Report: Morale among Microsoft's Mixer team is at an all-time low

Today, a report from OnMSFT said that employee morale at Microsoft's livestreaming platform, Mixer, was hitting a significant low. Employees are concerned about the futurity of the service and in that location are layoffs taking place there.

There is also a video that shows a newly-appointed Mixer caput Shilpa Yadla making a rather harsh-sounding pitch to employees, while discussing "positivity" in workplace culture. The prune is truncated and may seem harsher when removed from the context of the full meeting, but it doesn't exactly paint Mixer's leadership in a sympathetic light.

You can read an extract that illuminates the state of affairs beneath.

Mixer has had a rough few months that involved the original founders leaving the concern alongside a general manager and corporate vice president. Even so, what hasn't been reported is that over the last six months, there have been xvi layoffs due to upkeep cuts which have shed roughly 25 percent of an already skeletal team and are causing feature releases to slip schedules.

That's co-ordinate to a Mixer employee who reached out to us, concerned nearly the direction and fate of Mixer... During an internal Mixer town hall terminal week, executives spoke to its skeleton crew of employees to address the growing sense of frustration and low morale within the business, unfortunately, their words left a lot to be desired... Shilpa Yadla had been meeting with employees one on one, presumably to assuage fears and concerns, but on stage, her words may have had the adverse effect.

Previously, we wrote about some of the troubles facing Mixer, and Microsoft provided us with this statement to address falling morale amidst the platform'due south streamers.

"We have heard the feedback from Mixer's community and our Partners regarding areas where we must meliorate the service. Nosotros recognize that increasing video stability, improve discovery capabilities, additional monetization opportunities, and broadening our marketing programs are critically important to our streamers, and we are focused on supporting their success. Our new Head of Mixer, Shilpa Yadla, is committed to addressing these critical needs and in delivering an incredible experience for Mixer's streamers and viewers. The entire Mixer team is working tirelessly behind the scenes on these and other new initiatives to help maintain our positive, welcoming civilisation as we continue to grow. We look 2022 will exist an exciting year for Mixer and our customs."

If it'south indeed true that Mixer is faced with staffing issues and low morale, simply i thing tin can realistically set it: investment. Microsoft has reportedly spent millions on cardinal streamers like Ninja, merely it doesn't seem to have fabricated a particularly large impact on the service thus far. If the reports almost Mixer beingness built up of a small-scale skeleton crew are right, without proper investment in its own staffing, we're non sure how Microsoft expects to catch up to Twitch and YouTube.

Indeed, Microsoft has a history of underfunding promising projects, ultimately leading to them beingness shut down. Is Mixer doomed to join them? Let us know what you think.

An internet connection will soon be required when setting up Windows 11 Pro

UH OH

An net connexion will before long be required when setting up Windows 11 Pro

Microsoft has announced that later this year, users will be required to connect to the internet and sign-in with a Microsoft Account during the out of box setup experience on Windows 11 Pro. Microsoft has already been enforcing this requirement on Windows xi Home since launch final October, and Windows 11 Pro is at present expected to follow suit soon.