably a combination of other things.

Now Obama is in power, and the increasing interest in certain regulatory rules due in part also to the credit crunch, coming into play, M$ probably won't be allowed to get away with some of their interesting accountancy practices. Hence M$ is being proactive now at putting their house in a little more order.

Also, as one of M$'s biggest development centres is in Denmark, this could be seen as a way of putting pressure on the Danish government to try and get them to play ball on the latest EU thing kicking off against M$.

So they bought Navision as a future jobs related bargaining tool for future lawsuits in Europe? they really are an evil genius!

[Mich the Tester]

Although, to be fair, MS have what must be the most highly accomplished team of testers in the world. Given the combination of deployed platforms (at various levels of upgrade), the enormous number of different locales and languages, and the preposterous number of possible hardware combinations that they have to support, they actually do an astonishingly impressive job when it comes to testing, and deserve kudos for it

In fact, they do such a good job that I'll resist the temptation of making cheap jibes about testing turds and so forth. Whatever one thinks of the quality of Microsoft's products, they put an enormous investment of both human and financial capital into testing.

If I ever found myself on a project where testing was the responsibility of somebody who had previously had such responsibility at Microsoft, I would be delighted. I hope they would also be delighted to find that I gave them something good to work with, rather than a crock of tulip.

Ah hell, I fell at the last hurdle there in my attempts to praise MS

But joking aside, I do have enormous respect for Microsoft's QA people. Their task is unimaginably complex, and they do it well.

Indeed. If you look at the amount of functionality that has to be tested in a short time and the near impossibility of measuring code coverage, their testing effort is astonishingly effective. One guy who has done quite a lot of work there is James Bach who is one of the leading figures in exploratory testing (not a security tester it seems though). Worthwhile reading for others too, especially if you look at his blog and read what he says about ISTQB certification (which I have, but don't rate highly except if I'm going for interview), 'best practises' and CMMi.

I don't quickly recommend another tester, but this guy is seriously worth listening to.

[threaded]

So they bought Navision as a future jobs related bargaining tool for future lawsuits in Europe? they really are an evil genius!

I can't think of any other reason, everything else they could replicate easily, and were well into the process of doing so, well apart from the secure email system, and they appear to have sat on that.

[ratewhore]

I don't quickly recommend another tester, but this guy is seriously worth listening to.

Wow - cool!! Can you recommend any of his books? What about 'My Life as a tester' or, 'The tester's bedside companion'.



Back to the point, there's only going to be around 60 UK based jobs to go...

[Peoplesoft bloke]

So they bought Navision as a future jobs related bargaining tool for future lawsuits in Europe? they really are an evil genius!

I saw Balmer give a presentation at the IOD once - he was bragging about how many people they fire in a normal year. Seems like the septic way to cut costs.