Ugly, even more so considering this is the company’s ninth consecutive quarterly loss since it was created in 2006.

“While expected, given seasonality and tough market conditions, we are not pleased with the operating loss incurred in the first quarter,” said CEO Ben Verwaayen. “Our guidance for the year remains unchanged and we are taking appropriate actions….There’s lots of work we still need to do.”

This latest swing of the ax brings total job cuts at Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) to about 22,500 since the 2006 merger that created it. And though the company will be leaner and meaner for it, that new found agility won’t count for much without a shift in business strategy bold enough to reverse the brutal reduction in market share and market capitalization Alcatel-Lucent has suffered. And an oblique and, frankly, baffling mention of Web 2.0, does not a business strategy make.

Alcatel-Lucent’s plan is to “combine the trusted capabilities of the network environment with the creative communications services of the Web (Web 2.0, Web 3.0 and beyond).” What the hell does that mean?

“The merger phase is now behind us,” Tchuruk said in a statement. “I am proud that Alcatel-Lucent (ALU) has become a world leader in a technology which is transforming our society.”

Added Russo, “Our strategy is taking hold, and our results are demonstrating good operational progress. That said, I believe it is the right time for me to step down.”

Apparently, after six consecutive quarters of losses and a brutal reduction in both market share and market capitalization, their work is done.

Finding that a jury’s decision was “against the clear weight of the evidence,” a federal judge yesterday overturned the February verdict that found Microsoft to have infringed upon two of Alcatel-Lucent’s digital music patents. The judge ruled that it doesn’t hold the rights to one disputed patent and hadn’t proved that Microsoft’s programs were using the technology in the other.

The decision is quite a win for Microsoft, which licensed the technology at issue in the case from its rightful licenser–German firm Fraunhofer–and was understandably a bit incredulous when Alcatel-Lucent sued it and won. “Today’s ruling by the judge reversing the jury’s $1.52 billion verdict against Microsoft is a victory for consumers of digital music and a triumph for common sense in the patent system,” Microsoft said in a statement. “For the hundreds of companies large and small that rely on MP3 technology, the Court’s ruling clarifies that these companies have properly licensed the technology embodied in the ‘080 patent from its co-owner and industry recognized MP3 licenser–Fraunhofer.”

For Alcatel-Lucent, of course, it’s a different story entirely. It’s lost not just the $1.52 billion jury verdict, but the supplemental damages and prejudgment and postjudgment interest it was suing Microsoft for as well. “The reversal of the judge’s own pretrial and posttrial rulings is shocking and disturbing,” said Alcatel-Lucent spokeswoman Mary Ward, who noted the company plans to appeal. “The jury unanimously agreed with us. We believe their decision should stand.”