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Microsoft fires employees who organized vigil for Palestinians killed in Gaza (apnews.com)

submitted 9 hours ago by ForgottenFlux@lemmy.world to c/technology@lemmy.world

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Microsoft has fired two employees who organized an unauthorized vigil at the company’s headquarters for Palestinians killed in Gaza during Israel’s war with Hamas.

The two employees told The Associated Press they were fired by phone call late Thursday, several hours after a lunchtime event they organized at Microsoft’s campus in Redmond, Washington.

Both workers were members of a coalition of employees called “No Azure for Apartheid” that has opposed Microsoft’s sale of its cloud-computing technology to the Israeli government. But they contended that Thursday’s event was similar to other Microsoft-sanctioned employee giving campaigns for people in need.

“We have so many community members within Microsoft who have lost family, lost friends or loved ones,” said Abdo Mohamed, a researcher and data scientist. “But Microsoft really failed to have the space for us where we can come together and share our grief and honor the memories of people who can no longer speak for themselves.”

Microsoft said Friday it has “ended the employment of some individuals in accordance with internal policy” but declined to provide details.

Google earlier this year fired more than 50 workers in the aftermath of protests over technology the company is supplying the Israeli government amid the Gaza war. The firings stemmed from internal turmoil and sit-in protests at Google offices centered on “Project Nimbus,” a $1.2 billion contract signed in 2021 for Google and Amazon to provide the Israeli government with cloud computing and artificial intelligence services.

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[-] phoenixz@lemmy.ca 4 points 1 hour ago

As always, fuck Microsoft. Literally been saying this over 30 years already.

Don't use windows, switch to Linux. It's free, actually reasonably secure, actually works, won't spy on you, won't force shit on you just to make you pay more.

Don't use Microsoft azure. It's overpriced and runs in Linux anyway.

Don't use Microsoft 365 online shit. Outlook functions horrendously bad, teams is a sad joke. I unfortunately have to deal with teams every day because government customers thought it was a good idea and EVERY call there is some shit. People can't get in, people don't have audio, people ALWAYS have the wrong audio device selected no matter what and need to spend the first 5 minutes to get their audio and video working. It's shit quality compared to zoom or Google meet or open source alternatieves...

Stop giving this piece of shit your money

[-] Jrockwar@feddit.uk 5 points 1 hour ago

How do people have the time to organise vigils and get into "coalitions" and politics in the workplace?

Granted I don't work at Microsoft, but I feel me and everyone around me is overworked enough that when we have the time to stop working... We head home (or close the laptop if WFH) and rest, not engage in additional activities in the workplace.

[-] explodicle@sh.itjust.works 2 points 1 hour ago

IDK about you but half of the time I'm at work I'm not actually working. I have like 4 hours of insane productivity, but don't know which 4 hours those will be.

[-] EndlessNightmare@reddthat.com 31 points 6 hours ago

This seems like it should be more of a "write-up" type of offense, rather than skipping straight to terminating employment. This is a vigil, not a protest. Microsoft: "how dare you mourn those killed by a genocidal regime."

BTW - what is everyone's favorite non-MS suite of office programs? I've been using Only Office, but curious what others think.

[-] RageAgainstTheRich@lemmy.world 25 points 5 hours ago

100% LibreOffice https://www.libreoffice.org/

[-] Bombastion@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 4 hours ago

Seconded! Been using the suite for years and it rocks. It's also multi-OS compatible, which is super handy.

[-] RadioFreeArabia@lemmy.world 58 points 9 hours ago* (last edited 9 hours ago)

We all knew that Microsoft wasn't a good company. Let this news motivate you to switch to GNU/Linux.

[-] grubbyweasel@sh.itjust.works 26 points 8 hours ago

just deleted windows earlier and am no longer dual booting 👐 Linux is pain but the pain is worth it

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[-] Clent@lemmy.world 33 points 8 hours ago

Unionize

[-] mEEGal@lemmy.world 26 points 8 hours ago

remember this when they talk about being gay friendly or anything else even remotely "woke"

[-] slowmotionrunner@lemmy.sdf.org 6 points 6 hours ago

I don't expect companies to be doing that much anymore.

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this post was submitted on 26 Oct 2024

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