The need to cut its coat according to the far skimpier cloth allowed by the brave new world of open systems and workstations that deliver supercomputer power at a fraction of the cost is proving extremely painful for Cray Research Inc, and the company is having to take a bath that is assuming Control Data Corp proportions, with the nine-month loss after charges coming to 45% of the declining turnover for the period. And the company expects to report a fourth quarter and full year operating loss before charges – more of which will have to be taken this quarter as it continues to reduce its workforce. Our third-quarter operating results continued to show improvements over the previous quarters this year and the fourth quarter will be better on an operating basis, chairman Phillip Samper said, adding Our actions this year are setting the stage for a profitable 1996, particularly in the second half of the year. The company says its backlog at the end of the third quarter stood at $355m, the highest backlog level in seven quarters and up from $326m in backlog at the end of the second quarter. The order book has grown 50% from the backlog at the end of fiscal 1994. My optimism for 1996 is based on our orders, backlog and improved performance, Samper said. In the nine months, total employee population declined by nearly 330, or 7%, and jobs will decline further.