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Microsoft to cut up to 9k jobs as it invests in AI
10 months ago
- Microsoft announces layoffs of up to 9,000 employees, affecting 4% of its global workforce.
- Several divisions impacted, including Xbox gaming unit, with reports of canceled projects like Perfect Dark and Everwild.
- Microsoft-owned studios such as The Initiative, Turn 10, and ZeniMax Online Studios also affected by job cuts.
- Microsoft plans to invest $80 billion in AI, focusing on data centers and AI model training.
- Microsoft's AI refocus includes hiring British AI pioneer Mustafa Suleyman and investing in OpenAI.
- Microsoft's AI assistant Copilot struggles to compete with ChatGPT in business adoption.
- Tech industry sees intense competition for AI talent, with Meta offering high signing bonuses to attract experts.
- Amazon CEO Andy Jassy predicts AI will replace some workers, signaling broader industry shifts.
Microsoft to cut up to 9k more jobs as it invests in AI
10 months ago
- Microsoft announces layoffs of up to 9,000 employees, affecting 4% of its global workforce.
- Xbox gaming unit and several studios, including The Initiative (Perfect Dark reboot), Turn 10, and ZeniMax Online Studios, are impacted.
- Microsoft is investing $80 billion in AI infrastructure, including data centers and chips.
- The company has hired British AI pioneer Mustafa Suleyman to lead its new Microsoft AI division.
- Microsoft's relationship with OpenAI, the creator of ChatGPT, has reportedly grown tense.
- Meta is aggressively recruiting top AI talent, offering signing bonuses exceeding $100 million.
- Amazon CEO Andy Jassy predicts AI will replace some of the company's workers.
Lessons to Get Started Building AI Agents
10 months ago
- 11 lessons covering AI Agent fundamentals
- Multi-language support available
- Includes code examples in the code_samples folder
- Uses Azure AI Foundry and GitHub Model Catalogs
- Features AI Agent frameworks and services from Microsoft
- Lessons include written content, videos, and Python code samples
- Community support via Discord and Developer Forum
- Encourages contributions with a Contributor License Agreement (CLA)
- Follows Microsoft Open Source Code of Conduct
- Contains trademarks subject to Microsoft's guidelines
Laid Off Workers Should Use AI to 'Reduce the Emotional Load of Job Loss'
10 months ago
- Microsoft's recent layoffs and studio closures have affected thousands since early 2024.
- Matt Turnbull, Executive Producer at Xbox Game Studios Publishing, suggested using AI prompts to help those laid off cope with job loss.
- He provided examples of AI prompts for career planning, resume help, networking, and emotional clarity.
- The LinkedIn post was later deleted, likely due to backlash.
- The advice was intended to reduce emotional and cognitive load but was seen as tone-deaf.
Laid-off workers should use AI to manage their emotions, says Xbox exec
10 months ago
- Microsoft announced sweeping layoffs affecting up to 9,100 employees, including significant cuts in its gaming divisions.
- Xbox executive Matt Turnbull suggested laid-off workers use AI chatbots like ChatGPT for career advice and emotional support.
- Turnbull's LinkedIn post, later deleted, recommended AI for resume building, career planning, and networking strategies.
- The post faced backlash from creatives who view AI as a threat to jobs in the gaming industry.
- Microsoft has heavily invested in AI, with an $80 billion commitment to AI infrastructure announced earlier this year.
The Force-Feeding of AI on an Unwilling Public
10 months ago
- Microsoft forces AI Copilot into Outlook and other software without user consent.
- AI is bundled into essential products to hide its lack of popularity and profitability.
- Users are forced to pay for AI features they don't want or use.
- Tech companies like Google and Meta aggressively integrate AI, ignoring customer preferences.
- AI is often unreliable, yet companies continue to push it onto users.
- Opting out of AI is nearly impossible as it's embedded in essential services.
- The AI business model relies on forced adoption rather than genuine consumer demand.
- Legal measures like transparency and opt-in laws are needed to protect users.
- AI's forced integration is compared to spam, disliked by most users.
- The argument for rapid AI development to compete with China is questioned.
The Broken Microsoft Pact: Layoffs and Performance Management
10 months ago
- Microsoft historically offered lower pay in exchange for job stability and work-life balance, known as 'the pact'.
- Recent layoffs (30,000 employees in two years) mark a departure from Microsoft's traditional commitment to stability.
- Performance management at Microsoft has been problematic, from the harsh stack ranking system to current leniency issues.
- At-will employment in the U.S. makes layoffs easier than firing underperformers, creating a paradox where good employees are let go in bulk.
- The 'AI efficiency' narrative is often used to justify layoffs without proving actual productivity gains.
- The new implicit agreement at Microsoft: lower pay, great benefits, but no job security.
- Employees are advised to focus on external networks, maintain financial cushions, and keep career options open.
- Microsoft remains a place with excellent benefits and technical challenges but requires realistic expectations about job security.
Xbox executive urges laid off employees to talk to Copilot for emotional support
10 months ago
- Microsoft announced 9,000 layoffs affecting engineering, Xbox, sales, and management teams.
- The layoffs led to the cancellation of three Xbox games, job cuts across studios, and the closure of The Initiative.
- Matt Turnbull, an Xbox executive, suggested laid-off workers use AI tools like Copilot and ChatGPT for emotional support.
- Turnbull provided AI prompts for career planning, networking, and resume improvements, which was seen as tone-deaf.
- The LinkedIn post was deleted but captured by media outlet Aftermath.
- Microsoft has conducted over 15,000 layoffs in the past year, raising concerns about job security.
Following mass layoffs, Xbox exec recommends AI to cope
10 months ago
- Microsoft laid off around 9,000 employees, including Xbox staff, as part of workforce reductions.
- Xbox executive Matt Turnbull suggested using Microsoft Copilot to manage emotional and cognitive stress from job loss.
- Microsoft Copilot is being marketed as an emotionally therapeutic tool for Gen Z and millennials.
- Tech companies, including Meta and Klarna, are replacing jobs and workflows with AI.
- Professionals warn against using AI chatbots as substitutes for human therapy and emotional support.
- AI tools in therapy raise concerns about digital privacy and deceptive mental health support claims.
- Microsoft Copilot has become essential for Microsoft employees, despite challenges in external adoption.
OpenAI's open language model is imminent
10 months ago
- Microsoft and OpenAI are renegotiating a contract to allow OpenAI to restructure into a for-profit company.
- OpenAI is preparing to release an open-weight language model, available on Azure, Hugging Face, and other cloud providers.
- This is OpenAI's first open-weight model since GPT-2 in 2019 and the first since its exclusive cloud deal with Microsoft in 2023.
- The open model could impact Microsoft's AI business by allowing rival cloud providers to host it.
- Microsoft and OpenAI have a revenue-sharing agreement where Microsoft gets 20% of OpenAI's ChatGPT and API revenue, and shares 20% of Azure OpenAI revenue with OpenAI.
- Microsoft has 'evolved' its OpenAI deal to allow OpenAI to use compute from rivals like Oracle.
- OpenAI's upcoming model is described as 'similar to o3 mini' with strong reasoning capabilities.
- The model's openness will depend on its license and whether OpenAI provides full access to its code and training details.
- Microsoft is laying off up to 9,000 employees, adding to 6,000 layoffs two months prior, totaling 15,000 job cuts.
- Xbox executive advised laid-off employees to use AI chatbots like ChatGPT to manage emotions and career planning.
- Microsoft Teams is introducing threaded conversations, though adoption remains mixed compared to group DMs.
- Microsoft, OpenAI, and Anthropic are funding a $23 million training hub to teach educators how to use AI tools.
- Copilot Plus features may arrive on desktop PCs later this year with Intel's Arrow Lake CPUs.
- Microsoft Edge has improved loading speeds, now rendering websites in under 300 milliseconds.
- Windows 11 has surpassed Windows 10 as the most-used desktop OS, with 52% market share.
- Microsoft Authenticator is ending password storage support, reverting to basic multifactor authentication.
- Microsoft is testing tighter integration with 1Password's passkeys in Windows 11.
- Xbox PC app now aggregates games from Steam, Epic, Ubisoft, and others for easier access.
- Xbox 360 dashboard was updated to advertise newer Xbox Series S/X consoles.
- Activision pulled Call of Duty: WWII from the Microsoft Store after PC players reported hacks due to an unpatched flaw.
Microsoft Is Working to Fix Persisting Outlook Outage
10 months ago
- Microsoft acknowledged an issue preventing Outlook users from accessing their mailboxes, affecting all Outlook clients, including the web app.
- Microsoft has been providing updates on X about mitigation efforts, deploying an initial fix ten hours ago, identifying an issue with it, and correcting it.
- Microsoft announced that configuration changes have resolved the issue in targeted infrastructure and are now being deployed worldwide.
- Most impacted users are expected to experience relief within the next two hours, according to Microsoft's Service Health portal.
- The author notes no personal issues with Outlook but invites readers to share their experiences in the comments.
Microsoft enables opt-out telemetry in Go 1.25
10 months ago
- Microsoft is enabling telemetry collection in the Microsoft build of Go starting with Go 1.25.
- The purpose is to understand usage patterns, performance, and workflows to inform future improvements.
- Data collected includes anonymized usage patterns, performance metrics, and technical data.
- Users can opt out by setting the MS_GOTOOLCHAIN_TELEMETRY_ENABLED environment variable to 0.
- Microsoft emphasizes privacy, anonymization, and user control over telemetry data.
- The telemetry data will help prioritize roadmap items and improve developer tools.
New Windows 11 build adds self-healing "quick machine recovery" feature
10 months ago
- Microsoft introduces Quick Machine Recovery (QMR) to help revive crashing Windows 11 PCs.
- QMR allows PCs to boot into Windows Recovery Environment (WinRE), connect to the Internet, and download fixes for boot issues.
- Aimed at preventing incidents like the 2024 CrowdStrike outage, which required individual fixes for affected PCs.
- Initially available for Windows 11 PCs in the Canary channel of the Windows Insider program.
- Planned to roll out gradually to Dev, Beta, and Release Preview channels before broader release.
The average Windows user doesn't care about TPM 2.0
10 months ago
- Windows 11's hardware requirements, especially TPM 2.0, have caused controversy by making older PCs obsolete.
- TPM 2.0 is a security processor for storing cryptographic keys, verifying system integrity, and enabling features like Secure Boot and BitLocker.
- Microsoft has been promoting TPM 2.0 as essential for Windows 11 security, but average users don't understand or care about it.
- Most users interact with PCs via GUI, making TPM 2.0's technical aspects irrelevant and inaccessible to them.
- Microsoft should focus on tangible benefits like performance, compatibility, and UI improvements to encourage upgrades, rather than technical security features.
- TPM 2.0 is useful for enterprises and governments but not a compelling feature for average users.
- Microsoft's failure to convince users to upgrade to Windows 11 led to extending Windows 10's support.
Microsoft is laying off 9,100 employees, Xbox division hit hard
10 months ago
- Microsoft is laying off up to 9,100 employees, about 4% of its workforce.
- The Xbox division (Microsoft Gaming) is heavily impacted, with exact numbers unknown.
- Phil Spencer announced strategic cuts to focus on growth areas and increase agility.
- Microsoft-owned King (Candy Crush) is cutting 10% of its workforce (200 employees).
- ZeniMax and Turn 10 (Forza Motorsport) are also affected, with game cancellations like Perfect Dark and Everwild.
- The Initiative, the studio behind Perfect Dark, is closing down.
- These layoffs follow earlier cuts, including 6,000 employees in 2023 and 305 in June 2024.
- Microsoft laid off 1,900 Activision Blizzard and Xbox employees in January 2024.
- Additional job losses occurred in May and June 2024, including HoloLens and Azure cloud teams.
- Phil Spencer emphasized the need for tough decisions to ensure future success and thanked impacted employees.
- HR is providing severance benefits, including pay, healthcare, and job placement support.
A Little-Known Microsoft Program Could Expose the Defense Department to Hackers
10 months ago
- Microsoft employs engineers in China to maintain the U.S. Defense Department's computer systems with minimal U.S. supervision, raising security concerns.
- Digital escorts, often underqualified and underpaid, oversee foreign engineers but lack the technical skills to detect potential cyber threats effectively.
- Despite warnings from cybersecurity experts and internal personnel, Microsoft expanded the digital escort program, prioritizing cost and scalability over security.
- Chinese laws allow broad data collection by the government, increasing the risk of espionage through Microsoft's China-based engineers.
- The arrangement has been in place for nearly a decade, with limited awareness among federal officials and minimal oversight.
- Experts highlight the significant national security risks posed by the digital escort model, especially given China's cyber threat capabilities.
- Microsoft and its contractors have dismissed concerns about the knowledge gap between escorts and engineers, leaving sensitive data vulnerable.
- The Defense Department and other federal agencies have been slow to address the risks, with some officials unaware of the program's existence.
1990 Networking: LAN Manager 2.0
10 months ago
- Microsoft released LAN Manager (LM) 2.0 in 1990, evolving from earlier networking products like MS-NET.
- LAN Manager 1.0 was an OEM-only product in 1988, with 3Com as a major partner, but Microsoft later bypassed OEMs.
- The exact release date of LAN Manager 2.0 is unclear, with evidence pointing to June 1990 but shipping delays due to OS/2 1.21 dependency.
- LAN Manager 2.0 required OS/2 1.21, which was not directly available to end users, causing distribution challenges.
- Microsoft released multiple updates (CSDs) for LAN Manager 2.0, including versions 2.0a, 2.0b, and 2.0c, each with patches.
- A default admin account with an expired password caused installation issues for early LAN Manager 2.0 users.
- LAN Manager 2.0 had compatibility issues with certain network drivers, like the Western Digital EtherCard driver.
- Pirated copies of LAN Manager 2.0 included debug symbols and other developer-oriented files not meant for end users.
- The debug kernel in MS OS/2 1.21 does not run on modern CPUs due to removed test registers.
Microsoft Names Threat Actors
10 months ago
- Microsoft uses a weather-themed taxonomy to categorize threat actors for clarity and ease of reference.
- Threat actors are divided into five groups: Nation-state actors, Financially motivated actors, Private sector offensive actors (PSOAs), Influence operations, and Groups in development.
- Nation-state actors are cyber operators acting on behalf of a nation/state, focusing on espionage, financial gain, or retribution.
- Financially motivated actors are criminal groups focused on financial gain through ransomware, phishing, and other extortion methods.
- PSOAs are commercial entities that create and sell cyberweapons, targeting dissidents, journalists, and human rights defenders.
- Influence operations manipulate perceptions and behaviors to further a group or nation's interests.
- Groups in development are emerging threats tracked until they can be classified or merged with existing groups.
- Each category is assigned a weather family name (e.g., Typhoon for China, Tempest for financially motivated actors).
- Threat actors within the same family are distinguished by adjectives based on tactics, techniques, and procedures (TTPs).
- Microsoft provides detailed mappings of threat actor names, origins, and aliases for better identification and tracking.
- Resources include Kusto query language (KQL) queries and comprehensive mapping files for threat actor names.
LibreOffice slams Microsoft for locking in Office users w/ complex file formats
10 months ago
- LibreOffice accuses Microsoft of using complex file formats to lock users into Microsoft 365.
- LibreOffice uses OpenDocument Format (ODF), an open standard, while Microsoft uses Office Open XML (OOXML).
- Microsoft's OOXML is criticized for being unnecessarily complex, making interoperability difficult.
- LibreOffice compares Microsoft's practices to a railway system where only one company can operate trains due to convoluted control systems.
- Microsoft's file formats include deeply nested structures and non-intuitive naming, complicating implementation for non-Microsoft developers.
- LibreOffice links Microsoft's file format complexity to the push for Windows 11, suggesting it's a tactic to keep users tied to Microsoft products.
- LibreOffice urges users to switch to Linux/LibreOffice to avoid vendor lock-in.
Standardization of Office Open XML
10 months ago
- Office Open XML (OOXML) was standardized by Ecma International in December 2006 as ECMA-376 and later by ISO/IEC in November 2008 as ISO/IEC 29500.
- The standardization process was contentious, with allegations of irregularities, vote manipulation, and heavy lobbying by Microsoft and its competitors.
- Ecma TC45, chaired by Microsoft employees, developed the OOXML specification, which grew to 6,000 pages and included members from Apple, Canon, Intel, and others.
- The ISO fast-track process faced criticism for insufficient review time, with only 20% of proposed changes discussed during the Ballot Resolution Meeting (BRM).
- Despite opposition from countries like Brazil, India, and South Africa, OOXML was approved as an ISO standard, with 75% of participating members voting in favor.
- Post-approval, Microsoft faced criticism for not fully supporting the ISO/IEC 29500 Strict variant in Office 2010, delaying compliance until Office 15.
- Technical arguments for OOXML included its use of ZIP compression, custom XML schema extensibility, and internationalization support, while critics highlighted its complexity and overlap with OpenDocument Format (ODF).
- The standardization process led to resignations from national standards bodies (e.g., Norway) and sparked debates about ISO's credibility and the need for reform.

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#microsoft

Microsoft to cut up to 9k jobs as it invests in AI

Microsoft to cut up to 9k more jobs as it invests in AI

Lessons to Get Started Building AI Agents

Laid Off Workers Should Use AI to 'Reduce the Emotional Load of Job Loss'

Laid-off workers should use AI to manage their emotions, says Xbox exec

The Force-Feeding of AI on an Unwilling Public

The Broken Microsoft Pact: Layoffs and Performance Management

Xbox executive urges laid off employees to talk to Copilot for emotional support

Following mass layoffs, Xbox exec recommends AI to cope

OpenAI's open language model is imminent

Microsoft Is Working to Fix Persisting Outlook Outage

Microsoft enables opt-out telemetry in Go 1.25

New Windows 11 build adds self-healing "quick machine recovery" feature

The average Windows user doesn't care about TPM 2.0

Microsoft is laying off 9,100 employees, Xbox division hit hard

A Little-Known Microsoft Program Could Expose the Defense Department to Hackers

1990 Networking: LAN Manager 2.0

Microsoft Names Threat Actors

LibreOffice slams Microsoft for locking in Office users w/ complex file formats

Standardization of Office Open XML