Recently, following a whim, or perhaps as the ancients would describe it, my demiurge, I read the Wikipedia article about Microsoft. 

It’s a solid article, filled with important, if too briefly presented historic and technical details. My decades long career in technology has taken me in many directions but at the foundation, Microsoft and its ‘enterprise’ (that is, designed for the corporate market) products and services are there, ever present and inescapable, like gravitational force.

And so, as I read, there was a feeling of, not nostalgia but recognition; the story being told was not merely familiar, but part of my own tale.

It would be fair to say that Microsoft is a beast whose moves and roar I know like the proverbial back of my hand.

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Five years ago, I started a book with the working title of Attack Mannequins’. The book’s theme: the promotion of ‘AI’ is an anti-worker psyop. The idea was introduced here:

https://monroelab.com/2021/09/19/attack-mannequins-ai-as-propaganda/

Over the years, this theme, though important and true, began to seem unfocused. The general can be illuminated by a deep focus on the particular and it’s possible, therefore, to analyze the nature of tech capital by examining the Global Political Economy of Microsoft.

There are, of course, many US based tech firms and a few that occupy the commanding heights. Among them, Microsoft stands out because of its deep integration into all key sectors: energy, education, healthcare, military and more, filling spaces like a creeping mist.

We correctly note Palantir’s role as the tech stack for state surveillance but Microsoft has long been there:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/defense-intelligence

We talk about the imposition of ‘AI’ in education. Microsoft, using its decades-old market dominance is the most practiced at coopting educators and shaping institutions:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/education

We discuss climate change and the hydrocarbon cartel; Microsoft is a key factor and force multiplier in enabling extraction and burning:

https://www.microsoft.com/en-us/ai/energy-resources/oil-gas

We live in the age of live streamed genenocide and the dropping of any pretence of an international order: Microsoft is among the key enablers:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_companies_involved_in_the_Gaza_war?wprov=sfti1#

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In sector after sector, Microsoft is at the center or a powerful player. By studying its global role and reach, we can better understand the nature of tech capital overall. This is why my focus now is on exploring its role in global political economy.