That answers the question of "How can Microsoft get by with so many more layoffs" but not the question of why it would be a good idea. Specifically, the author

That answers the question of "How can Microsoft get by with so many more layoffs" but not the question of why it would be a good idea. Specifically, the author identifies Microsoft's real long-term problem as the growing irrelevance of the PC and MS' inability to control the various markets that are supplanting it. How getting rid of half of the employees in the company would fix that problem; I'm not sure.