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Spare a reserved cloud instance, gov? Microsoft's $1bn, 70k charity sales pitch

Tech philanthropy's problem with giving

Microsoft is donating $1bn worth of its cloud services over three years to charities and non profits.

The software giant used the annual Davos World Economic Forum media ego fest to unveil plans to recruit 70,000 to Microsoft cloud services in the next three years. Others promoted themselves at Davos in different ways.

Microsoft hasn’t said whether qualifying organisations will get Microsoft’s cloud services for free or a reduced price.

Organisations will get Microsoft’s PaaS Azure, Power BI, CRM Online and Enterprise Mobility Suite.

Also, Microsoft will increase by 300 the number of grants to the Microsoft Azure research program that hands out free Azure compute and storage.

The company’s also pledged, in a Facebooky kind of way, to support 20 projects in 15 counties by 2017 that deliver “new, low-cost last-mile internet access technologies and community training.”

CEO Satya Nadella, in the Swiss land of power powder, reckoned cloud to be “the most transformative technologies of our generation.”

Now the blessed 70,000 can use Azure and the other services to “solve our greatest societal challenges and ultimately improve the human condition.”

The Davos dressing updates something Microsoft and other tech firms have been doing for quite some time - selling their software to educators, students and charities at lower-price compared to what it charges the public sector.

While seemingly philanthropic and selfless in spirit, however, such acts are actually rather self serving.

They mean that nobody – not even those least able to afford them – are barred from using their technology.

Leaving aside the fact “$1bn” is a nicely eye-catching number others have bowled out before, Microsoft already makes its software available at discounted terms to worthies.

In the case of students and educators the plan had been to counter Apple and “get” the next generation of tech user. More recently, Microsoft has sought to see off Chromebooks from the halls of education.

The cost of these 'freebies' hasn’t been calculated into a nice round number, but will exceed $1bn.

But $1bn is barely one per cent of Microsoft’s annual revenue. Or, one-quarter’s worth of what’s been calculated that Microsoft makes on cloud.

But data not devices is the new king maker, and Microsoft will not charge up to $1bn in licensing and subscription of its software to get something more vital – data from charities and non profits thereby enriching the datasets sitting in Azure and vastly inflating customer numbers in today’s cloud land grab.

Microsoft will rely on the fact that, once on ramped – like customers of cloud elsewhere – this particular set of worthies are unlikely to move off Microsoft.

In the long-term, not only does Microsoft get their data but after three years it gets paying cloud customers once that $1bn has gone.

But let’s not be too hard on Microsoft. Today’s donation should be seen in the wider context of other contemporary philanthropic acts from tech’s giants.

These are not the days of the great 19th century givers, converts to the cause of giving based on their wealth and experience at a time of change in their Victorian societies.

Given their prominance and power, some may be tempted to see today’s tech givers like the philanthropists of old, on new frontiers of change.

However, these were individuals who gave to improve the life and circumstances for their workers and of mankind, to improve their lot and chances in life.

Today’s model, however, is that of Facebook’s Internet.org – a project supposedly to bring basic internet connectivity to the world’s unconnected masses.

Internet as a human right, right? It might not be a human right like clean water or an education, but internet everywhere does benefit your shareholders: the chance to get more punters online, to dig and poke each other, click your ads get more paying users for your cloud services. ®

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