this post was submitted on 06 Apr 2025
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cross-posted from: https://lemmy.ml/post/28202261

The international Boycott, Divestment and Sanctions movement are calling on people to cancel Game Pass subscriptions, avoid Microsoft-owned video game properties such as Minecraft and Call Of Duty, and boycott all Microsoft Gaming and Xbox-branded products in protest at the company’s reported business connections with the Israeli military.

The call follows allegations this January about the Israeli military’s usage of Microsoft’s Azure cloud technology and artificial intelligence products in the course of its bombardment and invasion of Gaza.

According to a joint investigation between the Guardian, Israeli-Palestinian publication +972 Magazine and Hebrew-language outlet Local Call, with additional reporting from Drop Site News, Microsoft have “deepened” their relationship with Israel’s defence establishment since 7th October 2023, when several Palestinian militant groups struck across the border and massacred over a thousand people. Israel responded to the attack by mounting a ground offensive and airstrikes that have destroyed much of Gaza and killed tens of thousands of Palestinians.

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[–] AmazingAwesomator@lemmy.world 50 points 2 days ago (2 children)

use linux. that will remove everything microsoft.

i made the change a few years back, and my wife made the change a few months ago. #worth

[–] nyamlae@lemmy.world 1 points 23 hours ago* (last edited 23 hours ago) (1 children)

Well, it's not so simple for gaming. People who don't already own a gaming PC will need to drop a lot of money to buy one, and then get used to gaming on Linux (which can be janky, as I'm sure you know).

But, it's worth it. Our convenience shouldn't cost us our humanity.

[–] AmazingAwesomator@lemmy.world 0 points 4 hours ago

gaming on linux is not janky. it is quite nice, and it leaves all of the MS UX nightmares at home.

i agree theat computers can be expensive, and are getting more expensive. if its for gaming, the games will be waaaaaaay cheaper, so one will have to look at the savings in the long run (especially by not having a subscription to use the product)

[–] WR5@lemmy.world 16 points 2 days ago (11 children)

Well except for any Xbox peripherals such as controllers, or games published or made by studios owned by Microsoft. It's not just Windows OS.

[–] Toribor@corndog.social 17 points 1 day ago (3 children)

These days 8BitDo controllers are superior to first party Xbox controllers and sold for cheaper.

[–] SeekPie@lemm.ee 1 points 9 hours ago

Are there any with gyro?

[–] MoonlightFox@lemmy.world 1 points 20 hours ago

Yep, I have the 2.4ghz dongle ones with hall effect sensors and charging stand. Its just better and cheaper. The dongle is so that I don't have to sync, I kinda like the whole plug in and it just works.

[–] WR5@lemmy.world 5 points 1 day ago

For sure, there are lots of options for controllers for PC!

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 12 points 2 days ago (2 children)

with piracy you can boycott games without even stopping yourself from playing them.

[–] WR5@lemmy.world 6 points 2 days ago

That is true.

[–] duchess@feddit.org -5 points 1 day ago (3 children)

The most cowardly and entitled boycott is certainly the one where you still consume without spending money.

[–] Doorbook@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago (1 children)

So, the company you supporting publicly uses torrent, to feed its AI model, to Murder on camera, children, women, fist aid worker, journalist and innocents people. Yet, you call someone using the pirated content weak?

[–] duchess@feddit.org -2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

Video games are a luxury and it should be easy to avoid them.

[–] gamermanh@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 1 day ago

And piracy means that you can enjoy them without having to support whatever bad shit happened to make them so you don't need to avoid them

Pretty simple stuff, really

[–] umbrella@lemmy.ml 5 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

its in fact the best boycott. boycotts have nothing to do with personal sacrifice. rub it in their faces and force them to spend millions in DRM, or pay up.

just don't suck up to corporations.

Better than not boycotting though.

[–] Nima@leminal.space 6 points 2 days ago (1 children)

my xbox controller works fine on linux. and I don't feel the need to stay for xbox exclusive software anymore. this isnt 1998. Software comparable or better than microsoft-made applications and programs are numerous now. you can choose freely. and proton is extremely powerful now.

the world needs to move on from windows and microsoft. its time.

[–] WR5@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

I agree with all of this, my point is your Xbox controller is a Microsoft product? And if you purchase or play any games owned by Microsoft, they are also Microsoft products? So you would need to boycott all of that as well. That is just a much larger net cast than just not using Windows.

[–] amino@lemmy.blahaj.zone 21 points 2 days ago (2 children)

BDS does not imply you stop using whatever you already own. it's about preventing future purchases

[–] WR5@lemmy.world 4 points 2 days ago

Again, agreed. The original poster said "use Linux, that will remove everything Microsoft". That is disingenuous, because you can use Linux and still purchase Microsoft products compatible with Linux. So my point was not to toss your existing items. However, you cannot replace your existing physical Microsoft products, purchase new digital content, or support any of Microsoft software in addition to switching from Windows. I didn't imply anything about what you may already own.

[–] HeyThisIsntTheYMCA@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)
[–] amino@lemmy.blahaj.zone 6 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

institutions should divest from future and present contracts. most consumers don't have contracts with Microsoft. selling your electronics doesn't hurt them in any way nor is that something that BDS asks for on their website:

https://bdsmovement.net/microsoft

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[–] micka190@lemmy.world 23 points 2 days ago (1 children)

the Israeli military’s usage of Microsoft’s Azure cloud technology and artificial intelligence products

Genuine question, but doesn't this just mean that Israel paid for a Microsoft Azure subscription and used it to host web services? Like, anyone can do that. What am I missing here, exactly?

They say Microsoft have "deepened" their relationship, but how did they do that, exactly?

[–] amino@lemmy.blahaj.zone 19 points 2 days ago (1 children)

they answer your question in detail on their own website

https://www.bdsmovement.net/microsoft

[–] XM34@feddit.org 3 points 1 day ago (2 children)

So, yeah. It's pretty much that.

[–] skrlet13@feddit.cl 5 points 1 day ago (1 children)

If you knew someone is doing terrible stuff with the goods/services you are offering to them, would you happily continue to have that commercial relationship?

Israel crimes are known. Microsoft has deleted accounts for muuuuuuuuuuch less.

[–] XM34@feddit.org 1 points 20 hours ago

Yeah, but that's the thing. Other accounts don't bring millions of revenue.

[–] amino@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 1 day ago

wrong, no other cloud provider offers the same military services that Microsoft does

[–] y0kai@lemmy.dbzer0.com 11 points 1 day ago

Two steps ahead of you

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 20 points 2 days ago (2 children)

Part of why it's so ridiculous some Americans are legally prohibited from participating in BDS, is people only know if you tell them.

You can just not buy it and never mention why.

And unfortunately, lots of people aren't even aware it's illegal:

https://www.newsweek.com/pro-palestinian-protest-states-colleges-illegal-bds-1895292

[–] Katana314@lemmy.world 4 points 1 day ago (1 children)

This whole thing has erupted on my radar in the past month ever since they abducted the girl from Tufts.

HOW does this genocidal state have such an insane stranglehold on our country?

Now I’m getting YouTube ads to demonize Hamas; apparently their effort to “pull people back” and get people sympathetic for October 7 hostages. I AM sympathetic to the hostages!…So why is Israel bombing them??

[–] givesomefucks@lemmy.world 3 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

HOW does this genocidal state have such an insane stranglehold on our country?

Before AIPAC there was another Israeli organization that donated to politicians.

After years of fighting a committee ruled that it had to register as a foreign agent.

So Israel created AIPAC and then gave Max donations to the people on the committee that decides who has to register as a foreign agent.

Which is why AIPAC has never had to register.

As both parties continually got rid of campaign finance law, AIPAC kept increasing what they gave, and started throwing insane money at anyone critical of Israel in the primary when it's cheap.

Over decades they've bought the only two options and ensured the only two options were peo-Israel over anything else

The worst part ...

They're not the only organization, even foreign country. Doing this to ensure they always win.

Luckily while Ken Martin does have a pro-Israel bias, while running Minnesota he was one of the few state chairs who refused to work against anti-genocide Dems in primaries or generals. Which resulted in Minnesota being one of the progressive strongholds despite no one guessing it would shake out that way a decade ago.

So I want to be clear:

The people fucking up the DNC for decades is gone, we need to support the new DNC to keep it out of their hands. The people running the DNC six months ago wants the current DNC to take the fall so they can move back in.

[–] suite403@lemmy.world 6 points 1 day ago

We're so freeeeee!

[–] abfarid@startrek.website 14 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] MrQuallzin@lemmy.world 7 points 1 day ago (3 children)

That's just what it looks like now

[–] Resol@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago

The original Duke, S controller, and Xbox 360 controllers all have similar D-pads. I actually forgot they switched to a traditional one.

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[–] brrt@sh.itjust.works 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)

You know what would help? Steam releasing a console. Valve, please just do what you did with the Steam Deck and put it in a box, offer 2-3 variations of specs and refresh them every 3-5 years.

[–] Nibodhika@lemmy.world 26 points 2 days ago (1 children)

They can even call them something cool like Steam Machines

[–] FoolishAchilles@lemm.ee 11 points 2 days ago (1 children)
[–] Nibodhika@lemmy.world 0 points 20 hours ago
[–] ThunderWhiskers@lemmy.world 3 points 2 days ago

Fuuuuuccckkk

[–] amino@lemmy.blahaj.zone 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (1 children)

a question to parents/guardians of kids playing Minecraft or other Microsoft games:

if they uninstall the Microsoft version of Minecraft and switch to a pirated launcher, does that respect the BDS demands? also, does playing it on Linux Mint from the Software Manager benefit Microsoft in any way?

I'm aware of similar media boycotts such as SAG/AFTRA telling people not to promote targeted media projects publicly. Ofc, BDS is a different organization but I'm hoping someone could clarify if not promoting Minecraft while still playing is sufficient? I'm not personally invested in continuing to play, but would like to find ways to inspire my young relative to consume consciously.

[–] skrlet13@feddit.cl 3 points 1 day ago

The most important thing in boycotts is not giving them (more) money, and not promoting their goods/services. You can't get your money back from already bought things, so you can use or buy used stuff from other person.

Regarding Minecraft, the most effective is to avoid all its subscriptions and new purchases. But there are more actions, like not promoting and not playing. It is more about what you can do at the moment. Usually, listening and sharing the bad things done by the company helps you decide what can you do rn.

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