Microsoft CEO Defends Army HoloLens Contract

Microsoft CEO Defends Army Contract

While the Microsoft AR headset, the HoloLens, hasn’t really had much to talk about in the last few months, it’s been all go in the last few days. On the more positive side of things (at least from Microsoft perspective) they have just announced that the 2nd-generation model is currently available to pre-order. In the downside of things, however, a number of employees have openly criticised the company for accepting a contract from the army. This has even led to an open letter being sent to the company which has been signed by many prominent members with them essentially citing an open-call for more employees to back the letter.

In a report via PCGamesN, however, despite this criticism, company CEO Satya Nadella is standing by the decision.

The Deal

The deal, worth exactly $479,197,708.33, was signed last October. It requires the company to provide 100,000 headsets to the US army. Presumably with some tweaks to suit the customer. In response to the company discord, Satya Nadella has said: “We made a principled decision that we’re not going to withhold technology from institutions that we have elected in democracies to protect the freedoms we enjoy. We were very transparent about that decision and we’ll continue to have that dialogue. It’s really about being a responsible corporate citizen in a democracy.”

Company Controversies!

This isn’t the first time in recent months that a major technology company has come under criticism from its employees. For example, Google is currently facing a lot of controversy over its efforts to implement a search engine suitable for the needs of China’s heavily censored media.

It seems, however, that for the moment, Microsoft is pushing ahead with the deal. Regardless of how it’s employees feel about it.

What do you think? – Let us know in the comments!