wraggster
February 27th, 2019, 17:07
The head of Microsoft has defended the company's decision to take a $479 million contract that will supply HoloLens devices to the US Army.
Microsoft won the contract last year (https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-11-29-us-army-awards-usd480-million-contract-for-microsofts-hololens), fending off competition from the likes of Magic Leap, and will develop HoloLens to become an 'Integrated Visual Augmentation System' for the military -- potentially delivering up to 100,000 headsets.
The device will be used to help soldiers identify threats and "increase lethality" on the battlefield.
Earlier this week, a group of Microsoft employees posted an open letter calling for the company to cancel the contract (https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-02-25-employees-demand-microsoft-cancels-usd479m-hololens-military-contract), stating: "We did not sign up to develop weapons."
Speaking to CNN (https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/25/tech/augmented-reality-microsoft-us-military/index.html), CEO Satya Nadella defended the contract, saying: "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."
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-02-26-microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-defends-hololens-military-contract
Microsoft won the contract last year (https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2018-11-29-us-army-awards-usd480-million-contract-for-microsofts-hololens), fending off competition from the likes of Magic Leap, and will develop HoloLens to become an 'Integrated Visual Augmentation System' for the military -- potentially delivering up to 100,000 headsets.
The device will be used to help soldiers identify threats and "increase lethality" on the battlefield.
Earlier this week, a group of Microsoft employees posted an open letter calling for the company to cancel the contract (https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-02-25-employees-demand-microsoft-cancels-usd479m-hololens-military-contract), stating: "We did not sign up to develop weapons."
Speaking to CNN (https://edition.cnn.com/2019/02/25/tech/augmented-reality-microsoft-us-military/index.html), CEO Satya Nadella defended the contract, saying: "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."
https://www.gamesindustry.biz/articles/2019-02-26-microsoft-ceo-satya-nadella-defends-hololens-military-contract