“We might not be a good fit.”
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.
There is no such thing as “free speech” under capitalism.
sounds like you don’t know what free speech is
Should’ve Luigi’d the boss.
Words aren’t likely going to change minds anymore.
“I’m not interested in arguing” -someone who knows they’re in the wrong, but still holds the power
As enraging as this whole story is, I don’t think there’s any coming back from ‘you’re a war profiteer’
Yeah, I assume the now-former employee acted with full expectation of losing her job over this. She succeeded at bringing attention to something many people (myself included) hadn’t heard about before, so she at least accomplished that much.
Linux isn’t perfect but I don’t have to put up with that kind of bullshit from the makers of my OS. Glad I switched long ago and never looked back (except for the Windows laptop I keep around for games)
Just out of curiosity, what games do you need a windows machine to play that proton can’t make work on Linux?
A lot of games I want to play with mods, the authors only release Windows installers. A great example is Battletech, the HBS remake. There’s a “BTA advanced” mod I like to run and it takes a lot of screwing around to get it to work properly in Linux, but it’s a few clicks on Windows. I will agree Proton has come a LONG way and some titles are perfect, but I get so little gaming time that when I sit down, I don’t want to fucking around with swapping various Glorious Eggroll versions of Wine, or wondering which version of .net I need to get the game to run under Linux. On Windows it “just works”.
I do have a few titles I play on Linux, but I keep that laptop around just for gaming because I don’t want to mess around. Anecdotally I would say 90% of my games work absolutely perfectly with Proton and it’s mostly mods that screw up the experience.
Yup 100% on point with that. I’d say for me its 95% of my games work absolutely fine through proton. But I have a 500gb windows partition for the 5% that don’t.
One of my frustrations is, if I want to try some dozen games on Itch.io, they all come down as EXEs and it’s not clear how I could quickly set them up for Proton. I understand the 20-clicks method of setting up one game off of Steam, and Lutris helps with well-known launchers like Ubi Connect. But for independent authors, needing to do setup for every EXE is a heavy dealbreaker.
Have you tried using Bottles? Has a default Bottle for “games”. Run the .exe file in the Bottle and it should work.
I was just going to suggest this. Most small indy games from places like itch.io I play using Bottles and it works very well.
I only played very few games via itch so far, however using Lutris for them seems to be most straight-forward. Once you connect your account anything you have in your collections should show up and be installable straight through the Lutris client. At least for “Manic Miners” it figured everything out on its own, worked like a charm.
When I review itch games I always advocate for native Linux support. If the devs see it, they will do it. The ones I talk to who haven’t don’t want to put in the effort to learn how to compile it for Linux if barely anyone would use the port.
For me, its Battlefield. Most of them no longer work on Linux due to EA Anticheat
It’s so freaking annoying that these anti cheats don’t ever work with Linux… I wonder if steam did their own anti cheat that worked for Linux they could get those games to run on it, but it’s a pipedream, it’s too complex and it’s much better to keep the Linux portion of the market growing through making it more accessible to normal users and then getting the anti cheat companies interested in making a version for Linux instead
Thankfully one of the larger anti cheats (EasyAntiCheat) now has native support for the Linux kernel and enabling it is literally just a button for developers. But the problem still lies with kernel level anticheats… in an ideal world we just wouldn’t use anticheats that have to embed themselves in the system so deeply.
In an ideal world the anticheat would be 99% server-side and connections would be done through multicast.
I don’t know why people put up with BS just to play some game.
I guess the neurons that activate in their brains are the same that activate in the brains of smokers that are aware that smoking causes cancer, yet they do it anyway.
VR is still 99% windows right now, and if people dont appreciate the value of an affordable in-home holodeck after all this time i dont know what to say anymore
Meh, I found VR a gimmic…
It was pita to setup, gave me headaches (from wearing the kit), and “the best” game (Half Life Alyx) had complicated dynamics… so I already forgot what I was supposed to do (after Windows Updates, VR updates, approx. 2 reboots needed… Not to mention Windows updates fkd up my Linux multiboot few times…)
Not hating on VR but it’s still a far cry from a holodeck.
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
Well, what did they expect?
They probably expected their employer not to participate in genocide.
What a dummy, right?!?! \s
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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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.
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?
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
Why not both?
good ep of a good pod
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.
the best thing i did was spend last month deleting the partitions in my desktop and laptop and installing mint.
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.
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.
Mint is the best flavor of linux. I recommend it.
I love my Pop OS
I’m actually allergic to mint. Can anyone suggest a version of Linux that doesn’t have any mint in it.
I would say Ubuntu is the next best distro (if you want stability and easy of use)
Fedora
Opensuse
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)
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 would have been surprised if they hadn’t fired her. Good on those two for causing a ruckus for a cause they believe in though. Nonviolent one too, well done.
They were probably going to quit over personal morality anyway, so good for them for using their exit for positive. At least they can leave with their self-respect and dignity intact, and the respect of their co-workers and the world. Somewhere there is a moral employer who will appreciate them.
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”
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.
That email was almost certainly written by lawyers with the intention of supporting MS in court, should it come down to that.
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
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.
“I’ll apologize when you apologize for building tools that killed children.”
Apologized? Did they berate her for not “wearing a suit” too?
Or speaking without permission with a vagina?!
The impertinence!
What about “you haven’t even thanked us!” to Zelensky?
Same energy.
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.
C-suits don’t live in the same world as the rest of us. Simple as that.
Have you even said Thank You?!?
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’m surprised they didn’t call her an antisemite.
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 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.
“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.
Surely there’s an option between “drop major client” and “punish the person pointing out problems”
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.
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
Can’t help but think of this book wrt your comment https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/IBM_and_the_Holocaust
