Sophos picks up axe again, 'plans to DECIMATE staff' Sophos plans to shed 150 jobs as part of restructuring exercise, according to a source who tipped off El Reg. The security-software maker confirmed to The Register that cuts in some areas of its business were on the cards. But it declined to discuss the specifics of the planned redundancies; for example, it did not say which …
"Or are you just riding the Thatcher bandwagon for the sake of riding it?"
Welcome to the Internet. We Netizens are very liberal, open-minded, non-prejudiced, and tolerant, which is why we must attack any conservative with the fury of a thousand suns, those bigoted, closed-minded, intolerant a[ss|rse]holes.
(tongue firmly in cheek)
I know the page has a red top, but am I reading the Morning Star on this commentard thread? What the hell has happened to people since Thatcher died...clearly they weren't alive when the unions were dictating how everyone should live (better everyone in poverty than somebody not)...how civilised!
Back on point...when the hell was everyone entitled to a job for life? I thought this was Umerica...is this a communist country now? Oh sorry, I thought this was Umerica...
If they are genuinely NOT "non-assets" (aka dead wood), then I am sure they will find other jobs...people who deserve jobs normally do.
been thinking the same! Unless you were around in the 70's before thatcher you really don't have a clue how bad things were in the 70's. People think things are grim now well thats nothing compared to life in the 70's. I can remember going to school with a flask of hot soup as there was no power, sitting in the bath with candles, rolling power blackouts, etc British industry destroyed British industry not thatcher. At the end of the day we were using less coal so pits had to shut, british steel was poor quality and expensive, BL were a total basket case who bought a British car in the 70's. Ship building/repair again basket case's strikes led to ships being strike bound and stuck in dock, hence no one wanted to get work done at British yards (I used to work in a yard in the 90's there were still ship owners who wouldn't even consier sending their ships to British yards even then!)
"going to school with a flask of hot soup "
Don't forget what happened at the time I was in primary school, around 1975. The NUT(*) decided that all their members would go on work-to-rule during term-time. Among the "bonus" duties that teachers did that weren't in their "to-rule" job descriptions was keeping order in the queues at lunch. This meant that we only got school dinners one week in three (in rotation), and the other two weeks we had to bring sandwiches from home or go hungry.
(*) For the non-British in the audience, the NUT is the National Union of Teachers, at the time a wretched hive of left-wing pinko-ness, with all the oddities that implies. I have never seen a more appropriate abbreviation for any phrase, and I have no idea what convinced them it was a good idea to call themselves that.
And I remember around that time sitting in a living room illuminated by an oil lamp (brighter and less of a fire hazard than candles...) because of the rolling power cuts.
Think about what you would have to convince a Thatcher hater of to get them to change their opinion of her.
An unavoidable part of her not being an evil witch who destoryed livlihoods across the country for some evil purpose of her own, is that the damage done in the eightess was unavoidable and was simply due to the state of the country when she took over.
In other words it was due to the lefty/corporationist post-war consensus policies so beloved of Thatcher haters. To absolve Thatcher they not only have to forget their hate of her, they have to realise and admit to themselves that all the things they blame her for were actually their fault, or the fault of those they support.
Good luck with that, but I think you're fighting against human nature on this one.
I am outraged at the use of this word in it's historical sense, and outraged by the fact that as yet no-one else has loudly and repeatedly stated how outraged they are. The El Reg nomenclature politburo should be ashamed of themselves and I will be cancelling my subscription forthwith.
"the use of this word in it's historical sense"
While it is historically correct to use "decimate" for "one in ten suffers" rather than the more common modern use of "large scale slaughter", it is not historically correct to use it unless the one in ten who suffered have been killed.
A span of time in Sophos's employ in the late 90s(*) left me with definite opinions about the people who manage the company, but I would never accuse them of mass murder of their staff.
(*) Curiously, at that time, Sophos employed less people than the 150 who are being restructured...
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I don't know "decimation" is reasonably accurate if they are removing one in ten. After all you don't really expect to see blood in the sand. The main difference is that unlike current business practice the Roman troops themselves decided who was going to go. It paid to be popular in the Roman army.
OK, so Thatcher aside, the facts are: when the dust settles, Sophos will only be reduced by 50 people, by the end of the year. Currently, 1700 people worldwide, down to 1650 by end of the year. around 150 will lose their positions, and may well move to other, more suitable positions in the company, and some people will be hired in from outside. This is really more of a restructuring than a downsizing, although I suppose going down 50, is a small downsize.
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