Microsoft Office 2007 Product Key Is growing headc

Is growing headcount by 40 percent definitely the very best method to catch Google? Probably the most interesting piece of information from Microsoft's Q1 FY 2007 earnings release, in my mind, was the loss posted by the company's Online Services Business unit. While the MSN business has been in and out with the red over the past year, the main reason it fell from profitability in one of the most recent quarter was due to 40 % (no, that's not a typo!) headcount growth, coupled with data-center infrastructure costs. Todd Bishop over on the Seattle Post-Intelligencer's Microsoft blog, exposed the information buried in Microsoft's 10Q: "OSB operating income decreased for the three months ended September 30, 2006,Windows 7 Activation, reflecting the decline in revenue, increased headcount-related costs primarily as a result of continued investments in Windows Live, adCenter, and other properties, and increased cost of revenue as a result of the build out of our data center infrastructure. Headcount-related costs increased 43%, reflecting both an increase in salaries and benefits for existing headcount and a 40% increase in headcount." OK. There are a lot of Windows Live services, with more coming online all the time. But Google's total employee headcount is 8,Windows 7 Serial,000 people. Microsoft, with 71,000 (and counting) employees total must have more than 8,000 in online services alone, at this point.(Update: My blogging colleague Donna Bogatin notes that Google's headcount is expanding, too, and is no longer a "mere" 8,Microsoft Office 2007 Product Key,000. Google's total headcount grew from 7,Office 2007 Key,942 in June,Office 2007 Download, to 9,738 in September, according to a recent story quoting Google CEO Eric Schmidt.)