April 2009 - Posts

Following Through on Our Commitment to Interoperability

Posted by Tom Robertson
Associate General Counsel, MicrosoftOffice

Product announcements aren’t usually the subject of this blog, but I wanted to alert you to a product announcement we are making today that is the latest example of our commitment to help customers cope with today’s complex computing landscape by enhancing interoperability between products from different vendors.

Today we are releasing Microsoft Office 2007 service pack 2, a product update that contains (among other things) out-of-the-box support for more than 18 document file formats, including ODF, PDF, and XPS.  Office 2007 now provides built-in support for more file formats than any other productivity suite on the market.  SP2 is also shipping with a new programming interface that will make it easy for developers to make any other document format show up in the drop down menu and be selected by users as their default, putting it on a par with the major formats already supported in Office 2007.  That means Office 2007 supports most government-preferred document formats today, and can adapt to support new formats that might emerge down the road.

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Posted 28 April 2009 09:06 AM | 2 comment(s)
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Obama Names Craig Mundie to Sci-Tech Advisory Council

Posted by David BowermasterMundie
Administrator, Microsoft on the Issues

We talk a lot on this blog about the intersection of technology and public policy, and Microsoft’s work to apply technology in ways that will advance public policy goals such as improving health care, education and economic growth. 

The ties between the tech and government realms became especially palpable today at Microsoft when President Obama named Craig Mundie, Microsoft’s chief research and strategy officer, to his 20-member President’s Council of Advisors on Science and Technology.

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Posted 27 April 2009 01:34 PM | 1 comment(s)
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Why Earth Day Matters to Microsoft

Posted by Rob Bernard 
Chief Environmental StrategistEarth Day

Earth Day and every day, we face significant environmental challenges tied to the way we live and use resources.  Effectively managing our scarce energy resources while addressing climate change – even as the world’s population steadily rises – will be one of the great challenges of the 21st century. Microsoft is working hard with our partners, customers and suppliers, as well as with governments and leading environmental organizations, to help address this critical environmental challenge.  This Earth Day, I want to share the latest information on our Environmental Sustainability Strategy, which focuses on three core areas:

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Posted 21 April 2009 11:04 PM | 4 comment(s)
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Keeping Citizens Safe through Solidarity

UPDATE: April 16, 2009 – 1:00 p.m. Pacific

Posted by Matt Miszewski
Government General Manager, Worldwide Public Sector

Interpol_COFEE

I’m pleased to report that at the Worldwide Public Safety Symposium yesterday, we announced INTERPOL will use Microsoft’s Computer Online Forensic Evidence Extractor (COFEE) to help its law enforcement investigators gather live computer evidence at the scene of  cybercrimes all over the globe.

INTERPOL is the world’s largest international police organization, with 187 member countries.

The COFEE software tool is based on a number of common digital forensics tools, bringing them together for the express purpose of gathering live computer evidence with the use of a simple USB device, which requires minimal training to use.  This means that officers at the scene of a crime don’t have to be computer experts to gather important digital evidence.  Law enforcement agencies that previously lacked any computer forensics capability can now easily collect critical data in a reliable and cost effective way. 

Under yesterday’s agreement, Microsoft will  provide  COFEE free of charge to INTERPOL for use in each of the 187 countries where the organization operates. Additionally, INTERPOL will work with the Cybercrime Center at the University College Dublin to develop computer forensics training programs for law enforcement. 

Armed with this new tool INTERPOL and its affiliated law enforcement agencies around the world can better combat the myriad ways criminals use the Internet to commit crimes.

Microsoft also launched today the Citizen Safety Architecture (CSA), a set of software solutions and services that are designed to help governments respond in real time to threats to public safety. And we announced support of INTERPOL’s Global Security Initiative (GSI), which aims to address international security challenges. Both the Citizen Safety Architecture and GSI take effective action to combat crime and bring humanitarian relief to crisis situations, which all demand collective action across disparate groups.

If you want more background on this announcement, or if you want to take a look at a transcript of Microsoft Chief Operating Officer Kevin Turner’s remarks at yesterday’s event, take a look at the content posted over on PressPass.

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Posted 15 April 2009 03:02 PM | Post Comment
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Fulfilling our Pledge to Bolster America’s Workforce

Posted by Pamela Passman
Corporate Vice President, Global Corporate Affairs

Today marks an important milestone in Microsoft’s effort to provide technology training to at least two million people over the next three years.

At the downtown Seattle office of WorkSource, a public-private partnership dedicated to addressing Washington state's employment needs, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith and I joined Washington Governor Chris Gregoire to announce that Microsoft will provide 30,000 vouchers for free technology training and certification exams to individuals across the state.

This makes Washington the debut state for Elevate America, which we are in the process of rolling out across the country.

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Posted 13 April 2009 02:01 PM | 6 comment(s)
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Microsoft Applauds the DREAM Act

Posted by Fred Humphries 
Managing Director, U.S. Government Affairs

Late last week we sent letters of support to the House and Senate sponsors of an important piece of legislation known as the Development, Relief and Education for Alien Minors Act.  The DREAM Act, as it is commonly known, would permit a limited number of  undocumented immigrant students to become permanent U.S. residents if they came here as children, are long-term U.S. residents, have good moral character and attend college or enlist in the military for at least two years.

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Posted 08 April 2009 10:33 AM | 7 comment(s)
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The Facts About the So-Called “Microsoft Bridge”

Posted by DeLee Shoemaker
Director, Washington State Government Affairs 

Every week or so it seems there is a news report about one of the transportation infrastructure projects approved as part of the federal stimulus package.  Because the NE 36th Street overpass in Redmond is near our campus, some critics like to call this project “the Microsoft bridge.”  The fact is this is a public roadway designed to reduce severe congestion in a rapidly growing urban center with over 600 businesses and over 5,000 residences.  Washington Governor Chris Gregoire addressed this issue at a recent news conference (click Read More to see video):

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Posted 06 April 2009 09:31 PM | Post Comment
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Tear Down the Walls and Liberate the Data

Posted by Peter Neupert
Corporate Vice President, Health Solutions Group

(Cross-posted from Neupert on Health)

In 1987, President Ronald Reagan gave one of his most well remembered speeches.  Few of us could forget his words to Mikhail Gorbachev to “tear down this wall”—proving to be prophetic when the German Democratic Republic announced the re-opening of the border in 1989, and the subsequent destruction of the Berlin Wall.   What followed?  A new flow of people, ideas, commerce, and capital—creating the groundwork for unification and a better way of life in Germany and Eastern Europe,  benefiting all of us economically and politically in unanticipated ways.

A similar type of disruptive change needs to happen in the health ecosystem today.  Just as the free flow of ideas and capital were the foundation for dramatic improvements in society, so should the free flow of health data be the foundation for realizing a future of secure, personalized, data driven medicine in health.

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Posted 04 April 2009 09:37 AM | Post Comment
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Partnering to Advance Education Reform

Posted by Dan Bross
Sr. Director, Global Corporate Citizenship

Earlier this week I traveled to San Francisco to take part in the annual conference of the Boston College Center for Corporate Citizenship.  Tony Wagner from Harvard University facilitated the closing plenary, which focused on the role of business collaboration in transforming education.  Tony recently wrote The Global Achievement Gap, which examines the U.S. education system, considers why American students are falling behind their international peers and proposes ways to reverse the trend.

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Posted 03 April 2009 05:09 PM | 1 comment(s)
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Inspiring Young Women to Become Tomorrow’s Tech Leaders

Posted by Teresa Carlson
Vice President, U.S. Federal Government Business

Despite society’s best efforts, there is a huge disparity in the number of men and women majoring in IT fields and pursuing technology-related careers. In 1982, about half of the students majoring in science, technology, engineering or math (STEM) were women. Today, only 21 percent of STEM majors are women. Yet, women lead in the development of Web pages and content on sites such as Facebook, and have led some of the most successful tech companies. 

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Posted 02 April 2009 09:04 PM | 2 comment(s)
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