TECH NEWS – They didn’t sign up for this, say the employees that disagree with Microsoft‘s newest contract.

Microsoft has received a 480 million dollar contract from none other than the United States Army! You read that correctly: Microsoft is developing the Integrated Visual Augmentation System (IVAS) for the HoloLens, which is their company’s augmented reality headset. Thus, they are basically making a special model. A few Microsoft-employees are opposing the contract, and they published an open letter on Twitter with the title „HoloLens For Good, Not War” title.

„We refuse to create technology for warfare and oppression. We are alarmed that Microsoft is working to provide weapons technology to the U.S. Military, helping one country’s government ‘increase lethality’ using tools we build. We did not sign up to develop weapons, and we demand a say in how our work is used,” the letter says. The open letter is written to Satya Nadella (Microsoft’s CEO) and Brad Smith (Microsoft’s president). According to an employee who told it to The Guardian, over fifty employees have signed the letter.

Back in November, Smith has written a blog post about the contract between Microsoft and the US Military, and in it, he defends the company’s move towards military with its technology. The open letter has also responded to the blog: „While the company has previously licensed tech to the U.S. Military, it has never crossed the line into weapons development. With this contract, it does. The application of HoloLens within the IVAS system is designed to help people kill. It will be deployed on the battlefield, and works by turning warfare into a simulated ‘video game,’ further distancing soldiers from the grim stakes of war and the reality of bloodshed.”

It’s a fact: the engineers who helped create the HoloLens has likely not signed up for this turn. It’s not sure if they like how via Microsoft, the US Army might be successful on the battlefield, and no matter where in the world.

Previously, we haven’t seen anything like this, and with Sony and Nintendo, we don’t remember any similar event. It’s something else now…

Source: PCGamer