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U.S. Public Sector CIO Summit 2010: Government in the Cloud
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Posted by Curt Kolcun
Vice President, U.S. Public Sector
More than 300 chief information officers (CIOs) from public-sector organizations around the United States were gathered on the Microsoft campus this week for presentations and to share their experiences in using technology to enhance collaboration, open government, business intelligence and security.
Microsoft unveiled our latest offerings to support governments in moving services to the cloud in ways that meet or exceed the key security standards and certifications. But with governments in 48 of the 50 U.S. states already using our cloud services, the conference was most exciting as a showcase for the amazing things that public-sector CIOs are doing to leverage their existing IT investments and provide enhanced services to their citizens.
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Competition Authorities and Search
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Posted by Dave Heiner
Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
Government competition agencies are increasingly focused on Google’s growing power in search and online advertising. The U.S. Federal Trade Commission, the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission have all determined that Google is dominant in certain markets, including search advertising. In late 2008 the DOJ was prepared to go to court to block Google’s attempt to partner with its largest search rival, Yahoo!. Last year the DOJ told a federal court that Google’s book search plan is anticompetitive in several respects. (One big problem is that Google would help itself to essentially exclusive rights to tens of millions of books—effectively locking out everyone else.) Last week the DOJ reiterated that view in court, even after Google had an opportunity to address the DOJ’s concerns. This week came news that the European Commission is investigating various aspects of Google’s conduct, including claims of retaliation, exclusivity and manipulation of search results to disadvantage rivals. The European Commission is likely to treat these cases quite seriously, given that Google’s share of search and search advertising is north of 95% in many European countries.
Google’s public response to this growing regulatory concern has been to point elsewhere—at Microsoft. Google is telling reporters that antitrust concerns about search are not real because some of the complaints come from one of its last remaining search competitors.
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Cracking Down on Botnets
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Posted by Tim Cranton
Associate General Counsel
Botnets - networks of compromised computers controlled by hackers known as “bot-herders” - have become a serious problem in cyberspace. Their proliferation has led some to worry that the botnet problem is unsolvable. Under the control of a hacker or group of hackers, botnets are often used to conduct various attacks ranging from denial of service attacks on websites, to spamming, click fraud, and distribution of new forms of malicious software.
At Microsoft, we don’t accept the idea that botnets are a fact of life. We are a founding member of the Botnet Task Force, a public-private partnership to join industry and government in the fight against bots. Given the recent spread of botnets, we are getting even more creative and aggressive in the fight against botnets and all forms of cybercrime. That’s why I’m proud to announce that through legal action and technical cooperation with industry partners, we have executed a major botnet takedown of Waledac, a large and well-known “spambot.”
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Microsoft Bolsters Efforts to Create More Opportunity for College Grads
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Posted by Fred Humphries
Managing Director, U.S. Government Affairs
Career prospects for recent college graduates got brighter today thanks to a new initiative announced in Washington, D.C.
America’s strength and future growth in the global economy rests in the next generation, and in the opportunities that will nurture their talent and lead to technological innovation. Yet recent graduates have had a tough time finding jobs.
Today, Microsoft is proud to join the Invest in America Alliance in a significant commitment to jump start the U.S. economy through job creation for this year’s college graduates. Seventeen major corporations, brought together by Intel Corporation, committed today to substantial increases in hiring goals. In total, this initiative will result in 10,500 new college graduate hires in 2010 for a range of positions.
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It’s Time to Move Forward on the Highway 520 Bridge Replacement
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Posted by Brad Smith
General Counsel
Anyone who has traveled from downtown Seattle to Microsoft’s corporate campus likely has encountered one of our region’s unique transportation challenges: Lake Washington, the large body of water that separates Seattle from Redmond, Bellevue and other heavily-populated Eastside suburbs.
Local commuters depend on two floating bridges to get across Lake Washington every day. One of them, the four-lane Highway 520 floating bridge, is 47 years old and in urgent need of replacement. State engineers warn that the bridge could sink in a major storm or earthquake.
Yet more than 5,000 Microsoft employees commute across the 520 bridge daily. Thousands more local residents use the 520 bridge to reach jobs both downtown and on the Eastside.
Given the importance of 520 as a transportation and economic corridor, the Washington state legislature three years ago approved a replacement design for the 520 bridge. An agreed-upon funding plan is in place and contracts are ready to begin building the new bridge pontoons. Governor Christine Gregoire, state legislators and local leaders have worked hard to bring this important project closer to reality, and we commend them for their efforts.
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Opening virtual doors across the language barrier
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Posted by Anthony Salcito
Vice President, Worldwide Education
For those of us in countries where the world’s most common languages are spoken, it would be easy to assume that no more than a few hundred languages are in use today. Yet according to the United Nations Education, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), between 6,000 and 7,000 languages are actively spoken in different parts of the globe. Those surprising figures reflect the rich social and cultural diversity that persists in our increasingly globalized world.
Unfortunately, UNESCO forecasts as many as half of the languages spoken today could be extinct by the end of this century. At Microsoft, we do not want to see that happen. That is why, through our Local Language Program, we are committed to supporting our software in as many languages as possible. We want to help stem the tide of language loss by bringing new languages across the digital divide and preserving their relevance in the 21st century.
As part of UNESCO’s International Mother Language Day, we are announcing the list of languages we will support for new releases of Windows, Office and, for the first time, Visual Studio. We believe it is important to preserve local languages and cultural identities, and we are proud more than 1 billion people speak the languages supported by the program.
Dr. K. David Harrison is an expert on endangered languages at Swarthmore College and director of research at the Living Tongues Institute for Endangered Languages. Harrison believes language revitalization will be one of the most important trends in linguistics over the next couple of decades, and he believes companies need to get on board.
“Language endangerment begins with children,” Harrison says. “The Microsoft Local Language Program can empower indigenous communities from the very moment when children in those communities first encounter a technology. It is a powerful thing for children to see their native language on a computer or on cell phone in a high tech medium. It validates the language and encourages them not to abandon the language. It shows them that their language is neither backwards nor obsolete and that it has use in the modern world and has value.”
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The Browser Choice Screen for Europe: What to Expect, When to Expect It
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Posted by Dave Heiner
Vice President and Deputy General Counsel
Over the next few weeks, Microsoft will begin offering a “Web browser choice screen” to Internet Explorer users in Europe, as required by the European Commission. Internal testing of the choice screen is underway now. We’ll begin a limited roll-out externally next week, and expect that a full scale roll-out will begin around March 1, a couple of weeks ahead of schedule. If you are an Internet Explorer user in Europe, here is what to expect.
First, a little background. In December, the European Commission and Microsoft arrived at a resolution of a number of long-standing competition law issues. Microsoft made a legally binding commitment that PC manufacturers and users will continue to be able to install any browser on Windows, to make any browser the default browser, and to turn access to Internet Explorer on or off. In addition, Microsoft agreed to use Windows Update to provide a browser choice screen to Windows users in Europe who are running Internet Explorer as their default browser. This browser choice screen will present a list of browsers, with links to learn more about them and install them. The design and operation of this choice screen was worked out in the course of extensive discussions with the Commission and is reflected in the commitment that Microsoft made. Users who get the choice screen will be free to choose any browser or stick with the browser they have, as they prefer.
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U.S., European Commission Clear Microsoft-Yahoo! Agreement
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Posted by Brad Smith
Microsoft Senior Vice President and General Counsel
and Michael Callahan
Yahoo! Executive Vice President and General Counsel
As was broadly reported this morning, both the U.S. Department of Justice and the European Commission have completed their reviews of the Microsoft-Yahoo! search agreement and cleared the transaction without restrictions.
We appreciate the thorough reviews conducted by the DOJ and the Commission and we welcome the thoughtful decisions reached by each agency. We also commend the collaborative efforts the regulators undertook to understand the search advertising market. Likewise, we are grateful for the efforts of regulators in Australia, Brazil and Canada who previously cleared the agreement, as well as those regulators we continue to work with in Korea, Taiwan and Japan.
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Technology at the Margins – Social Innovators and Innovations
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Posted by Akhtar Badshah
Senior Director, Global Community Affairs
Akhtar Badshah, Senior Director, Global Community Affairs
Can technology be used to create positive social change, and if so, how? This was the focus of a talk I gave recently to a class on Social Innovation and Entrepreneurship at Columbia University. The class discussion was very illuminating and thought provoking.
As you might expect, I answered the above question in the affirmative. But I also argued that nonprofits and social innovators sometimes view technology with trepidation. It can be seen as disruptive, and there is much hesitation to fully embrace the power of technology-based innovation. Although most everyone recognizes that information and communication technology (ICT) has transformed the lives of people in developed societies, some are skeptical as to whether it holds the same potential for people living in the poorer regions of our planet.
But what if ICT were even more affordable, relevant and accessible? What impact would that have on further reducing poverty and improving lives? What innovation is required? What partnerships need to be forged? How can the diffusion of innovations be sped up? What‘s the role of multi-national corporations, non-governmental organizations, governments and, most importantly, individual social entrepreneurs?
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Saturday: Brad Smith Talks Cloud Computing on C-SPAN
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Posted by David Bowermaster
Administrator, Microsoft on the Issues
As you may have read here recently, Microsoft General Counsel Brad Smith delivered a speech on cloud computing at the Brookings Institution in Washington, D.C. last month.
In his remarks, Brad described the many ways cloud computing can increase the efficiency and transparency of government and other parts of society, and noted areas where the development of cloud computing must be carefully managed, particularly when it comes to privacy and data security. He encouraged industry and policymakers to take action to build confidence in cloud computing, and proposed the Cloud Computing Advancement Act to promote innovation, protect consumers and provide government with new tools to address the critical issues of data privacy and security.
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