Microsoft is cutting up to 5,000 jobs in the next 18 months starting with 1,400 today. Cuts will happen in R&D, marketing, sales, finance, legal, HR, and IT – presumably none of the real revenue bringers.

This follows predictions that Microsoft would loose 6,000 to 8,000 jobs. This is Microsoft’s first company-wide layoff in its three decade history.

“While we are not immune to the effects of the economy, I am confident in the strength of our product portfolio and soundness of our approach,” CEO Steve Ballmer said in a statement. “We will continue to manage expenses and invest in long-term opportunities to deliver value to customers and shareholders, and we will emerge an even stronger industry leader than we are today.”

Let’s pour a little out for all our homies at Microsoft and hope things get better.