As everyone knows by now, Microsoft is yet another in the huge roster of companies shedding jobs in 2009 — in the MS case, 5,000 of them, out of a total roster of about 95,000 employees. For a sense of perspective, that’s about twice the total number of employees at Red Hat. They’re also eliminating all merit pay increases for this coming fiscal year. Admittedly, they hired a lot more people than that during the past year, but the belt-tightening is a significant sign amidst all the talk of IT departments looking to maximize their efficiency and minimize costs. Of course, Red Hat has quite a bit to say on achieving that particular goal.
I could draw some pointed contrasts but that might be crass.