Due to current admin policies, failing to do this would limit Microsoft's ability to drink from the federal trough. Whatever value they put in diversity is less than they put in large contracts.
At the risk of sounding like an LLM, you're absolutely right!
It would be stupid not to kowtow to the current admin given how much business Microsoft does with the US government. The pendulum will swing back, guarantee it.
And it is interesting to see how different organizations are reacting to this administration depending upon what percentage of their bottom line is directly tied to government or military contracting.
Python Software Foundation telling the NSF they had too many strings attached to their money is another interesting spotlight on the current situation.
Total US Fed. Gov. contracts for 2024 was (according to gao.gov) $755B. That's a lot of drinking, never mind any anticipated AI spending boost next year.
