November 7, 2008
IT and tough times
Network World
Glenn Weadock comments on the current economic state of the IT industry.
“I’m somehow optimistic that many more firms will continue investing in technology that makes sense – such as virtualization. If we don’t keep innovating, the new innovators around the world will eat our lunch. If the massive economic collapse that we’re seeing now has the effect of reminding us how vulnerable we are, it may even spur innovation and lead to creative new applications of technology.”
SanDisk to cut 15 per cent of its staff
The Register
Chris Mellor reveals why SanDisk is cutting 15 per cent of its staff.
“On Tuesday SanDisk revealed worse than expected quarterly losses of $155 million with sales down 21 per cent to $821 million compared to the year-ago quarter. The previous quarter also showed a loss of $68 million. SanDisk is cutting its 2008 capital expenditures in the light of its dire situation from $2.4 billion to $1.9 billion, reducing to $1.3 billion in 2009.”
Microsoft tries a ‘first one’s free’ strategy to lure startups
Techdirt
Mike Masnick offers his thoughts on Microsoft’s recent announcement in which the vendor will be offer free software and services to startup companies.
“It’s an interesting approach, though, in the long run, it still seems like they may have the equation backwards. While they are giving some stuff away free initially, the ultimate goal is to lock companies into paying for infinite goods like software, rather than scarcities like services.”