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Microsoft on Wednesday began cutting a small number of jobs from its workforce, a source confirmed to CNET.

As previously reported, the layoffs are not expected to be the start of mass cuts, but are more similar to the types of reshuffling that the company does each year as it begins a new fiscal year. Microsoft started fiscal 2011 on July 1.

Microsoft has declined to comment on the cuts or say how many jobs are affected. However, a source told CNET that, even with the cuts, the company still expects to grow its ranks overall this year as it hires in other areas The company has also been growing its workforce in the past six months, after slashing thousands of jobs last year amid the global economic downturn. Those cuts, announced in January 2010, were the first widespread, across-the-board cuts in the company’s history.

Although the job cuts this year are small, they are drawing particular attention because they come amid several pieces of negative news for Redmond, including the departure of two top Entertainment and Devices executives and the cancellation of the Kin phone just weeks after its debut.

Some of those whose jobs were cut and other company watchers have been sounding off on the comments page of the blog hosted by anonymous Microsoft internal critic Mini-Microsoft. Word of the pending job cuts was first reported by Seattle-area technology news site TechFlash.

It will be interesting to see what Microsoft has to say–and the numbers it reports–when the company announces its earnings report later this month. While it has had an avalanche of negative press around its long-term future, the company’s short-term numbers could be quite strong, given the debut of Office 2010 and continued strong PC sales.

Update at 2:39 p.m. PDT: In a follow-up post, TechFlash says the cuts are in the hundreds globally, including several hundred in the Seattle area.

Well, well, well, look what just arrived in my in-box.

Verizon Wireless has just sent out invites for a press event on Wednesday, June 23, at which it will unveil its next Droid device, and judging by the speakers list–Google Vice President of Engineering Andy Rubin, Motorola CEO Sanjay Jha, and Adobe CEO Shantanu Narayen–it looks like it we’ll see the debut of the Droid 2 running on Android 2.2.

We’ll find out, though, on June 23, and CNET will be at the event, which starts at 10 a.m. PDT, so be sure to check back then for our coverage. And introducing the phone a day before the iPhone 4 launch? Verizon, you got some gumption.

Despite no official acknowledgement from Google that it’s ditching Microsoft’s Windows operating system, Microsoft felt compelled to respond Tuesday.

A report surfaced late Monday night that Google has started easing Windows PCs out of its internal network based on security concerns, related in part to the attacks on its infrastructure late last year. Google has so far declined to confirm that report, but Microsoft released a blog post Tuesday afternoon defending Windows security and pointing out that security concerns helped derail a Gmail deployment at Yale University.

“When it comes to security, even hackers admit we’re doing a better job making our products more secure than anyone else. And it’s not just the hackers; third party influentials [sic] and industry leaders like Cisco tell us regularly that our focus and investment continues to surpass others,” Microsoft said in its blog post.

For some reason Microsoft declines to use Google’s name directly in the post, preferring instead to discuss “whether or not one particular company is reducing its use of Windows.” The two industry titans are far from best friends, battling each other on any number of fronts from operating system and office productivity software to search and mobile devices.

Microsoft also made sure to take a shot at old rival Apple, highlighting reports Tuesday that spyware targeting Mac OS X machines is being downloaded along with some free applications.

“Microsoft makes the security of our customers a huge priority,” it said, going on to list a number of security features in Windows 7.

- Tom Krazit, Cnet.com