Genocide Profiteer not War Profiteer
Fuck you Microsoft, if I wasn’t already done with you for completely enshittifying your operating system, I would DEFINITELY be done with you for this.
Fuck off and continue to become a Kodak or Yahoo or other still existing washout company that totally lost the plot.
What happened to Kodak?
Kodak went from being a major player in the photography industry to being completely blindsided by digital photography.
Willfully blind. Eastman Kodak invented the first digital camera in 1975, but decided to focus on their existing, profitable product lines. Clayton Christensen describes the process in The Innovator’s Dilemma.
Yes, this is basically every large US tech company right now
the email to Aboussad reads. “It is also concerning that you have not apologized to the company, and in fact you have shown no remorse for the effect that your actions have had and will have.”
Obviously there were going to fire these employees, especially the one who gave notice then did this.
But why the fuck would anyone be like “yOu DiDn’T eVeN aPoLoGiZe To ThE cOmPaNy”? That’s the stupidest god damn thing I’ve heard since “Liberation Day”
What about “you haven’t even thanked us!” to Zelensky?
Same energy.
That email was almost certainly written by lawyers with the intention of supporting MS in court, should it come down to that.
Bingo. Lots of stupid things at this level boil down to legal protection. You’ll see it everywhere once you learn and look.
“Lucky we’re not countersuing! Oh the damages you are certain to be causing in the futureeee, the burns”
Actually now that I think about it maybe this was a multimillion dollar protest. The headlines have been published for and wide. I bet a few people spent more time feeling guilty than working right after as well - imagine one of them quitting. Still somewhat hard to believe it would lose them contracts but perhaps there will be potential customers who want to avoid connection with Microsoft until this blows over.
that makes sense. i hate the fact that such a blatant play at covering your bases could hold up in any court. no matter the legal fineprint, it takes two functioning braincells to realise what’s going on here
C-suits don’t live in the same world as the rest of us. Simple as that.
Have you even said Thank You?!?
But why the fuck would anyone be like “yOu DiDn’T eVeN aPoLoGiZe To ThE cOmPaNy”?
Frame the debate. MS doesn’t have to justify their profiteering if they can talk about the employee. The attention span of the public is limited.
Apologized? Did they berate her for not “wearing a suit” too?
Or speaking without permission with a vagina?!
The impertinence!
Hey, when’s the last time you showed remorse to your multi-trillion market cap employer? Next you’re gonna tell me something really outrageous like you didn’t even swear an oath of fealty to them.
Because law. At every opportunity, make it seem like the employees were not blowing the whistle, but purposefully harming the company.
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Well, what did they expect?
It was about sending a message.
What message was that? They work for Microsoft a company that has had DOD contracts for at least the last 25-30 years.
They were a war profiteer when this worker got their gig. Why is it a problem now?
Direct participation in the military systems for a genocide is a tad further than the military industrial complex.
The message is that people participating in genocide will not be made at the very least very uncomfortable for doing so.
They had IDF contracts for decades as well. Seriously if they had a problem with this and this is not a PR stunt by this person they are choosing an odd time to make this statement.
An active mass genocide is an odd time to make a statement?
Microsoft lied about not supplying the IDF military cloud in the past.
And AI is a far more direct contribution to genocide than excel support.
Plenty of reasons to do it now. And better now than tomorrow.
Yes because their military work has been public for decades and it isn’t as if the IDF just started becoming problematic in 2023.
Literally this
It’s like they are signaling to the world how virtuous they are
A kind of high ground moral messaging if you will
Exactly, I would get if you work for a company that just got involved in the military fields but this is microsoft.
Oh yeah, “modern day slavery has been a problem for years. Why be vocal about it now?”
Look, I am a cynical nobody, so I sometimes think “nothing will ever change.” But some brave souls, more idealistic than me, take these steps with the hope that it will spark change - or at least it will put one more straw in the camel.
So yeah, it’s about sending a message, and I think that’s important.
Problems can be ongoing or increase in severity. Just because it’s been an issue for a while doesn’t mean it’s too late for change.
Also, some people don’t have the luxury to choose an ethical employer (if they even exist).
If you are in tech getting hired by microsoft you should have options
…maybe.
Or, hear me out, the dude specifically applied for Microsoft with the intention of changing shit.
Do you think a non-executive hire has that ability? That’s a stretch IMO
Uh, yes? It’s not about sending a message inside MS only. It was about sending it out there. See how we’re discussing the story? Are we MS employees? Where’s my 401K?
Ethical options?
You should be able to get hired by someone without defense contracts if that is what bothers you
They probably expected their employer not to participate in genocide.
What a dummy, right?!?! \s
Not surprising, also seems like lawsuit material.
In terms of Microsoft suing her?
I guess it would depend on her contract, as Microsoft do profit from war so I would doubt a libel type case would get far.
Other way around.
What grounds would she have to sue?
More importantly, with what money? Mega corporations can afford to draw out lawsuits until the end of time (or until the judge gets annoyed), but individuals can’t.
If she has a lawsuit i would be happy to bolster her legal fund and i am sure many other people too.
The fact that it’s in retaliation for her speaking out about human rights violations, when they have a clear policy against retaliating against employees who speak out about human rights violations
“We might not be a good fit.”
the best thing i did was spend last month deleting the partitions in my desktop and laptop and installing mint.
Mint is the best flavor of linux. I recommend it.
I love my Pop OS
I tried a variety of distros when I made the switch 9 or 10 years ago, Mint is by far my favorite. I’ve been running it continuously for at least the last 8 years.
Yeah, it just works and you never have to use the command line.
Yep. Well unless you want to try some new thing that’s not in the repo, then it’s sudo apt-get for the win.
I’m actually allergic to mint. Can anyone suggest a version of Linux that doesn’t have any mint in it.
Fedora
Opensuse
I would say Ubuntu is the next best distro (if you want stability and easy of use)
Heh, flavour
(I like Fedora, but it obviously doesnt taste as good)
I like Fedora
tip M’lady
(I’m using Bazzite, which is based on Fedora though)
Heck yeah. Once in installed Mint on my PC at home, it was only a matter of weeks before I double checked my backed up files and nuked my windows partition.
I still have the windows partition at work that I never use, and I have heard some bad stories about machines getting wiped when IT upgrades people to win11, so it might just have a little accident in its sleep.
I’ve been on Arch for a little while now, and Kubuntu before that. After Valve launched Proton on Steam, I found myself almost never booting into Windows. Once I ran out of disk space, it was an easy decision to completely purge Windows from my machine. Haven’t looked back in years.
Fuck Microsoft for trying to control my computer. Finally nice not having it reinstall Candy Crush after every update. And none of that copilot or online account bullshit.
That’s such a nice thing about Linux and FOSS in general. The issues you run into are different than what you may be used to with Windows, but at least the system and its developers aren’t working against you.
And if you don’t like the way one distro does things, you can switch to another one, and there are dozens to choose from. With Windows, of course there is only one distro, and if you don’t like it, too bad.
IBM had a role in the holocaust. Those numbers tattooed on everyone in the concentration camp? Those were IBM ID numbers for the punch cards.
If IBM staff protested about their role, it’s been lost to history. But it’s repeating today with Gaza and the staff who speak out are being demonized. Israel’s Lavender AI is being used to kill civilians. History will prove this woman and the other employees right in the end.
I still don’t think this “Lavender AI” actually exists, I think that was another scapegoat to blame their deliberate targeting of civilians on.
Israel has access to WhatsApp metadata and uses it to target people based on a poorly trained Israeli AI which calls everything Hamas. This is a scapegoat because it allows them to blame the machine for killing people at random.
A machine can never be held responsible, therefore a machine must ALWAYS make management decisions
“Another fals positive? Woops! Whatever shall we do?”
Why not both?
good ep of a good pod
Depends who controls the narrative and how it plays out.
Oh shit it’s true. I tought punch cards came later but its 19th century(1800s) tech.
Is Lavender AI made by Microsoft or uses Microsoft technology?
The IDF uses plenty of Microsoft technology including Azure. The details of Lavender are classified.
Microsoft has policy that prevents it from retaliatory actions against human rights violations. Court should rule Microsoft violated its own policies…
prevents it from retaliatory actions against human rights violations
They can’t retaliate if someone violates human rights?
They’re referencing what the second protester (Vaniya Agrawal) mentioned in her email:
Know that Microsoft’s human rights statement prohibits retaliation against anyone who raises a human rights-related concern: Human rights statement | Microsoft CSR
The Microsoft Global Human Rights Statement has a “Foundational principles” section that says:
Our commitment to human rights defenders: Our commitment to respecting and advancing human rights includes respect and support for the work of human rights defenders around the world. Human rights defenders are people who, individually or with others, engage in activities and advocacy that contribute to the protection of human rights and the rule of law, good governance, tolerance, and diversity and inclusion. Human rights defenders face persistent physical, social, economic, and psychological threats. Microsoft does not tolerate threats, intimidation, retaliation, physical, legal or cyber-attacks against human rights defenders. This commitment extends to all human rights defenders, including those working on issues related to Microsoft and those exercising their rights of freedom of expression, association, and peaceful assembly, including to challenge or protest aspects of our own business.
Microsoft is clearly declining to fulfill its commitment as it is written in its statement.
Scumbags
Cancelled Xbox game pass and installing PopOS. Fuck Microsoft
???
I’ve never had an xbox before, so pardon my ignorance. But you can install linux OS’s on xbox?
No Linux on Xbox, no
Ah, ok. I mean, it doesn’t even make sense, right? Could you image??? So I’ll just pass this info along to whomever it was that was so stupid they thought that was possible…what an idiot!
goes off to find a mirror
Hey, you can put Linux on many handheld gaming machines like like ASUS ROG Ally (like Bazzite OS for instance) and there are a few Linux systems that aim to fully emulate a console experience on PC. All Android phones run on Linux and you can get custom OS’s if you root them, like Lineage. So it’s not such a silly idea!
There quite a handful of IoT devices out there that will run Linux too. Many of them, in fact, run BSD by default
And the Wii can be Linuxed, if you get creative enough. Source: former roommate did it
Well, not on a modern Xbox. On the OG XBox however…
You can get game pass for PC so, probably that way around
Ah, ok. That makes more sense.
based
Gotta draw the line somewhere I guess? Or is this just to make sure a Linux comment makes it into a thread about Microsoft?
I do not see how PopOS would replace Xbox game pass.
With steam it will
Have you checked out the gaming for Linux communities on Lemmy?
Got any recommendations?
Edit, I meant to say got, not god 🤣
“play Outer Wilds”
-god, probably
…yo yall are late to the party, been running Nobara for 3 years now on my G14, rocking the Steam Deck, only Windows machine I have is for work and believe me that thing is host file locked down and stripped.
Congratulations ig
The penguin calls, and the good folks answer.
I’ve been trying to reach you about your car’s extended warranty
The fact that they’re asking her to apologize is Just ass backwards.
They should apologize, and look into the issue, and possibly, stop, war profiting.
That’s okay. They’re going to lose a lot of Windows users, forcing them to upgrade Perfectly good computers.
I wish that were the case. But I doubt most people will ditch Windows. They’ll just pony up for a new computer. They’ll certainly lose some users. But Windows will still remain as top dog, most likely. And I doubt that’ll ever change so long as traditional desktop computers and laptops still exist.
Windows isn’t the issue here. The war profiteering is coming from the AI and cloud divisions
Ok cool. But I was replying to the comment regarding Microsoft forcing new computers on people. So no need for the correction.
I’m surprised they didn’t call her an antisemite.
i agree with what you’re saying from an ethical standpoint. i think she’s right to protest.
but it’s not “an issue”, it’s a huge fucking client of theirs. from a business standpoint its a huge ask to fire a whole military as a customer.
Surely there’s an option between “drop major client” and “punish the person pointing out problems”
So a choice between money and ethics.
There is never any question which one companies choose.
Certainly not the one with a carreer in scumbaggery.My point was that there are plenty of other options.
My point is: not for them
Disrupting a meeting like that was always going to end in getting fired.
Not only will they fire her, they will also be less willing to hire other Palestinians in the future.
I don’t know about Microsoft but a FAANG company I worked for had very well documented means of raising ethical or legal issues within the company. She just violated her employment contract and possibly her NDA with the company by doing this.
I don’t mean to say she is right/wrong. It is just that she did not follow the guidelines of the company she works for. Therefore she will be fired even if she is right/wrong.
It didn’t have to. You only expect it to because there’s a history of companies being shitty.
“We cant stop selling to war criminals. They are among our biggest customers.”
Sounds more like a company that needs to be dismantled and have their leadership face prison sentences. Given the size of Microsoft they could take the hit economically w.o. much hassle. They dont have to be evil. They want to be evil. And we need to punish them for it by boycotting their shit as much as possible.
Can’t help but think of this book wrt your comment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust
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It is also concerning that you have not apologized to the company, and in fact you have shown no remorse for the effect that your actions have had and will have.
the fucking audacity. i mean, we all knew how it would end, but talk about 5d reverse psychology mindgames
you have not apologized to the company
Writing this should be grounds for a mandatory psych ward commitment
Microsoft has recently been added to the BDS list. Do not forget to give their apps a review.
Only trouble is Microsoft clearly doesn’t care about negative reviews of their applications, because they’ve been receiving negative reviews for years now.
It’s not like you can even avoid using their products, personally you can install Linux but you’re probably going to still have to use a Windows device at work, and business is where they make most of their profit anyway.
They still have presence in for example the Play store. A review can cost little time to place, yet it can affect a lot. Though avoid mentioning certain words censored by the play store.
Is “id rather take a shot to the back of the throat from Andy Dick, than be stuck using Microsoft Office” approved for the app store?
It’s mildly entertaining at times to scroll through the reviews of the HEIF Image Extension in the Microsoft Store. Microsoft doesn’t care one bit how bad they are.
Yeah, work is where they get you. I’m fortunate to be able to use Linux at work too, but the company is still paying for my M365 account which I use in a browser for meetings and communication.
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I’m confused.
Yes - you are confused.
She didn’t know that to start. She learned and she took action. I think the Verge had another article on her that described how she was initially excited to work for them and then realized that the circumstance.
Yeah she was working on AI auto-transcription for audio thinking ‘this will help people sort audio! Yay’ and found out it’s ‘it’ll help them sort audio of Palestinian phone calls so we can forward locations to the Israelis for bombings! No!’ Like how dynamite was supposed to be for construction and then it got turned into bombs.
How would you even screen tech work to make sure you’re not contributing to genocides by applying? Only apply to companies that explicitly say ‘Free Palestine’ on their profiles? Do they even exist in the USA? Not to mention she familiarized herself with the policy supporting human rights concerns before sending that message. The one that in a sane world would have prevented any of this from even happening (Microsoft’s involvement anyway).
It’s possible to not realize you’re complicit or not realize the depth of it.
When this happens like it did, you do briefly become someone who is getting blood money. She took this chance to interfere with their event.
I’m confused.
I bet.
He’s not wrong, but ‘bringing your true self to work’ is something companies like to say but they don’t actually believe.
