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takyon [soylentnews.org] writes:

[+business]

Microsoft will offer software hosted on its Azure cloud service that will help legal cannabis businesses comply with state laws [theregister.co.uk]:

Put this in your pipe and smoke it: Microsoft is offering pot growers software tools to help them stay on the right side of America's relaxed laws. Marijuana is legal in Microsoft's home state of Washington, as well as in Oregon, Colorado and Alaska, and is prescribed medicinally (with varying degrees of laxity) in California and many other states. Redmond isn't getting into the growing or dealing business, but wants to sell cloud services to companies that do.

To that end, it has signed up with LA-based upstart Kind Financial to offer seed-to-sale transaction software that keeps track of inventory and processes orders and sales. Crucially, the software is designed to be in compliance with state laws. The suite will be hosted on Microsoft's Azure Government cloud service.

[...] At stake is a growing new vertical sector for Redmond to sell Azure services to, and the company is not alone. Vengeful [theregister.co.uk] VC Peter Thiel has invested [theregister.co.uk] $75m in Privateer Holdings in Seattle, which bankrolls ganja group Marley Natural and Leafly.com – a Yelp-style website for pot strains and dispensaries.

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