Microsoft, Everyone's Favorite Economic Developer

I'm still not sure how I feel about Microsoft's announcement yesterday that it intends to play a major role in economic development for the five billion people on the other side of the digital divide. (See the press release on Microsoft's site and the homepage for the program, called Unlimited Potential.)

The initiative is broken into three parts: general education, job skills training, and offering technologies accessible to businesses in the developing world. Well, those are my words for it...in PR speak it's "Transforming Education," "Fostering Local Innovation/Enabling Jobs and Opportunities," and "The Road to Sustained Opportunity."

Now don't get me wrong--the Gatester is a very generous fellow and I have no bone to pick with Microsoft. It's just that I wish sometimes that the public relations departments of companies would stop trying to sell us lines we don't believe. When I read the press release, I see the following:

1. Transforming Education = certifying teachers in the third world to understand how to use Microsoft products. Generous, yes (I presume the training is free), but also convenient considering there are billions of Chinese, Indians, etc. who will be fluent in Microsoft and less so with other products that can land them jobs. MS is selling a decent bundle of stripped down software at little cost ($3) to governments who provide PCs to their students. Furthermore, these kids will grow up knowing MS products best, meaning their governments may be more likely to purchase MS solutions, businesses will prefer MS products, and so forth. It would be unfair to make it sound like handing out free samples of crack cocaine, but you have to admit that the benefits are aimed at both community and company. Not that I would expect the company to teach rival software, but one can't deny that it would have a greater economic development impact.
2. Fostering Local Innovation/Earning Jobs & Opportunities = "providing local software communities with a comprehensive set of programs and services to expand work-force skills, create jobs, strengthen innovation and improve competitiveness. In partnership with local governments, educational institutions and businesses, MicrosoftÕs resource investments provide software development assistance, business skills training, employment training, employment programs for students, and market incubation for the local startup community." (quoting the release there). This is a great thing--worker training--but is it going to be a kind of extension of point #1 for the post-school (or unschooled) set? Teaching the existing labor force in developing countries how to become employable and start businesses is super, and MS surely has more resources to throw at the problem than local governments. But I do wonder what exactly the "comprehensive set of programs" is, for example. Lotus Notes? OpenOffice? Maybe I'm overly skeptical--I would be scared to teach competing programs if I owned a software business. But then again, I'm not Microsoft.
   
3. The Road to Sustained Opportunity = finding ways to make MS software tap into markets it hasn't been able to serve adequately (i.e., poor people). "...Microsoft announced it has created new business groups that will be led by seasoned Microsoft executives Orlando Ayala and Will Poole to bring together development and marketing efforts to help create tailored solutions that are relevant, accessible and affordable for emerging segments." <--from the release. I think that makes it pretty clear that this is as much a business opportunity as a way to uplift people. For example, somewhere else on the Unlimited Potential site there was a mention of allowing people to use their cell phones to complete transactions, like processing a credit card or keeping accounts. This makes sense because in much of the developing world, cell phone technology is miles ahead of landline (the "leapfrog" effect), meaning almost no one has access to a regular phone, modem, or standard computer network interface, but almost everyone has access to a cell phone.

I suppose what gets me is that there's really nothing wrong with Microsoft, or any other company for that matter, trying to exploit and create new markets while trying to help people. Sure, they could help them more by being product-neutral, but no one expects a company to shoot itself in the foot like that. I'm all for putting out a press release that says something to the effect of: "Here are some new business opportunities for us. By helping ourselves in this way, we're going to help others, and that makes us feel good." But it's as if public relations folks are too afraid of being anything other than hyperbolic.

I respect Microsoft for what it's really doing, not for what it says its doing. I'm sure at an organization as large as MS, there are employees inside who wish the PR department would play it straight, too (reminds me of a recent story from Wired that outlines the healthy conflict at the company between the PR dept. and those who would rather tell it as it is).