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.

    • Semperverus@lemmy.world
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      2 days ago

      The goalposts have moved to hopefully their final position

      • 99% of my games don’t work! I’m not switching!

      • About half of my games don’t work, I’m not swiching!

      • 20% of my games don’t work but the ones that do are all perfect, I’m not switching!

      • 10% of my games don’t work and Valve is pushing for functioning anticheat with EasyAntiCheat and BattleEye, i’m not switching!

      • You are here → 0.1% of my games don’t work because of holdout companies being assholes and going out of their way to specifically block Linux despite the massive success of the Steam Deck, I’m not switching!

      At some point you have to ask yourself if it’s the companies thats holding you back or if it’s really actually you who are holding yourself back. Switching is gonna always require some kind of sacrifice or another, and currently that sacrifice has never been this minimal.

      Either that, or you are just the kind of person who enjoys being a contrarian and has no interest in actually contributing anything meaningful.

      • gaael@lemmy.world
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        1 day ago

        Well, actually Linux is shit productivity-wise. Setting up the system and messing with it is easy and fun, trying new open-source alternatives is great, and all my games work without a hitch. I just can’t seem to find the time to get actual work done !
        /s

      • Ganbat@lemmy.dbzer0.com
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        2 days ago

        I still dualboot because I have games that don’t work right, but every instance of that in my case seems to be problems with DXVK. In some cases, but not all, I’ve noticed it severely degrades performance, and in others, it seems to break certain features, such as streaming video. I actually had one game that I finished about 90% of before I encountered a sequence with a projector playing a video with important information. That would only display on Windows without DXVK, which was… unpleasant.

        Of course, the most extreme DXVK problem I ever encountered was about two years ago, but I can’t remember what game it was. What I do remember, however, is the extreme and rapid flashing it caused as the visuals horribly corrupted. IMO, DXVK functionality seems to still be one of the bigger hurdles.

      • DeathsEmbrace@lemm.ee
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        2 days ago

        No it literally doesn’t work it’s not compatible. Also don’t be a bitch Linux does not have the same perfect out of box play. Every game I can just run it without needing to worry about it being compatible. You literally need to use Proton which is *hint *hint compatibility layer that is not 100% compatible. There are games I literally can never play because it’s Linux. Also I have to manually add scripts to the startup which is not beginner friendly. Troubleshooting took me more time than windows ever did so no excuses from you Linux lovers I never once needed to troubleshoot running the OS from start. Also if you are using a 4K screen in 2024 not a single one of them works except for a few like Pop to me this is the only embarrassing part.

        • TheGrandNagus@lemmy.world
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          5 hours ago

          4K monitors don’t work in Linux? Lmao that’s demonstrably not true.

          And what the hell ki d of scripts do you need to run at startup?

        • Semperverus@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          Honestly it sounds like you suck more than linux does, because I have never had any of those problems. My 4k monitors have all worked perfectly, and with wayland i have a successful mixed resolution/scaling/refresh rate setup.

          If anyone is being a bitch, its you. You sound salty as fuck. I kind of hope you don’t switch so the linux community doesnt have to put up with your awful attitude.

          Oh, and no shit you need Proton. Thats not even worth discussing.

      • grubbyweasel@sh.itjust.works
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        2 days ago

        Relax. Choice of operating system is entirely a personal one and you’re turning it into some kind of obligation.

        There’s no goalposts to move because it’s not a debate. You’ve never spoken to that person before and all you know about them is that they don’t personally feel ready to switch. Don’t be cringe

          • grubbyweasel@sh.itjust.works
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            1 day ago

            its a personal decision that can be made for political reasons i.e. none of your business quite frankly, and i say this as a Linux user myself

        • Semperverus@lemmy.world
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          2 days ago

          I think that talking about how you want to switch but then claim the thing you want to switch to sucks because of totally fabricated reasons is cringe.

          I don’t think everyone should switch, but i do think that people walking around spouting out bullshit that they clearly have no idea about should be called out and shut down.