j. allard

Microsoft begins small number of job cuts

Microsoft on Wednesday began cutting a small number of jobs from its workforce, a source confirmed to CNET.

As previously reported, the layoffs are not expected to be the start of mass cuts, but are more similar to the types of reshuffling that the company does each year as it begins a new fiscal year. Microsoft started fiscal 2011 on July 1.

Microsoft has declined to comment on the cuts or say how many jobs are affected. However, a source told CNET that, even with the cuts, the company still expects to grow its ranks overall this year as it … Read more

Source: No broad job cuts planned at Microsoft

Microsoft may eliminate some jobs as it begins a new fiscal year, however the company is not expected to undergo massive layoffs along the lines of what it did last year, when thousands of jobs were eliminated, according to a source.

The cuts currently being considered are along the lines of the company's historical pattern, in which it undergoes a yearly reshuffling that sometimes results in jobs being cut in some areas at the same time new positions are added in other areas, the source told CNET.

After shedding jobs last year, Microsoft added around 1,800 jobs in … Read more

What should Ballmer do with Zune?

After spending the last few years focusing on building a credible search engine and fixing Windows, Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer is now turning his eye, Sauron-like, toward Microsoft's consumer products.

On Tuesday, Microsoft announced that two longtime leaders in its Entertainment and Devices Division, President Robbie Bach and Chief Technical Officer J Allard, are stepping down. Although both executives are best known as the public faces of the Xbox, they also bear some responsibility for the Zune, Microsoft's portable media player and associated software and services. Bach was assigned to fix Microsoft's digital-media strategy in the mid-2000s, … Read more

Ballmer memo on entertainment unit shake-up

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer sent an e-mail to Microsoft workers on Tuesday reassuring them that the company is well-positioned in the consumer arena even as it is shaking up its executive ranks there.

The company announced Tuesday that Entertainment and Devices unit President Robbie Bach as well as another top executive, J. Allard, are both leaving the company. Bach will retire this fall, while Allard is shifting to be an adviser to Ballmer on certain, unspecified projects.

"Transitions are always hard," Ballmer wrote in an e-mail. "Robbie has been an instrumental part of so many key moments … Read more

Microsoft shakes up entertainment unit; Bach out

Microsoft shook up its entertainment and devices unit on Tuesday, with unit President Robbie Bach and Chief Technology Officer J. Allard both leaving the company.

Bach, who joined the company in 1988, is "retiring" and will leave the company in the fall, while Allard will be an adviser to CEO Steve Ballmer on "a specific set of projects," according to a Microsoft spokesman.

"At Microsoft, I've been so fortunate to spend more than two decades of my life working with incredible people and doing amazing things like launching Office, Xbox and Xbox Live, the '… Read more

Courier tablet one of many Microsoft prototypes

Microsoft does indeed have a dual-screen tablet code-named Courier, and it may not be the only gadget that the software maker has up its sleeves.

Earlier on Tuesday, Gizmodo revealed photos and a video of Courier--showing it to be a dual-screen tablet with both pen input and multitouch capabilities. Earlier this week, ZDNet's Mary Jo Foley also reported that Microsoft was taking another swing at the tablet PC concept.

My sources say it's legit, but I'm hearing that it's just one of several prototypes that has been cooked up as part of a skunkworks project … Read more

Zune-Xbox rumors map to Microsoft organization

David Carnoy over at Crave has already covered the latest crop of Zune rumors first published by TeamXbox. To summarize: the next portable device from Microsoft could combine a digital media player (like Zune) and a portable gaming device (like Sony's PSP or Nintendo's DS lineup) in a single device with a high-def touch screen. TeamXbox goes a little dreamy with the speculation, suggesting that this gadget might have built-in WiMax and connectivity to the MyPhone data storage and synchronization services that Microsoft announced for Windows Mobile 6.5.

The company isn't talking, but I can easily … Read more

Fiji not happy with Microsoft's 'Fiji'

Microsoft is used to having governments get upset over its products. But usually it's not the name they are complaining about.

ZDNet blogger Mary Jo Foley spotted a local story from Fiji saying the island nation's government was unhappy to learn there was a version of Windows called Fiji. Microsoft reportedly sent a letter to the government stating that Fiji was just the code name for the product.

Foley rightly zeroes in on the more important issue--in trying to pacify the Fijians, Microsoft reportedly said more than it ever has about the product, which is a near-term update … Read more

What's up in Zune-land?

"Integrated innovation" was a Bill Gates mantra, and may leave the building when he retires. But even without Bill's blessing, outsiders often imagine Microsoft quickly stitching different products together into a more coherent whole. For example, why can't Microsoft operate a single download marketplace offering music, video, and games, and make that marketplace accessible from the Media Center interface, Xbox Live, Zune PC software, and its Mediaroom IPTV system? And come to think of it, Netflix CEO Reed Hastings joined Microsoft's board of directors last year--why not offer movie rentals as well?

The trouble with … Read more