Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving the legal marijuana trade • Hacker News Board

Re: Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving the legal marijuana trade

#201

Post by nostrebored » Fri, Jun 17, 2016, 5:52 AM UTC

zhengyi13 wrote: post #131

oxide wrote: post #120

Earlier quoted context omitted.

in my neck of the woods in CA, dispensaries aren't going to buy cartel brick weed. you can't just walk in off the street and sell to a dispensary anyway, I don't think that will change with a move to recreational legalization. cartels can't compete with local street prices anyway, never mind recreational dispensaries. when you can get an 1/8th ounce of high quality stuff for 25 dollars off-season, and an a full ounce…

Based on some of the complaints (anecdotally) I've heard about public land use, I think it's a mistake to assume cartel weed is brick/low-quality weed. They're clearly engaged in growing locally, if only because you eliminate the risk of border inspections and longer transport lines.

wander too far into the woods in CA, and odds are you'll find a grow op

Re: Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving the legal marijuana trade

#202

Post by jsonne » Fri, Jun 17, 2016, 6:19 AM UTC

mc32 wrote: post #142

delbel wrote: post #57

The system Oregon (and Colorado) uses for recreational is called METRC and is made by a company called Franwell. When I was at training, the spokes person actually asked for hands raised if anyone knew what a REST API was. Their seed-to-sale tracking system (required by law in Oregon), if used for food (just for example) would be able to tell you what corn field, and what corn plant, in Iowa, when and what fertilizer…

Cumbersome, but cam you imagine the benefits to health, if expanded to food production, when an e.coli etc. outbreak happens or mad cow, etc. Trace back the farm and know exactly which lots to pull.

It is. DNA Traceback is a huge deal in the beef industry.

Re: Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving the legal marijuana trade

#203

Post by toomanybeersies » Fri, Jun 17, 2016, 7:15 AM UTC

jnhuynh wrote: post #146

eunoia wrote: post #7

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Massively underserved. I live in Denver and have friends with ownership stakes in local dispensaries. The quality of their software solutions (mainly POS/Compliance) is laughable. Edit: This ( http://www.mjfreeway.com/ ) is the defacto standard. I kid you not it went down for 2 weeks ~a year ago after scheduled maintenance went wrong. At the time it had ~50% market share, this left dispensaries around the country doi…

It's funny that you mention MJFreeway. Their one of our competitors. I'm an engineer at [Greenbits][1], a marijuana POS system running on almost 50% of stores in Washington State. We were runner up finalists at [2015's Tech Crunch Disrupt][2]. Every quarter, we do visits to stores (some of our customers and those of our competitors). It's amazing to see the state of the industry and how underserved it is. I think par…

I used to work for a startup doing regular hospitality POS (cafes, bars, etc).

It's not just MJ POS systems, it's POS systems in general. I don't know what it is about them, but they seem to attract horrible software solutions. I see you've gone with iPads, we did the same, a lot better than the industry standard touch screen monitor.

You'd think that people wouldn't like the smaller screens, but we never got any complaints about it. I guess it's about how you utilise the space. I guess there is always the option to use iPad pros if you really want the real estate, although we actually had a couple of customers using iPad minis instead, I think it was for small stalls or something.

Re: Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving the legal marijuana trade

#204

Post by elbear » Fri, Jun 17, 2016, 7:57 AM UTC

kefka wrote: post #182

slededit wrote: post #141

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Unfair questions should be called out. Perhaps "dumb" isn't the most appropriate term, but I do think its fair to challenge the premise of the question. To prevent this leaves a whole rhetorical category immune from challenge.

No, there are very dumb question/statements. And it is indeed correct to call them out. Why is it dumb? Because it packs in an assertion that is implied true, without asking. An appropriate answer is "Mu". Or 'unask the question'.

You can use a word or words that is not offensive to express the same point. Like how you explained the use of the word.

Re: Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving the legal marijuana trade

#205

Post by ItendToDisagree » Fri, Jun 17, 2016, 9:23 AM UTC

Buge wrote: post #129

yarou wrote: post #49

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Alcohol and tobacco are several orders of magnitude more dangerous than anything currently scheduled.

They kill more people simply because they're more popular. I don't think they're more dangerous per dose.

Think again!!! http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC4311234/ Alcohol is incredibly bad for your body dose by dose compared to marijuana.

Sidenote (not from this study): Mushrooms are supposedly the least harmful to the human body... Who'da thought?

Re: Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving the legal marijuana trade

#206

Post by dTal » Fri, Jun 17, 2016, 10:11 AM UTC

kyleblarson wrote: post #163

dragonwriter wrote: post #58

There is no legal marijuana trade in the US, as all marijuana trade is criminal under federal law, and it's generally a crime to knowingly profit from a crime (and, since drug offenses are covered in RICO, it's another crime to use any profits tired to them in the operation of any business engaged in interstate commerce.) Microsoft may be keeping distant enough not to worry (though perhaps not given their formal part…

As a Seattlite I had high hopes when Obama appointed Gil Kerlikowske to be Drug Czar, given that he was the police chief in a city with a very progressive approach to cannabis. But alas, as in myriad other areas of the Obama administration, hope was just that: hope.

You know, it just occurred to me: while Obama hasn't spent too much political capital on drugs, the US is closer to legalisation than it's ever been, to an extent unbelievable not that long ago. It could easily be that Obama has been quietly supporting legalisation, in politically-invisible ways (such as failing to respond in any meaningful way to the avalanch of state level legalisation).

Re: Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving the legal marijuana trade

#207

Post by kefka » Fri, Jun 17, 2016, 1:44 PM UTC

elbear wrote: post #204

kefka wrote: post #182

Earlier quoted context omitted.

No, there are very dumb question/statements. And it is indeed correct to call them out. Why is it dumb? Because it packs in an assertion that is implied true, without asking. An appropriate answer is "Mu". Or 'unask the question'.

You can use a word or words that is not offensive to express the same point. Like how you explained the use of the word.

Stupidity is offensive. Your point?

Re: Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving the legal marijuana trade

#208

Post by mc32 » Fri, Jun 17, 2016, 3:29 PM UTC

jericsinger wrote: post #198

mc32 wrote: post #194

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Understood. But as it stands now the CDC has a tough time tracing origins with certainty quickly. If they implemented something commensurate it would be a great help to food safety (and reduction of food waste by not having to overreact and dump perfectly healthy/edible foodstuffs).

I promise you, everyone is trying their best. But the food and ingredient supply chain is extremely complex and doesn't lend itself to strict structure. Tracking an ingredient through multiple vendors in multiple countries while it changes form from raw material to component ingredient to sub-product to product requires a massive effort, care, and judgment. And it's definitely a chain that's only as good as its weake…

You've illustrated the complexity in foodstuffs which have complex sourcing histories. Makes sense. I do find it a little incredible how difficult it is to trace an unprocessed good like lettuce, or meat or eggs. At times it gets hard to navigate thru all the middle sellers processors, etc. to trace an unaltered good with a single source down to its source.

Re: Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving the legal marijuana trade

#209

Post by elbear » Fri, Jun 17, 2016, 3:33 PM UTC

kefka wrote: post #207

elbear wrote: post #204

Earlier quoted context omitted.

You can use a word or words that is not offensive to express the same point. Like how you explained the use of the word.

Stupidity is offensive. Your point?

Offence is taken not given. I can understand you can feel offended or frustrated when someone behaves in a way you call stupid. However, you could give them the benefit of a doubt and assume they made a mistake or they didn't know better.

Re: Microsoft is the first big company to say it's serving the legal marijuana trade

#210

Post by JoblessWonder » Fri, Jun 17, 2016, 4:57 PM UTC

edoceo wrote: post #148

I make https://weedtraqr.com/ - we are operational in Washington and Oregon - and now apparently compete with MS. The company Microsoft is working with (Agrisoft) doesn't even operate in WA, or OR yet. And has been sold like two times in the last two years (first to Surna[0] then to Kind[1]) Additionally their "partnership" is really just Agrisoft getting free Azure hosting. The headline is very click-bait. [0] http:…

One possible thing to take away from this: Your competitor might have an inferior product, market share, etc, but possible has better traditional marketing/PR.