Rumoursare spreading on the web
that many staff at Microsoft UK could face redundancy. Up to 30,000
jobs worldwide could be at risk, as the company battles with the
economic crisis, which has led to businesses spending less on
software.
See:
Microsoft: the year ahead
Henry Blodget, a blogger on Silicon Alley Insider, responded to
the rumours saying, "The only way we could see Microsoft laying off
this many people is if the company decided to eliminate business
units. And if Microsoft did decide to restructure its business, it
would likely sell rather than shut down divisions, including
MSN."
According to analyst
Datamonitor's "Technology Trends: Analysing Global Enterprise IT
Budgets 2008" report, half of businesses will freeze their IT
budgets in 2008. This budget freeze could have a big impact on
Microsoft, which relies heavily on software sales, as businesses
are deferring upgrading to the latest Microsoft products.
The coming year will be important for Microsoft, as it begins a
major shift in the way it makes money, away from selling software
licences, towards software as a services, based around its
Azure cloud computing service.
Microsoft's plans to roll out Azure in Europe could be
negatively affected if the rumoured job cuts go ahead.