this post was submitted on 24 Jan 2025
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Microsoft is a major provider of cloud services and artificial intelligence for the Israeli military, according to internal documents related to the contracts between the Israeli Ministry of Defense (MoD) and Microsoft Israel obtained by Drop Site News. The leaked documents show that Israel’s usage spiked dramatically in the months following October 7, 2023 when Israel was using AI and other technology to wage its brutal war on Gaza.

The trove of documents reveals that Microsoft’s ties to the Israeli military are deeper and more lucrative than previously known, exposing the tech giant’s role in supplying advanced cloud and AI services during the war that multiple international bodies, including the International Court of Justice, ruled may plausibly constitute a genocide.

Leaked data show a dramatic spike in Microsoft cloud storage used by the Israeli military, jumping more than 155 percent between June 2023 and April 2024, and peaking just before the Rafah offensive in May 2024. Storage use is an important indicator showing the extent of AI usage, since storage usually grows along with the usage of other cloud products.

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[–] Arkouda@lemmy.ca 5 points 2 hours ago

Ironically, IBM also does a lot of business with the Israeli military.

Until proven otherwise assume every United States Corporation supports the Likud Government and their genocidal aspirations in one way or another, especially US Tech and Military Corporations.

[–] _wizard@lemmy.world 10 points 6 hours ago

Was super obvious last year when Israel was running ads on blogs about their occupation. Super cringe AI stuff.

[–] Grandwolf319@sh.itjust.works 10 points 7 hours ago

So I guess there is a use case for AI,

It’s almost like out of a movie, the technology can only be used to benefit evil.

[–] in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com 12 points 9 hours ago (1 children)

And what are we gonna do about it?

[–] Deceptichum@quokk.au 32 points 8 hours ago (2 children)
[–] nossaquesapao@lemmy.eco.br 13 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

And libreoffice, and stop using copilot or game pass or any of their services

[–] hddsx@lemmy.ca 4 points 3 hours ago (1 children)

Stop using copilot? Has anyone started?

[–] nossaquesapao@lemmy.eco.br 2 points 2 hours ago

Unfortunately, a lot of people. Probably not so many here on Lemmy but a lot of people. And I even know a couple of them irl :(

[–] in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 8 hours ago (3 children)

How does Linux fair with gaming, game dev, and modding? I don't wanna get on Linux and have to jump through hoops just to get Vortex working for Nexusmods or something.

[–] rottingleaf@lemmy.world 2 points 1 hour ago

Any Renpy-based visual novella is a first-class citizen.

There's Wine, with PlayOnLinux as the old way to make it easy, and Lutris as the new way to make it easy, and Proton as Steam's patched downstream of Wine. That covers a lot of Windows games. There are native games, in native Steam too. I mentioned Proton, one can choose it as compatibility option for Windows games in Steam, with varying success.

Problems I've had are with video drivers more than with Wine and such.

Anyway, I'm using FreeBSD now, even here one can spend some time and have Linux Steam with some things working. That's if just Wine or just Proton or PlayOnBSD/Mizuma (FreeBSD analogs of PlayOnLinux) are not enough.

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 10 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Pretty well unless you’re playing AAA games with anticheat. Check out protondb for steamy details.

[–] in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

Modded Cyberpunk is kinda my thing right now, would that be a problem on Linux?

I can't remember specifics but I remember a bunch of games i've modded don't have tools supported on Linux.

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I’d have to check. I know Cyberpunk was supported very early on Linux but haven’t looked into modding it.

I’d be cautiously optimistic.

A quick search turns up this page which definitely sounds like it basically just works.

https://wiki.redmodding.org/cyberpunk-2077-modding/for-mod-users/users-modding-cyberpunk-2077/modding-on-linux

[–] in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com -2 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

Holy shit that's a lot just to be able to play a game. Is there any hope of Linux becoming more user friendly and streamlined?

[–] Rentlar@lemmy.ca 3 points 4 hours ago

For vanilla games the process has become "enable the Steam Play checkbox one time on your computer, then download and press Play". How much easier does it need to be?".

Each of the following things can add a layer of complexity:

  • Mods/Mod Launchers
  • Pirated Games (I've stopped pirating Steam Games for years since my financial situation is better now)
  • Connecting non-standard input/output hardware
[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 5 points 8 hours ago* (last edited 8 hours ago) (1 children)

That’s not “just to be able to play a game”. Mods are always whole ‘nother thing, that’s not exclusive to Linux.

[–] in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com -2 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

It's much easier on Windows. When it's just as is easy if not easier to do on Linux is the day I switch without hesitation. I'm far too setup and comfortable with Windows, I'm a pleb I know but it is what it is.

[–] Hawke@lemmy.world 10 points 8 hours ago

I mean the TLDR covers it pretty well. It’s only like 3 steps. YMMV but use what you’re comfortable with. Linux will be here waiting if you ever decide to dip your toes in (or take the plunge)

TL;DR

You need to

  • Install d3dcompiler_47

  • Install vcrun2022

  • Adjust the Steam launch option to be: WINEDLLOVERRIDES="winmm,version=n,b" %command%

[–] penquin@lemm.ee 3 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

If you want those mindless online shooter games who slobber all over that absolutely useless anticheat software, then stay on windows honestly. Everything else is mostly even better on Linux because you have less overhead. Every single game I play works 100%.

[–] in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

If you want those mindless online shooter games who slobber all over that absolutely useless anticheat software, then stay on windows honestly.

But i'm currently on Windows and I don't play those games. What I want is an alternative that I don't have to jump through hoops and follow a recipe just to boot up games, and have access to modding tools that most if not all are only built for Windows.

[–] Jestzer@lemmy.world 2 points 6 hours ago (1 children)

I use Linux daily for work and gaming. Honestly, it’s not there yet for gaming. The closest you’ll get to “it just works” is with the Steam Deck, and even then, modding is not as straightforward most of the time. Very few things, gaming-wise, are easier than Windows and I would’ve struggled had I not already known my way around Linux, thanks to work.

[–] in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com 2 points 6 hours ago* (last edited 6 hours ago) (1 children)

Wow thank you for the incredibly balanced argument. I really want to switch to Linux for all the obvious reasons, but it's the same cliche reason why I don't - I'm too much of a bitch-dude to make such a big change to something I use and operate on the daily without certainty. But as i've said, the moment say Valve come out with a SteamOS for desktop which is basically Windows through and through minus the bloatware and corruption (that isn't to say Valve isn't corrupt but they're not making weapons for Israel) is the day I switch with no qualms. Like many I'm far too used to the interface and compatability of Windows still.

[–] Jestzer@lemmy.world 2 points 5 hours ago

You’re most welcome. I completely understand your situation and is why I don’t constantly tell others to switch. I’m very happy using Linux, but I had to do a lot of learning to get here. I know it’s not realistic for everybody to have the motivation to make the move.

Keep in mind, SteamOS is going to be smooth for gaming, but possibly challenging for other things. Modding will still have some challenges to it and anything that isn’t gaming might not be so easy too. If you plan to use SteamOS when it comes out, the closest experience to it is Bazzite OS with KDE Plasma. If you’re curious enough, setup it up in a VM and try to get your non-gaming software working.

[–] penquin@lemm.ee 1 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

I'm not sure about modding, as I never do any mods nor develop them. That's why I talked about the shooter games, since they're a major issue for people who play them and want to move to Linux. Because most of them don't work. I know some modding software works on Linux through proton/wine, but I've never tried them.

[–] in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 8 hours ago (2 children)

It's like that feeling on the diving board before you jump in the pool without knowing how warm or cold the water is. I'm still afraid of getting wet, if you know what I mean.

[–] penquin@lemm.ee 1 points 2 hours ago

Simple. Just don't switch to Linux 100%. I've used Linux only for about 7 years then there was this game that wouldn't work on Linux and I really liked that game. So I dualboot now. If you have an extra SSD/Sata in your PC, definitely use that to put Linux on it(to make sure both systems are separated from each other). Once Linux is installed, then install osprober on it and make sure you set your grub timeout to at least 5 seconds. That way both systems show up in grub. Grub is a boat loader for Linux. And the reason why I'm suggesting to separate the two OS's is because windows always takes over the bootloader when it gets a feature update, and if you have both systems on one drive, it'd be a nightmare to recover your Linux partition. But if you have them separately and windows takes over, it becomes a matter of going into your bios and changing the boot sequence to make the Linux drive primary. Go in there and reinstall osprober/grub and you're in the game.

[–] Thassodar@lemm.ee 1 points 7 hours ago (1 children)

I'm there with you but my understanding is it's free to try and you can dual boot both of them easily without major changes.

That being said, I have not tried Linux myself in over 10 years.

[–] in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 6 hours ago

I just wanna stop feeling bad when Muta yells at me.

[–] in4apenny@lemmy.dbzer0.com 0 points 8 hours ago (1 children)

There isn't just mindless online slobber shooters on Windows, y'know. Those same shooters exist on Linux too.

[–] penquin@lemm.ee 2 points 8 hours ago

I'm talking about the games themselves, not where they exist.