As Microsoft employees in Redmond brace for the possibility of layoffs, it's worth noting that job cuts aren't unprecedented for the company. However, in the past they've been on a much smaller scale than some people are anticipating now.
In 1996, for example, Microsoft let 120 workers go from its floppy disk assembly facility in Bothell, according to this 1996 New York Times story. The reason, as you might expect, was waning demand for the medium. "People who were doing a very good job for us simply were not busy enough," a Microsoft executive told the newspaper at the time.
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