The recession had to hit the biggest IT companies, too, including Microsoft. The titan is considering "significant workforce reductions" across multiple divisions, according to an article in the Wall Street Journal last week. Citing unnamed sources it claimed were familiar with Microsoft's plans, the newspaper said the company is considering "significant workforce reductions" across multiple divisions, but it did not specify the number of workers who would be affected.

"Plans for the cutbacks are still in flux, and Microsoft could end up finding alternative methods of reining in costs," the paper reported.

Nevertheless, Microsoft could be joining other big-name tech companies that have recently scaled back their operations, including Google Inc. and Oracle Corp. Google said it is laying off 100 recruiters and closing engineering offices in Texas, Norway and Sweden. Rumors about layoffs at Microsoft have been circulating for weeks with the numbers as high as 15,000.

But Rob Helm, an analyst at Directions on Microsoft, a research company that focuses on the software developer, was more optimistic. Helm told the Wall Street Journal, "I don't think we'll see any major layoffs next week," referring to the run-up to Thursday, when Microsoft is scheduled to reveal its earnings for the past quarter. "The company always has a rolling layoff, and that may accelerate."

For more on Microsoft's plans:
- check out this Computerworld.com article

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