Why predict 2010 revenue upswing
Could it be that they are praying that corporates will adopt Windows 7?
That customers will suddenly discover the 4-5 year old PCs that have been happily running stable versions of XP Pro won't run W7. Perhaps because things like graphics drivers, etc. won't be supported by the new OS - forcing customers to upgrade.
Then Dell might at last benefit from the bumper harvest that MS promised from Vista!
They'll need to get money from PC replacements because Virtualization is tearing the backside out of server sales - why buy 40 new servers when one will do. IDC 2008 report suggests growth in new server sales will drop to 6.6 per annum while virtual machine instances will see compound annual growth in excess of 72%. This will also cut Dells forward support and service revenues.
By the way answer to the early question re: layoffs. The reason they're laying people off is they will be punished by Wall St if they don't cut costs. No such thing as caring capitalism mate.