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Microsoft is Working On Software For The Legal Marijuana Industry (theverge.com)

Posted by BeauHD on from the under-the-radar dept.

An anonymous reader writes from a report via The Verge: Microsoft has announced today that it will partner with Los Angeles-based startup Kind on a system for tracking the legal growing and sale of marijuana. Microsoft will work with the startup on software services for governments tracking legal weed, with Microsoft powering the software through its Azure cloud computing service. "The goal of this relationship is to leverage each company's resources to provide State, County, and Municipalities with purpose built solutions for track and trace ('seed to sale' in the cannabis industry) technology," Kind said in a statement. As reported in The New York Times, this is a pretty significant venture for a corporation publicly journeying into the controversial industry. Growing and selling marijuana is still illegal under the federal government.

6 of 87 comments (clear)

  1. Obviously... by nospam007 · · Score: 4, Funny

    Waiting for the Blue Smoke of Death.

  2. Very interesting... by __aaclcg7560 · · Score: 4, Insightful

    Will the banks stop doing business with Microsoft for fear of being accused of money laundering for the drug lords?

    1. Re:Very interesting... by SirSlud · · Score: 4, Insightful

      Banks refuse to take money from pot dispensaries - none of the money from those dispensaries are using payment services from those banks. Pot dispensaries and banks already use Microsoft operating systems and loads of other Microsoft software. There are plenty of pre-existing 2 degrees of separation of cash flow here for this development to present scenario where banks have any fear of being shut down for being tied to the sale of narcotics. No bank is going to go, "Uhoh, we'd better change swaths of our IT infrastructure now because maybe the money pot dispensaries make is spent on Microsoft services, with whom we then do business with." Nor is the federal government going to try and shut down a bank for dealing with Microsoft. If they have any issue with Microsoft's participation in this market, they'd go after Microsoft first.

      --
      "Old man yells at systemd"
  3. Yeah by c · · Score: 4, Funny

    With the $26 billion Linkedin buyout, it's certainly obvious that Microsoft has a lot of expertise in the cannabis industry.

    --
    Log in or piss off.
  4. Completely fucking pointless! by Khyber · · Score: 4, Interesting

    The software already exists - it's called an INVENTORY/LOGISTICS SYSTEM. Any basic fucking warehouse has one.

    Oh, but this time, WEED IS INVOLVED! That's worth a patent, right?

    Give me a fucking break.

    --
    Still waiting on Serviscope_minor to wake up to fucking reality and realize that Jessica Price isn't going to fuck him.
  5. aint none by frovingslosh · · Score: 4, Insightful

    There is no legal marijuana industry in this country. Just a president who refuses to uphold our laws like he pledged to when he took office. And there is no assurance that the next president will not enforce those laws, and use all of those nice public records to help do it.

    --
    I'm an American. I love this country and the freedoms that we used to have.