After several years in which almost weekly reports of drastic, sweeping layoffs at one company or another have become the depressing norm, we're all fairly accustomed to the pattern in the response. There's a measure of shock – not surprise any more, but still somehow shock because, really, this company, at this moment? – along with a deep well of sympathy for those affected, which we all have to balance against the scramble to understand exactly which parts of the business have been hit and what it might signal for the future. Read more