Microsoft's commitment to promote social opportunity

RELATED NEWS ADB, Microsoft forge partnership to promote ICT in APAC Microsoft service to link console, PC gamers online VSNL, Microsoft to offer messaging tools for SMEs Microsoft to strengthen pan India foothold Nifty BSE | NSE 25/05/12 Are Mutual Funds betting on Nifty?

Microsoft Corp . today unveiled a new commitment to help close the digital divide by creating new products and programs that will help bring social and economic opportunity to the estimated 5 billion people who are not yet realizing the benefits of technology.

 

Through the expansion of Microsoft^® Unlimited Potential, the company is renewing and accelerating its long-term commitment to use technology, training and partnerships to transform education, foster local innovation, and enable jobs and opportunities to sustain a continuous cycle of social and economic growth for everyone.

 

"All human beings deserve a chance to achieve their full potential," said Bill Gates, chairman of Microsoft. "Bringing the benefits of technology to the next 5 billion people will require new products that meet the needs of underserved communities; creative, new business approaches that make technology more relevant, accessible and affordable; and close collaboration between local governments, educational institutions and community organizations."

 

The expansion of Unlimited Potential will focus on three areas, Gates said: education, innovation, and jobs and economic opportunity.

 

"Computers and connectivity are still too expensive for private ownership by the poor, and applications as well as information resources that are appropriate to this group have been slow to emerge, in part because the poor themselves have not been involved in creating them," said C.K. Prahalad, author and professor at the University of Michigan's Stephen M. Ross School of Business. "In order to help create the applications and start the business dynamo that unleashes their potential, the people at the bottom of the pyramid need to have reliable, affordable access to technology and to learn computing skills."

 

Contd on page 2...