Microsoft licenses cloud services to monitor legalized marijuana sales

Microsoft, the famously conservative company best-known for producing office software like Windows, has taken the unexpected step of entering the burgeoning industry of marijuana. The company, founded by Bill Gates, announced a partnership on Thursday with Kind Financial, a Los Angeles firm that sells computer systems to governments that track legalized marijuana sales. Microsoft, which is headquartered in Washington, a state where recreational cannabis is now legal, is licensing Kind to sell Microsoft cloud services to authorities to monitor sales – rather than becoming directly involved in the trade itself. Kind, founded in 2013, sells pot tracking software to growers, sellers and governments. But even the cannabis company recognizes the foundations of its business is controversial in some quarters.