microsoft Microsoft will develop software to help legal marijuana businesses

[Reefa]

Quote

 

As more and more states across the US begin to legalize marijuana use, it's becoming apparent to big businesses that there are profits to be made in the industry. One surprising company jumping into the market is Microsoft, which has revealed it's partnering with the Los Angeles-based weed startup Kind to develop software aimed at businesses that grow and sell marijuana legally.

 

The software will based on Microsoft's Azure cloud platform, and will be used to track everything from growing plants to sales numbers. "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 wrote in their announcement.

 

While Microsoft isn't getting directly involved in the act of growing and selling marijuana, it's still a big move to be one of the first major corporations to have connections with the weed industry, which is still heavily shunned by big business. Then again they are based in Washington State, one of the first to legalize the drug.

 

The risk isn't lost on Microsoft, but they also see that the market offers much more to gain. "We do think there will be significant growth," a representative told the New York Times. "As the industry is regulated, there will be more transactions, and we believe there will be more sophisticated requirements and tools down the road."

 

source

 

[gipsy]

Quote

While Microsoft isn't getting directly involved in the act of growing and selling marijuana, it's still a big move to be one of the first major corporations to have connections with the weed industry

sure is better to hv huge money of weed instead to make indeed good OS.smart-ass motherf***rs.

[TheMountain]

"While Microsoft isn't getting directly involved in the act of growing and selling marijuana,"

 

According to the first paragraph, Microsh!t is getting (in)directly involved with the cannabis biz. The quoted remark is pandering to Microsh!t's whims.

 

Anyways, I don't want Microsh!t growing weed. The pot quality I can imagine would be as sh!tty as Windows 10. 

[gipsy]

18 minutes ago, TheMountain said:

The pot quality I can imagine would be as sh!tty as Windows 10. 

who told ya they will grow weed by own hands? don't forget about MSDN & Technet subscriptions

[humble3d]

It IS a real news story...

 

Microsoft and Legal Marijuana Trade  

As state after state has legalized marijuana in one way or another, big names in corporate America have stayed away entirely. Marijuana, after all, is still illegal, according to the federal government.

But Microsoft is breaking the corporate taboo on pot this week by announcing a partnership to begin offering software that tracks marijuana plants from “seed to sale,” as the pot industry puts it.

The software — a new product in Microsoft’s cloud computing business — is meant to help states that have legalized the medical or recreational use of marijuana keep tabs on sales and commerce, ensuring that they remain in the daylight of legality.

But until now, even that boring part of the pot world was too controversial for mainstream companies. It is apparent now, though, that the legalization train is not slowing down: This fall, at least five states, including the biggest of them all — California — will vote on whether to legalize marijuana for recreational use.

So far, only a handful of smaller banks are willing to offer accounts to companies that grow or sell marijuana, and Microsoft will not be touching that part of the business. But the company’s entry into the government compliance side of the business suggests the beginning of a legitimate infrastructure for an industry that has been growing fast and attracting lots of attention, both good and bad.

“We do think there will be significant growth,” said Kimberly Nelson, the executive director of state and local government solutions at Microsoft. “As the industry is regulated, there will be more transactions, and we believe there will be more sophisticated requirements and tools down the road.”

Microsoft’s baby step into the business came through an announcement on Thursday that it was teaming up with a Los Angeles start-up, Kind, that built the software the tech giant will begin marketing. Kind — one of many small companies trying to take the marijuana business mainstream — offers a range of products, including A.T.M.-style kiosks that facilitate marijuana sales, working through some of the state-chartered banks that are comfortable with such customers.

Microsoft will not be getting anywhere near these kiosks or the actual plants. Rather, it will be working with Kind’s “government solutions” division, offering software only to state and local governments that are trying to build compliance systems.

But for the young and eager legalized weed industry, Microsoft’s willingness to attach its name to any part of the business is a big step forward.

“Nobody has really come out of the closet, if you will,” said Matthew A. Karnes, the founder of Green Wave Advisors, which provides data and analysis of the marijuana business. “It’s very telling that a company of this caliber is taking the risk of coming out and engaging with a company that is focused on the cannabis business.”

David Dinenberg, the founder and chief executive of Kind, said it had taken a long time — and a lot of courting of big-name companies — to persuade the first one to get on board.

“Every business that works in the cannabis space, we all clamor for legitimacy,” said Mr. Dinenberg, a former real estate developer in Philadelphia who moved to California to start Kind. “I would like to think that this is the first of many dominoes to fall.”

Kind makes A.T.M.-style kiosks that facilitate marijuana sales. Credit Elizabeth Lippman for The New York Times

It’s hard to know if other corporate giants have provided their services in more quiet ways to cannabis purveyors. New York State, for instance, has said it is working with Oracle to track medicinal marijuana patients. But there appears to be little precedent for a big company advertising its work in the space. It is still possible — though considered unlikely — that the federal government could decide to crack down on the legalization movement in the states.

The partnership with Kind is yet another bold step for Microsoft as its looks to replace the revenue from its fading desktop software business. On Monday, it announced that it was buying LinkedIn.

Microsoft has put a lot of emphasis on its cloud business, Azure. The Kind software will be one of eight pieces of preferred software that Microsoft will offer to users of Azure Government — and the only one related to marijuana.

The conflict between state and federal laws on marijuana has given a somewhat improvisational nature to the cannabis industry.

Stores that sell pot have been particularly hobbled by the unwillingness of banks to deal with the money flowing through the industry. Many dispensaries have been forced to rely on cash for all transactions, or looked to start-ups like Kind, with its kiosks that take payments inside dispensaries.

Governments, too, have generally been relying on smaller start-ups to help develop technology that can track marijuana plants and sales. A Florida software company, BioTrackTHC, is helping Washington State, New Mexico and Illinois monitor the marijuana trade inside their states.

Kind has no state contracts. But it has already applied, with Microsoft, to provide its software to Puerto Rico, which legalized marijuana for medical purposes earlier this year.

Twenty-five states have now legalized marijuana in some form or another, with Pennsylvania and Ohio the most recent. The biggest business opportunity, though, will come from states that allow recreational use of the drug, as Colorado, Oregon and Washington already do.

This fall, five states — including, most significantly, California — will vote on whether to join that club.

Mr. Karnes, the analyst, said he expected legal marijuana sales to jump to $6.5 billion this year, from $4.8 billion last year. He says that number could climb to $25 billion by the year 2020 if California voters approve the recreational measure this year, as is widely expected.

The opening up of the market in California is already leading to a scramble for the big money that is likely to follow, and Microsoft will now be well placed to get in on the action.

Ms. Nelson of Microsoft said that initially her company would be marketing the Kind software at conferences for government employees, but it could eventually also be attending the cannabis events where Kind is already a regular presence.

“This is an entirely new field for us,” she said. “We would have to figure out which conference might be the premier conference in this space. That’s not outside the realm of possibility.”
Continue reading the main story

 

http://www.nytimes.com/2016/06/17/business/dealbook/microsoft-following-the-clouds-to-offer-marijuana-tracking-software.html?_r=0

 

[TheMountain]

Look at Bill Gates, that dude must be hitting something. How else can you explain the brainless decisions Microsh!t continually makes? 

[straycat19]

Marijuana businesses better watch out.  They install the software and Microsoft uses their data collection techniques to compile a customer record and financial data to provide to the government in accordance with their new motto, "All your data belong to us."

 

[LeeSmithG]

I don't do drugs, nor have used non-prescribed drugs, however, we could automatically remove ninety per cent (90%) of all crime buy legalising the whole lot.

I will also predict that usage will fall.

Mainly from death, but also, human nature, some will see it as not cool anymore and will stop doing it as it's not naughty anymore.

Drug cartels will disappear, violence from running areas, like the blud's and the crip's will have nothing to control anymore.

Mexico will wake up, so will Colombia, the gangs will just move away.

The governments should then grow and produce heroin, cocaine, marijuana and any other illegal products and sell them to the general public from corner shops.

If people grow their own so be it.

You can legally grow tobacco in the u.k. and as long as you pay duty on it sell it or use it for personal use.

You can brew your own beer and wine, but not spirits.

If I ran the world I would legalise it, not a user, but so be it if others want to kill themselves quickly using the above products.

[pc71520]

17 hours ago, gipsy said:

who told ya they will grow weed by own hands?

Who?  

[Pequi]

9 hours ago, LeeSmithG said:

If I ran the world I would legalise it, not a user, but so be it if others want to kill themselves quickly using the above products.

That would be a medical first, death by cannabis overdose. Probably make the Guiness book of records.

Alcohol, OTOH, has killed hundreds of thousands of people. Yet people discuss if cannabis should be legalized "over a nice pint or two of beer".

Strange world we live in.

[Karlston]

I can see Microsoft's marketing of the Pot growing software extending to Nadella and Myerson, both red eyed, fronting press conferences and proudly announcing "over 300 million users stoned".

[TheMountain]

 

Marijuana & Microsoft 

 

These two words sound good together. 

[LeeSmithG]

8 hours ago, Pequi said:

That would be a medical first, death by cannabis overdose. Probably make the Guiness book of records.

Alcohol, OTOH, has killed hundreds of thousands of people. Yet people discuss if cannabis should be legalized "over a nice pint or two of beer".

Strange world we live in.

 

People have died from miss-use of cannabis.

Also it is proven to drive you mad eventually.

Mad people end up doing things that can harm themselves and others.

[steven36]

I use too have a 130 IQ  tell i had 420 time  with Bill Gates 

 

 

[Pequi]

7 hours ago, steven36 said:

I use too have a 130 IQ  tell i had 420 time  with Bill Gates

Re :

 

I take metoprolol. That's a powerful drug. Will it fry my brain too ?

It also affects driving and "managing heavy equipment". Probably as dangerous as cannabis, if not more so.

 

Advise ..... you might be saving what little is left of my sanity.

 

[TheMountain]

On June 20, 2016 at 1:45 AM, LeeSmithG said:

 

People have died from miss-use of cannabis.

Also it is proven to drive you mad eventually.

Mad people end up doing things that can harm themselves and others.

 

 

Image courtesy of High Times. 

[LeeSmithG]

5 hours ago, TheMountain said:

 

 

Image courtesy of High Times. 

 

I am sure they would warn you too not to smoke cigarettes you find on the floor as they may contain L.C.D.

 

I have heard a few cases of the dreaded weed killing people from over use and when it makes people go out of control, example jumping in front of moving traffic.

 

I have a read a lot of psychiatric reports that the same weed does nothing to harmful till men and women reach thirty one (31) then it drives them crazy.

 

I remember a look back programme that also mentioned if you have a cough, then have a cigarette, as in the fifties (50's) it was seen that way.

 

I don't do drugs, never have done, never will but, it's human nature, just legalise it, cut the high rate of crime caused by it and if people die young so be it.

[Pequi]

5 hours ago, LeeSmithG said:

I am sure they would warn you too not to smoke cigarettes you find on the floor as they may contain L.C.D.

I looked and looked and finally found one, but the display was way too small.

Not worth the bother, unless you own a microscope.

HTH

;)

[TheMountain]

20 hours ago, Pequi said:

I looked and looked and finally found one, but the display was way too small.

Not worth the bother, unless you own a microscope.

HTH

 

Cannabis, humour, love & masturbation keeps the body count low. 

 

Also I don't mind sharing with the voices in my head.