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Appreciating our Immigration System
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UPDATE: April 1, 2009 - 10:30 a.m. Pacific
Posted by Brad Smith
General Counsel
As I mentioned in my post Monday, today begins the period for U.S. employers to apply for H-1B visas for high-skilled foreign workers.
Given the economic downturn, we are filing substantially fewer H-1B applications than we filed last year. Unlike previous years, a solid majority of our applications this year are for employees who are already working for Microsoft in the United States, so we can retain their talent and specialized skills in this country rather than risk losing them to a foreign competitor.
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Connect Consumers with “Meaningful Use”
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Posted by Peter Neupert
Corporate Vice President, Health Solutions Group
(Cross-posted from Neupert on Health)
The current hot, behind-the-scenes, debate in Health IT (HIT) is around how “meaningful use” of HIT will be defined for purposes of the incentive payments provided in the high-tech portion of the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act. Since there is a lot of money at stake and a lot of interested stakeholders, I am sure it will be an energetic debate.
Hopefully the definition of “meaningful use” will include some concept of improved health outcomes (Message to Washington – It’s all about the Outcomes). I know this presents many challenges, and I don’t pretend to have the complete answer on how to best define “meaningful use.”
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Bill Gates Emphasizes Education at GLF
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Posted by Hernan Rincon
President, Microsoft Latin America
In my role as President, Microsoft Latin America, I’ve found no better venue for gauging what matters most to governments in the region than our annual Government Leaders Forum—Americas. We’re winding down this year’s event and, as always, it has provided fascinating insights into how the entire region is progressing and evolving.
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Business, Government Must Resist the Impulse to Erect Barriers in Tough Times
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Posted by Brad Smith
General Counsel
While lots of attention in the U.S. has focused on governmental efforts in Washington to create jobs and economic growth, governments all over the world are grappling with similar challenges.
The challenges to the global economy have been top of mind this week in meetings I’ve had with government officials, business leaders, and academics during a trip to Latin America. In some countries it’s not yet clear how strongly the downturn in the United States will impact their own economies. But everywhere there is a new effort by public and private enterprises to strike the right balance between short-term adjustments and long-term investments to address the new economic reality.
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Innovation and Economic Growth in the Americas and Beyond
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Posted by Linda Zecher
Corporate Vice President, Worldwide Public Sector
As head of Microsoft’s Worldwide Public Sector organization, one of the things that excites me the most is helping government customers find creative ways to address their challenges and priorities.
Right now that means the struggling global economy and that topic was front and center today when we kicked off Microsoft’s Government Leaders Forum – Americas with more than 125 top government leaders from Latin America and the Caribbean.
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Supporting Economic Stimulus Efforts in the Puget Sound Area
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Posted by Brad Smith
General Counsel
Like nearly every part of America, Washington State has been hard-hit by the current economic downturn. Yesterday was a hopeful moment, as Washington Governor Chris Gregoire announced 138 transportation and infrastructure projects that will move forward as soon as possible, thanks to $551 million in federal stimulus funds. Altogether, these stimulus dollars will support the completion of projects representing billions of dollars in transportation investment across Washington state, creating thousands of new jobs, and addressing many of our State’s most pressing transportation needs.
You can see the full list of projects supported by the federal stimulus resources here, and you can listen to the Governor’s press conference here.
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Reducing Microsoft’s Carbon Footprint
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Posted by Rob Bernard
Chief Environmental Strategist
(Re-posted from Software Enabled Earth, Microsoft’s environmental sustainability blog)
Today, our CEO Steve Ballmer sent an e-mail to all Microsoft employees about Microsoft’s long-term commitment to increase our focus around environmental sustainability. As Microsoft’s Chief Environmental Strategist, I’m humbled and excited that Steve has asked our more than 90,000 Microsoft employees in over 100 countries around the world to help accelerate the development of software solutions and advance scientific research to address some of the most pressing issues of our time -- energy and climate change. We also announced our goal to reduce Microsoft’s own environmental footprint.
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Harnessing Technology to Rebuild Prosperity
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Posted by Pamela Passman
Corporate Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs
In the face of unprecedented economic challenges, our political leaders are attempting to fix our nation’s finance, energy and healthcare systems while continuing to make investments in education and IT infrastructure that will enhance economic opportunities.
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How to Make Online Gaming and Entertainment Safe for Our Kids
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Updated March 5, 11:40 a.m. PT
Posted by Robbie Bach
President, Entertainment and Devices Division
As the post below mentioned, Microsoft hosted a reception in Washington, D.C. on March 4 to discuss our commitment to equip parents with easy-to-use tools to help ensure their children's digital entertainment experiences are healthy, balanced and age-appropriate. Click Read More to view the full post and video of Robbie Bach, President, Entertainment and Devices Division, speaking at the event.
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Corporate Citizenship, in Good Times and Bad
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Posted by Pamela Passman
Corporate Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs
Corporate Citizenship means different things to different people. At Microsoft, it means doing business in a way that both creates business value and benefits society. In the same way that we push ourselves to create new technologies and breakthrough products and services, we also strive to find innovative means to fulfill our citizenship goals. Our 2009 Corporate Citizenship Report details many of the creative ways we are working, both alone and with others, to address societal needs in communities around the world.
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