Microsoft news recap: opposes Trump’s travel ban, Photosynth closes its doors and more

Jack Wilkinson

Microsoft (MSFT) news recap is a weekly feature highlighting the top Microsoft news stories of the past week. Sit back, grab some coffee, and enjoy the read!

Microsoft joins nearly 100 other tech companies with brief opposing US immigrant travel ban

Microsoft has formally opposed Donald Trump’s immigrant travel ban by signing a brief with nearly 100 other companies in the technology industry, classing the Executive Order as “illegal.”

Microsoft’s $250,000 inauguration donation seems at odds with its recent protest

Despite formally opposing the US travel ban, it has been discovered that Microsoft donated $250,000 to the inauguration. While this is common practice for companies, it seems at odds to Microsoft’s formal stance.

New court ruling means Microsoft’s lawsuit against the DOJ will live on

Microsoft has been fighting for the privacy of its customers for nearly a year against the US Department of Justice. It filed a lawsuit against the use of gag orders to obtain customer information. The suit has now passed through District Judge James Robart, who we may remember from the recent Muslim ban debacle.

Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella defends an “enlightened immigration policy” at Detroit talk

Microsoft’s CEO, Satya Nadella, is continuing to make his stance on Donald Trump’s immigration ban clear. This time he was holding a talk in Detroit when he made the following statement:

Clearly, national security is a high priority, but, at the same time you got to create policy that allow us to continue to be the place where the best and brightest will come, as well as show our humanity. It’s not just about high skill immigration. American has been a beacon of hope far beyond that.

Satya Nadella

Microsoft Photosynth has officially shut down

This week saw the official closing of Photosynth. Microsoft has made the source code open source and released a viewer for the service, so that people can still view their creations offline.

That’s it for this week – we’ll be back next week with more Microsoft news!