Posted by Rob BernardChief Environmental Strategist, Microsoft
Microsoft is in Durban, South Africa, this week for the 17th United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change, otherwise known as COP17. This year, Microsoft is teaming up with a number of organizations to demonstrate how data visualization tools can help transform our understanding of the world. I have little doubt that we can transform how people make decisions about issues surrounding our environment by providing people, organizations and policy makers with interactive maps and tools which help them better understand how society is using its limited resources.
I am quite excited by a number of the great partnerships we have been working on, which will hopefully contribute to a transition toward a more powerful discussion on environmental issues.
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Posted by TJ CampanaSenior Program Manager, Microsoft Digital Crimes Unit
I recently had the privilege and pleasure of joining author Mark Bowden and New York Times technology reporter John Markoff at the Computer History Museum in Mountain View, Calif., where we spoke about Mark’s new book, Worm: The First Digital World War. Worm is an account of the Conficker computer worm and the group of security professionals (myself included) who came together to combat the proliferating malware as members of the Conficker Working Group.
The Conficker worm first appeared in 2008 and quickly created one of the largest and fastest-growing botnets in the world. Conficker infects computers through a number of mechanisms, including file sharing and via removable drives.
Microsoft Executive Vice President and General Counsel Brad Smith had the following statement regarding Washington State Gov. Chris Gregoire’s proposed budget recommendations:
“We’re pleased that Governor Gregoire has prioritized education in her budget recommendations, given the difficult choices she faced among the many programs funded by the state. As we at Microsoft experience first-hand, education is the foundation for the state’s future economic growth and the ability of companies to create and fill jobs here. It’s important for the state to avoid further reductions in higher education funding, as these inevitably would lead either to a decline in quality or yet more tuition increases for students. It’s similarly important to maintain investments in K-12 education across the state, since additional cuts to the classroom and the school year would have a dramatic and damaging effect on student readiness for the 21st century economy.
Posted by Bill KamelaSenior Policy Counsel, Microsoft
Today, I was honored to represent Microsoft at the White House as President Barack Obama signed into law a critically important piece of legislation, the VOW to Hire Heroes Act of 2011. Joining the president at the signing ceremony were the First Lady, the Vice President and Dr. Jill Biden, along with U.S. Department of Veterans Affairs Secretary Eric Shinseki, distinguished leaders from veteran serving organizations (VSO’s) and a number of U.S. veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan.
This new law will provide our veterans with additional training and employment opportunities as they transition from their military occupations into civilian careers. The passage of this bipartisan legislation is a significant victory for veterans, who too often return home without the support they need for a successful transition into civilian life. We applaud the House and Senate for their unanimous approval of the VOW, which combines components of Senator Patty Murray’s Hiring Heroes Act (S. 951; Report #112-36), and Representative Jeff Miller’s Veterans Opportunity to Work Act (H.R. 2433; Report #112-242).
Posted by Susie AdamsChief Technology Officer, Microsoft Federal
Greater adoption of cloud computing is considered an inevitable trend by regulators and lawmakers from both sides of the political aisle, according to my fellow panelists at Tuesday’s “@Microsoft Conversations on Privacy” at the Microsoft Innovation & Policy Center in Washington, D.C.
However, we all agreed that the pace of cloud adoption is largely going to be determined by the speed at which cloud providers, consumers and policymakers can clarify roles and responsibilities when it comes to protecting data held by cloud service providers.