Microsoft has several significant contracts with the US military and Department of Defence (DoJ). Those deals have stirred controversy, most notably the $10 billion war cloud contract with the Pentagon and a $480 million deal to bring HoloLens to the US military.
Despite protests, Microsoft has resolutely said it will continue to work with military branches. True to that promise, the company has this week signed a monster $21.9 billion contract to extend HoloLens availability across armed forces.
When the initial deal was signed in November 2018, Microsoft faced backlash, even from its own employees. Arguments against the deal focused on how HoloLens would be used to train soldiers and eventually lead to deaths.
That training comes from HoloLens’ Visual Augmentation System (IVAS). Microsoft CEO, Satya Nadella stood firm against the protests and Microsoft is now in a position to extend the contract.
“We welcome dialogue with our employees on a continuous basis,” Nadella said back in 2018. “When this first came up we had the dialogue and 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.”
Expansion
Specifically, tying up a deal that is forty times larger than the initial one. Although, it is worth noting the contract spans over the next ten years, with Microsoft supplying and supporting 120,000 customizer AR headsets.
Those devises will. Use HoloLens as a base. Considering previous protests died down and it was business as usual between Microsoft and the US military, it will be interesting to see how employees react this time.
Tip of the day:
When using your Windows 10 laptop or convertible with a mobile hotspot
you might want to limit the Internet bandwidth your PC uses. In our tutorial we are showing you how to set up a metered connection in Windows 10 and how to turn it off again, if needed.