Sun Microsystems announced today the firing of between 5,000 and 6,000 employees. In a press release euphemistically titled "Sun Microsystems Aligns Business with Global Economic Climate and Amplifies Growth Opportunities Across Open Source Platforms," the company says it will reduce costs by over $700 million, in part by laying off up to 18 percent of its workforce. Its software division is also dividing into several new groups: Application Platform Software, Systems Platforms, and Cloud Computing & Developer Platforms. Sun says it wants to accelerate the company's delivery of open-source platform technology and "capitalize on two trends: the increasing shift of customer and developer focus to web-based cloud services and Sun's already established leadership position in the space through Network.com, the NetBeans developer platform, and the StarOffice portfolio..... to firmly establish the company as a leader in cloud computing and grow this area into a significant driver of future revenues."