Microsoft Corporation (NASDAQ:MSFT) has revealed plans to change its current water gun emoji with a revolver emoji through its anniversary update for Windows 10.
The company’s decision to feature a revolver emoji is the complete opposite of the Apple Inc. (NASDAQ:AAPL) decision to replace its revolver emoji with a water gun emoji. Apple will also make the changes through its next update which will be the iOS 10 update. The changes, especially with Microsoft’s decision to shift to a revolver emoji, are expected to spark some debate over animated “gun control”. Apple is yet to make a comment on the matter though it is clear that the tech giant’s decision to remove the revolver was part of speaking against gun violence which has been escalating in the US, as have gun control regulations.
Microsoft’s decision is quite interesting considering the fact that critics have been lobbying for the removal of gun emojis. They argue that gun emojis suggests the support for easy gun possession, which is imagined to exacerbate gun violence, though no correlations have been found. Microsoft has also been silent about the matter though one of its spokespersons revealed that its intention with the change is to align with the global Unicode standards. He also stated that the previous gun emoji did not match the customers’ expectations as well as the industry design of the emoji.
Emoji experts such as Jeremy Burge, an editor at Emojipedia seemed to take Microsoft’s side, by pointing out various flaws in Apple’s decision. Burge stated that if a person was to use the water gun in a tweet, users on other platforms would view it as a real gun. The editor further noted that if all the vendors were to adopt the water gun emoji, the changes would take a lot of time.
Microsoft introduced its Windows 10 anniversary update on August 2 which included a total of 1,700 emojis. The update will be available for Windows handsets over the next few weeks. Microsoft has previously employed an opposite direction with its “poop” emoji which does not feature a smile while Apple’s “poop” emoji has a smile.
