Powerbase - User contributions [en]

Talk:Vitec plc

2007-05-25T15:29:50Z

Fiona Campbell:

http://clearcom.com/News/news06_pages/3.31.2006_nab.html

David Bell (Financial Times)

2007-05-25T14:53:57Z

Fiona Campbell:

[[Sir David Bell]] Chairman, Financial Times Group. Bell is Pearson's 'Director for People' with responsibility for the recruitment, motivation, development and reward of employees across the Pearson Group and is currently a Civil Service Commissioner. Bell is also Non-Executive Director for [[Vitec plc]] and Non-Executive Chairman of The Windmill Partnership.

Bell is part of the [[ImagineNations]]™ Group headed by [[Jacob Schimmel]], chairman of [[UKI Investments]], the Schimmel family’s (one of the UK's largest) private real estate companies with interests in real estate, financial services, technology, aviation, tourism and telecommunications. The family’s business interests are centered in the United Kingdom, France and Israel with growing involvement in Eastern Europe and the United States. Recently, Schimmel has been involved in the purchase of [[IDB Holding Corporation Ltd]]., one of the largest business enterprises in Israel. The IDB Group, which encapsulates more than 200 companies, has leadership positions in almost every field of Israeli industry, including telecommunications, finance, real estate, retail, building materials and technology. Its MD is [[Alan H. Fleischmann]].

David Bell (Financial Times)

2007-05-25T14:53:21Z

Fiona Campbell:

[[Sir David Bell]] Chairman, Financial Times Group. Bell is Pearson's 'Director for People' with responsibility for the recruitment, motivation, development and reward of employees across the Pearson Group and is currently a Civil Service Commissioner. Bell is also Non-Executive Director for Vitec plc and Non-Executive Chairman of The Windmill Partnership.

Bell is part of the [[ImagineNations]]™ Group headed by [[Jacob Schimmel]], chairman of [[UKI Investments]], the Schimmel family’s (one of the UK's largest) private real estate companies with interests in real estate, financial services, technology, aviation, tourism and telecommunications. The family’s business interests are centered in the United Kingdom, France and Israel with growing involvement in Eastern Europe and the United States. Recently, Schimmel has been involved in the purchase of [[IDB Holding Corporation Ltd]]., one of the largest business enterprises in Israel. The IDB Group, which encapsulates more than 200 companies, has leadership positions in almost every field of Israeli industry, including telecommunications, finance, real estate, retail, building materials and technology. Its MD is [[Alan H. Fleischmann]].

Microsoft

2007-04-20T09:54:57Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

== History of Microsoft ==

The company was founded by [[Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]] in 1975 and generated profits of $16,000. In the 1980s microsoft flourished as it provided the operating system DOS for IBM’s PC.

Today Microsoft is an international company present in 102 different countries, employing 76,000 people and generalting a profit of $44.28 billion per year.

Microsoft takes up 18.3 million square feet of office building space and is ranked 15th in the world's top 500 companies. Microsoft's has driven 93% of the world's desktop computers since 1991 and its office software dominates 90% of the market and earns the company $9 billion a year. In 1990 Microsoft became the first software company to reach $1 billion in revenue. In 2003 Microsoft's revenue increased by $3.82 billion to $32.19 billion with a net income of $9993 billion. Although Microsoft have been accused of fraudulent accounting in order to show profit.{{ref|38}}

The company headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA.
Microsoft have ownership of MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.

The company has faced much controversy over the years as many have attributed their success to their illegal monopoly over operating systems which effectively pushes competition out of the market. The company has faced legal proceedings aroung the world and have been found guilty on the charges of holding an unfair monopoly. However, as microsoft are an extrmely rich company, the finacial penalties they face are insignificant and they often pay their way out of any legal obligations to rectify this monopoly.

== Microsoft’s Philanthropy ==

Bill Gates likes to consider himself above all as a philanthropic man. At the Government Leaders Forum he quoted Carnegie: ‘he who dies rich dies disgraced.’ Although Gates found the funny side to this, saying that he was still working on it, his charity has been described as the ‘Microsoft of charities’. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was launched by a donation from Bill Gates of £54 million in 2000. Gates has a very philanthropic public image and has joined Bono on the cover of Time magazine as Humanitarian of the year and was voted 8th in the list of “Heros of our Time” by the New Statesman.

However, the ‘Microsoft of charities’ may hold alternative meanings as it has been criticised for disinvestments. In January the Los Angeles Times exposed the foundation for investing over £254 million in oil companies including [[Royal Dutch Shell]], [[Exxon Mobil]], [[Chevron]] and [[Total]] who were being accused of causing health problems in Nigeria which, ironically, is another area of funding for the trust.{{ref|90}}

== International Conflicts ==

Microsoft have faced criticism and legal action around the world. The main accusation are that they constitute a monopoly and effectively push competitors out of the market. The court cases in the US and Europe give some indication of how they conduct their business and political activities.

'''[[Microsoft: US Conflicts]]'''

'''[[Microsoft: European Conflicts]]'''

== Microsoft's Involvement with UK Public Services ==

'''NHS UK'''

The UK's National Health Service has a nine-year licensing deal with Microsoft, claiming that it will amount to savings of £330 million.
The discount come from the licensing fee but is suspicious, as the NHS was not paying this fee in the first place.

The December announcement was followed by a [[Bill Gates]] summit with [[Richard Granger]], the IT director general for the NHS and Secretary of State for Health [[John Reid]]. This meeting was followed by discussions between Granger and Microsoft CEO [[Steven A. Ballmer]] which ultimately lead to the deal.

The contract, in effect, ties the NHS into a single supplier for desktops, and in that sense flies in the face of advice from the Office of Government Commerce in its OSS report to :"determine whether current technologies and IT policies inhibit future choice; and if so consider what steps may be necessary to prevent future 'lock in'". The OGC has been evaluating open source precisely because it needs government departments to have an alternative to Microsoft.

This standardisation is effectively eliminating smaller suppliers, for example [[EMIS]] who claim that although they produced the most widely-used GP system they have been unable to gain contracts with any of the five English Local Service Providers (LSPs) for the NPfIT, claiming that

:"The conditions that would have been imposed on it were "untenable." In a letter stating its position the company claims the "NPfIT is intent on standardising NHS I.T not by encouraging innovation and competition but by monopolising the market place..." {{ref|26}}

'''NHS Wales'''

In 2006 the Welsh NHS made a deal with Microsoft for desktop and mobile computing software claiming that it would lead to savings of £8.5 million. The deal includes 35,000 desktop software licences and incorporates all local health boards and trusts in Wales for three years.

Health workers will receive IT vouchers and "home -use" scheme will allow staff to purchase cheaper software licences for their home computers.

The Health Minister at the Welsh Assembly Dr [[Brian Gibbons]], the director of IM&T [[Mike Lugg]] and the head of IT in Bro Morgannwg
[[Carol Mustad]] have all commented positively on the new deal. {{ref|35}}

== Microsoft Scotland ==

Microsoft Edinburgh 127 George Street Edinburgh EH2 4JN

08706010100

=== Microsoft Workers ===

[[Raymond O'Hare]]

Microsoft Scotland have a work force of 40 people mostly working in sales and technical support

=== Scottish Company Investors===

[[Scottish Widows Investment Partnership]]

[[Aegon]] UK

[[Scottish Equitable]]

[[Aberdeen Asset Management]]

=== Microsoft's Involvement with Scotland's Public Services ===

Microsoft has fiercely lobbied the Scottish Executive to have access to Scotland’s public services. The Scottish Executive and Microsoft are both clients of the lobbying agency [[2Collaborate]], which may account for Microsoft’s success in gaining public service contracts.

====Police Force====

On the 11th August 2005 Central Scotland Police announced that Microsoft Windows would replace some open source technologies and [[Charteris plc]], a Microsoft partner, is providing training and consultancy.

:“Central Scotland Police is basing its IT system on the Microsoft platform because its internal study shows that it offers the best value in total cost of ownership, ease of use, interoperability, reliability and support,” said [[Nick McGrath]], head of Platform Strategy for Microsoft Ltd. “Central Scotland Police estimates that it could save 30 percent on IT maintenance costs and 25 percent of IT staff’s time by using Microsoft technology.”{{ref|101}}

====NHS Scotland====

NHS Scotland has signed a national deal with Microsoft to supply office software and desktop operating systems at a discounted rate, saving an estimated £8m. Software will be provided to NHS Scotland through an appointed reseller, [[Trustmarque Solutions]].

The recent deal between Microsoft and NHS Scotland followed public criticism by Microsoft that NHS Scotland was wasting billions on IT

Microsoft’s former director for Scotland, [[Gordon McKenzie]] publicly criticised NHS Scotland for it's inefficiency and claiming that the NHS in Scotland pays four times more than the English health service for its IT systems.

:"But NHS Scotland is still operating in a piecemeal way," said McKenzie. "Royal Bank of Scotland has 100,000 employees and one IT system. The NHS in Scotland is about the same size, but there are 14 NHS trusts and even within each trust there may be four different systems. They even have different e-mail systems."

McKenzie said there was "no plan for convergence" in the NHS and that the public services, including local government, could be heavily streamlined so there was one system for HR, one for payroll, and even one council tax across Scotland, but he said Microsoft was "making more money out of the mess". {{ref|5}}

=== Shared Services ===

Shared Services was born in the 1980s when large corporations adopted the strategy to improve efficiency. Since then the American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and UK governments have adopted shared services.

According to the Scottish Executives publication ‘A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services’ shared services will be the best method for increasing the efficiency of Scottish Public Services. They set out five main aims including

1. To be user focused and personalised, organised around users and citizen needs and aspirations, not convenience of the service provider
2. Drive up quality and encourage innovation
3. Continue to improve efficiency and productivity
4. Be joined up and minimise separation
5. Ensure strong accountability

The Executive have created supportive work streams such as the [[Efficient Government Initiative]], The [[McClelland Review of Public Procurement in Scotland]], [[The integrated Services and Governance Modelling Project]], [[Review of Local Government Finance]] [[Best Value Framework]] [[Modernising Government]].

The shared services strategy has been developed with the Efficient Government Initiative which was launched in Novemeber 2004 but has ties with the other initiative mentioned above. The Shared Services Strategy has the following objectives

1 Identify and realise opportunities for efficiency savings and service improvements to be gained through the adoption of shared service initiatives
2. Promote the development of shred services, processes and systems that are resilient to changes in service delivery structures and boundaries and better able to meet the needs of joined up public services.
3. Build on the standards and infrastructure being put in place through the modernising Government Customer First and e-card initiatives and ideas developed through the Efficient Government Fund.

Opportunities for the shared services fall into two categories

1. Support functions such as Accounting, Payroll, Procurement, Human Resources, Facilities, Information and Communication Technology
2. Common Operational processes and systems that underpin front line services and which are duplicated across multiple organisations.

The Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform [[Tom McCabe]] estimated savings of between £250 million and £750 million a year across the whole of the Scottish public sector.

:"The Executive is committed to spending taxpayers' money as efficiently and effectively as possible. This new shared services strategy on which we are seeking views is a central plank of our Efficient Government initiative which aims to tackle bureaucracy and duplication in the public sector." {{ref|23}}

In formation Technology is second in the top six most popular areas for shared services. Institutions such as [[Scottish Enterprise]] and [[NHS Scotland]] have implemented national shared support services and smaller organisations such as [[Glasgow City Council]], [[the city of Edinburgh Council]] and the [[Scottish Executive]] have implemented internal shared support. This can be a very efficient way of opertaing public services. Tom McCabe backs the efficiency of shared services convincingly:

:"Take Shared Services for example. It is a waste to have the same function replicated in each and every public body. This can be effectively tackled by sharing support services, like finance, human resources, facilities and estates and IT across the whole public sector in Scotland." {{ref|60}}

However, this arguement may be redundant if sharing the services was not delegated by open competition. The Shared Services strategy was set up with the involvement of many big businesses such as [[Microsoft]], [[Cap Gemini]] and [[Logica]]. [[David Amos]] met with these companies to discuss the executive’s proposals for the planned [[Holyrood Consultations]] research to determine the best way forward for Shared Services. This meeting was followed up with Amos and Microsoft on the 8th November 2006 to discuss their response to the consultation.

Microsoft representatives [[Caroline Findlay]] and [[Marcus Henderson]] also met with the head of Shared Services [[Jonathan Moore]] for an informal discussion on developing the shared services strategy. And further meetings between Microsoft and the Permanent secretary [[John Elvidge]] took place on the following dates 23/01/06, 17/03/06, 03/07/06, 08/08/06, 06/09/06, and 05/10/06. Thus, Microsoft have been greatly involved in the development of shared services and there is little doubt that their input has been strongly related to their own interests of gaining a stronger hold on Scottish public services.

=== Microsoft Government Leaders Forum ===

On the 30th January 2007 Microsoft held their fourth annual European Government leaders forum in the Scottish Parliament. The forum is a gathering of leaders including Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and policy advisers from across Europe. The event aims to discuss issues relating to the government, the role of technology in education and employability issues.

The announcement of Microsoft partnership with the Scottish Executive was fitting in this context. Bill gates accompanied Jack Mc Connell in a press statement highlighting the philanthropic work both the Microsoft Corporation and the Scottish Executive will undertake in helping young Scots achieve. The signed agreement aims to train 100,000 Scots in computer skills. {{ref|25}} The project is aimed at those not in education, employment or training (NEET. this is not a new market for Microsoft as they are already involved with [[Learn Direct Scotland]]Microsoft envisages supporting NEET through the use of the Microsoft brand, seconding a senior person for 2/3 days per week, facilitating access to the Microsoft Partner network (1500 SMEs), all of which aim to deliver ICT solutions customers, connecting to Microsoft's existing skills and education programmes and helping ensure new programmes are practical and offering IT and software development expertise. {{ref|50}}

The Executive identified seven local authorities 'where NEET is a particular challenge and where reducing NEET locally would make an impact nationally." {{ref|49}}These included Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee.

Four high profile recruits have agreed to support the work of the NEET Programme Board in improving access to opportunities for those identified as NEET, estimated to be around 20,000.

Four recruits helping in the NEET project

[[Mark Adams]] from Microsoft

[[David Watt]] from [[KPMG]]

[[Euan Davidson]], formerly CEO of the [[Princes Trust]]

[[Ray Perman]] from the [[Hunter Foundation]]

However, Bill Gates did not come to Scotland solely for the purpose of the forum. Gates was awarded an honorary degree by Edinburgh University. A further coincidence was that the forum was undertaken at the same time as Microsoft’s new operating systems launch, Vista. The company has invested £3 billion and expects a healthy return on those investments as Vista is expected to be used in 100 million computers by 2008.

== Microsoft's Partner Companies ==

[[Charteris plc]]

== Affiliations ==

[[Business Software Association]]

[[European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association]]

[[Computing Technology Industry Association]]

[[Institute for Software Choice]]

===PR Firms===

[[Edelman]]

[[APCO]]

[[G Plus]]

===Media===

[[MSNBC]]

[[Slate Magazine]]

[[Tech Central Station]]

==People==
=== Microsoft Board of Directors ===

*[[Bill Gates]]

*[[Steven A. Ballmer]]

*[[James I. Cash Jr.]] Ph.D.

*[[Dina Dublon]]

*[[Raymond V. Gilmartin]]

*[[David F. Marquardt]]

*[[Charles H. Noski]]

*[[Jon A. Shirley]]

=== Microsoft In Europe ===

[[Gordon McKenzie]]

=== UK Executives ===

[[Gordon Frazer]]

[[Neil Thompson]]

[[Nick Barley]]

[[Sharon Baylay]]

[[Steve Dunn]]

[[Scott Dodds]]

[[Andy Watson]]

[[Matthew Bishop]]

[[Tery Smith]]

[[Chris Parker]]

[[Alison Dodd]]

[[Bronwyn Kunhardt]]

[[David Gartenberg]]

== Notes ==

#{{note|25}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{note|23}} Scottish Executive (2006)'''A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services'''[http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/05/11102023/0 Scottish Executive Website]11th May (accessed 28/01/07)
#{{note|26}} Lettice, J (2004) '''One Standard, One Microsoft - How the NHS Sold its Choice''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/nhs_ms_deal_analysis/ The Register]8th Novemeber accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|5}} Murden, T (2004) '''Microsoft Accuses 'Piecemeal' NHS of Wasting Money''' [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1465512004 The Scotsman]26th December (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{note|35}} Kablenet (2006) '''Microsoft signs for NHS Wales''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/01/microsoft_nhs_wales_procurement_deal/ The Register] Ist Feburary (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|38}} Corporate Watch (2004) '''Microsoft: A Corporate Profile'''[http://archive.corporatewatch.org/profiles/microsoft/microsoft4.htm Corporate Watch] (accessed 05/04/07)
#{{note|90}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{ref|101}}Microsoft (2005) '''Central Scotland Police and Microsoft Launch ICT Alliance to Support the Police Modernization Agenda'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/aug05/08-11CSPPR.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{ref|60}}McCabe, T (2006) '''Efficient Government in Scotland'''[http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/4417 eGov monitor] 6th Feburary (accessed 11/04/07)
#{{ref|50}}Scottish Executive (2006) '''Microsoft and NEET''' e-mail from Melanie Weldon to Sarah Davidson, 30th June, Freedom of Information request
#{{ref|49}}Scottish Executive (2006) '''Microsoft and NEET''' e-mail from Melanie Weldon to Sarah Davidson, 30th June, Freedom of Information request

Microsoft

2007-04-20T09:54:39Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

== History of Microsoft ==

The company was founded by [[Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]] in 1975 and generated profits of $16,000. In the 1980s microsoft flourished as it provided the operating system DOS for IBM’s PC.

Today Microsoft is an international company present in 102 different countries, employing 76,000 people and generalting a profit of $44.28 billion per year.

Microsoft takes up 18.3 million square feet of office building space and is ranked 15th in the world's top 500 companies. Microsoft's has driven 93% of the world's desktop computers since 1991 and its office software dominates 90% of the market and earns the company $9 billion a year. In 1990 Microsoft became the first software company to reach $1 billion in revenue. In 2003 Microsoft's revenue increased by $3.82 billion to $32.19 billion with a net income of $9993 billion. Although Microsoft have been accused of fraudulent accounting in order to show profit.{{ref|38}}

The company headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA.
Microsoft have ownership of MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.

The company has faced much controversy over the years as many have attributed their success to their illegal monopoly over operating systems which effectively pushes competition out of the market. The company has faced legal proceedings aroung the world and have been found guilty on the charges of holding an unfair monopoly. However, as microsoft are an extrmely rich company, the finacial penalties they face are insignificant and they often pay their way out of any legal obligations to rectify this monopoly.

== Microsoft’s Philanthropy ==

Bill Gates likes to consider himself above all as a philanthropic man. At the Government Leaders Forum he quoted Carnegie: ‘he who dies rich dies disgraced.’ Although Gates found the funny side to this, saying that he was still working on it, his charity has been described as the ‘Microsoft of charities’. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was launched by a donation from Bill Gates of £54 million in 2000. Gates has a very philanthropic public image and has joined Bono on the cover of Time magazine as Humanitarian of the year and was voted 8th in the list of “Heros of our Time” by the New Statesman.

However, the ‘Microsoft of charities’ may hold alternative meanings as it has been criticised for disinvestments. In January the Los Angeles Times exposed the foundation for investing over £254 million in oil companies including [[Royal Dutch Shell]], [[Exxon Mobil]], [[Chevron]] and [[Total]] who were being accused of causing health problems in Nigeria which, ironically, is another area of funding for the trust.{{ref|90}}

== International Conflicts ==

Microsoft have faced criticism and legal action around the world. The main accusation are that they constitute a monopoly and effectively push competitors out of the market. The court cases in the US and Europe give some indication of how they conduct their business and political activities.

'''[[Microsoft: US Conflicts]]'''

'''[[Microsoft: European Conflicts]]'''

== Microsoft's Involvement with UK Public Services ==

'''NHS UK'''

The UK's National Health Service has a nine-year licensing deal with Microsoft, claiming that it will amount to savings of £330 million.
The discount come from the licensing fee but is suspicious, as the NHS was not paying this fee in the first place.

The December announcement was followed by a [[Bill Gates]] summit with [[Richard Granger]], the IT director general for the NHS and Secretary of State for Health [[John Reid]]. This meeting was followed by discussions between Granger and Microsoft CEO [[Steven A. Ballmer]] which ultimately lead to the deal.

The contract, in effect, ties the NHS into a single supplier for desktops, and in that sense flies in the face of advice from the Office of Government Commerce in its OSS report to :"determine whether current technologies and IT policies inhibit future choice; and if so consider what steps may be necessary to prevent future 'lock in'". The OGC has been evaluating open source precisely because it needs government departments to have an alternative to Microsoft.

This standardisation is effectively eliminating smaller suppliers, for example [[EMIS]] who claim that although they produced the most widely-used GP system they have been unable to gain contracts with any of the five English Local Service Providers (LSPs) for the NPfIT, claiming that

:"The conditions that would have been imposed on it were "untenable." In a letter stating its position the company claims the "NPfIT is intent on standardising NHS I.T not by encouraging innovation and competition but by monopolising the market place..." {{ref|26}}

'''NHS Wales'''

In 2006 the Welsh NHS made a deal with Microsoft for desktop and mobile computing software claiming that it would lead to savings of £8.5 million. The deal includes 35,000 desktop software licences and incorporates all local health boards and trusts in Wales for three years.

Health workers will receive IT vouchers and "home -use" scheme will allow staff to purchase cheaper software licences for their home computers.

The Health Minister at the Welsh Assembly Dr [[Brian Gibbons]], the director of IM&T [[Mike Lugg]] and the head of IT in Bro Morgannwg
[[Carol Mustad]] have all commented positively on the new deal. {{ref|35}}

== Microsoft Scotland ==

Microsoft Edinburgh 127 George Street Edinburgh EH2 4JN

08706010100

=== Microsoft Workers ===

[[Raymond O'Hare]]

Microsoft Scotland have a work force of 40 people mostly working in sales and technical support

=== Scottish Company Investors===

[[Scottish Widows Investment Partnership]]

[[Aegon]] UK

[[Scottish Equitable]]

[[Aberdeen Asset Management]]

=== Microsoft's Involvement with Scotland's Public Services ===

Microsoft has fiercely lobbied the Scottish Executive to have access to Scotland’s public services. The Scottish Executive and Microsoft are both clients of the lobbying agency [[2Collaborate]], which may account for Microsoft’s success in gaining public service contracts.

====Police Force====

On the 11th August 2005 Central Scotland Police announced that Microsoft Windows would replace some open source technologies and [[Charteris plc]], a Microsoft partner, is providing training and consultancy.

:“Central Scotland Police is basing its IT system on the Microsoft platform because its internal study shows that it offers the best value in total cost of ownership, ease of use, interoperability, reliability and support,” said [[Nick McGrath]], head of Platform Strategy for Microsoft Ltd. “Central Scotland Police estimates that it could save 30 percent on IT maintenance costs and 25 percent of IT staff’s time by using Microsoft technology.”{{ref|101}}

====NHS Scotland====

NHS Scotland has signed a national deal with Microsoft to supply office software and desktop operating systems at a discounted rate, saving an estimated £8m. Software will be provided to NHS Scotland through an appointed reseller, [[Trustmarque Solutions]].

The recent deal between Microsoft and NHS Scotland followed public criticism by Microsoft that NHS Scotland was wasting billions on IT

Microsoft’s former director for Scotland, [[Gordon McKenzie]] publicly criticised NHS Scotland for it's inefficiency and claiming that the NHS in Scotland pays four times more than the English health service for its IT systems.

:"But NHS Scotland is still operating in a piecemeal way," said McKenzie. "Royal Bank of Scotland has 100,000 employees and one IT system. The NHS in Scotland is about the same size, but there are 14 NHS trusts and even within each trust there may be four different systems. They even have different e-mail systems."

McKenzie said there was "no plan for convergence" in the NHS and that the public services, including local government, could be heavily streamlined so there was one system for HR, one for payroll, and even one council tax across Scotland, but he said Microsoft was "making more money out of the mess". {{ref|5}}

=== Shared Services ===

Shared Services was born in the 1980s when large corporations adopted the strategy to improve efficiency. Since then the American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and UK governments have adopted shared services.

According to the Scottish Executives publication ‘A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services’ shared services will be the best method for increasing the efficiency of Scottish Public Services. They set out five main aims including

1. To be user focused and personalised, organised around users and citizen needs and aspirations, not convenience of the service provider
2. Drive up quality and encourage innovation
3. Continue to improve efficiency and productivity
4. Be joined up and minimise separation
5. Ensure strong accountability

The Executive have created supportive work streams such as the [[Efficient Government Initiative]], The [[McClelland Review of Public Procurement in Scotland]], [[The integrated Services and Governance Modelling Project]], [[Review of Local Government Finance]] [[Best Value Framework]] [[Modernising Government]].

The shared services strategy has been developed with the Efficient Government Initiative which was launched in Novemeber 2004 but has ties with the other initiative mentioned above. The Shared Services Strategy has the following objectives

1 Identify and realise opportunities for efficiency savings and service improvements to be gained through the adoption of shared service initiatives
2. Promote the development of shred services, processes and systems that are resilient to changes in service delivery structures and boundaries and better able to meet the needs of joined up public services.
3. Build on the standards and infrastructure being put in place through the modernising Government Customer First and e-card initiatives and ideas developed through the Efficient Government Fund.

Opportunities for the shared services fall into two categories

1. Support functions such as Accounting, Payroll, Procurement, Human Resources, Facilities, Information and Communication Technology
2. Common Operational processes and systems that underpin front line services and which are duplicated across multiple organisations.

The Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform [[Tom McCabe]] estimated savings of between £250 million and £750 million a year across the whole of the Scottish public sector.

:"The Executive is committed to spending taxpayers' money as efficiently and effectively as possible. This new shared services strategy on which we are seeking views is a central plank of our Efficient Government initiative which aims to tackle bureaucracy and duplication in the public sector." {{ref|23}}

In formation Technology is second in the top six most popular areas for shared services. Institutions such as [[Scottish Enterprise]] and [[NHS Scotland]] have implemented national shared support services and smaller organisations such as [[Glasgow City Council]], [[the city of Edinburgh Council]] and the [[Scottish Executive]] have implemented internal shared support. This can be a very efficient way of opertaing public services. Tom McCabe backs the efficiency of shared services convincingly:

:"Take Shared Services for example. It is a waste to have the same function replicated in each and every public body. This can be effectively tackled by sharing support services, like finance, human resources, facilities and estates and IT across the whole public sector in Scotland." {{ref|60}}

However, this arguement may be redundant if sharing the services was not delegated by open competition. The Shared Services strategy was set up with the involvement of many big businesses such as [[Microsoft]], [[Cap Gemini]] and [[Logica]]. [[David Amos]] met with these companies to discuss the executive’s proposals for the planned [[Holyrood Consultations]] research to determine the best way forward for Shared Services. This meeting was followed up with Amos and Microsoft on the 8th November 2006 to discuss their response to the consultation.

Microsoft representatives [[Caroline Findlay]] and [[Marcus Henderson]] also met with the head of Shared Services [[Jonathan Moore]] for an informal discussion on developing the shared services strategy. And further meetings between Microsoft and the Permanent secretary [[John Elvidge]] took place on the following dates 23/01/06, 17/03/06, 03/07/06, 08/08/06, 06/09/06, and 05/10/06. Thus, Microsoft have been greatly involved in the development of shared services and there is little doubt that their input has been strongly related to their own interests of gaining a stronger hold on Scottish public services.

=== Microsoft Government Leaders Forum ===

On the 30th January 2007 Microsoft held their fourth annual European Government leaders forum in the Scottish Parliament. The forum is a gathering of leaders including Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and policy advisers from across Europe. The event aims to discuss issues relating to the government, the role of technology in education and employability issues.

The announcement of Microsoft partnership with the Scottish Executive was fitting in this context. Bill gates accompanied Jack Mc Connell in a press statement highlighting the philanthropic work both the Microsoft Corporation and the Scottish Executive will undertake in helping young Scots achieve. The signed agreement aims to train 100,000 Scots in computer skills. {{ref|25}} The project is aimed at those not in education, employment or training (NEET. this is not a new market for Microsoft as they are already involved with [[Learn Direct Scotland]]Microsoft envisages supporting NEET through the use of the Microsoft brand, seconding a senior person for 2/3 days per week, facilitating access to the Microsoft Partner network (1500 SMEs), all of which aim to deliver ICT solutions customers, connecting to Microsoft's existing skills and education programmes and helping ensure new programmes are practical and offering IT and software development expertise. {{ref|50}}

The Executive identified seven local authorities 'where NEET is a particular challenge and where reducing NEET locally would make an impact nationally." {{ref|49}}These included Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee.

Four high profile recruits have agreed to support the work of the NEET Programme Board in improving access to opportunities for those identified as NEET, estimated to be around 20,000.

Four recruits helping in the NEET project

[[Mark Adams]] from Microsoft

[[David Watt]] from [[KPMG]]

[[Euan Davidson]], formerly CEO of the [[Princes Trust]]

[[Ray Perman]] from the [[Hunter Foundation]]

However, Bill Gates did not come to Scotland solely for the purpose of the forum. Gates was awarded an honorary degree by Edinburgh University. A further coincidence was that the forum was undertaken at the same time as Microsoft’s new operating systems launch, Vista. The company has invested £3 billion and expects a healthy return on those investments as Vista is expected to be used in 100 million computers by 2008.

== Microsoft's Partner Companies ==

[[Charteris plc]]

== Affiliations ==

[[Business Software Association]]

[[European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association]]

[[Computing Technology Industry Association]]

[[Institute for Software Choice]]

===PR Firms===

[[Edelman]]

[[APCO]]

[[G Plus]]

===Media===

[[MSNBC]]

[[Slate Magazine]]

[[Tech Central Station]]

==People==
=== Microsoft Board of Directors ===

*[[Bill Gates]]

*[[Steven A. Ballmer]]

*[[James I. Cash Jr.]] Ph.D.

*[[Dina Dublon]]

*[[Raymond V. Gilmartin]]

*[[David F. Marquardt]]

*[[Charles H. Noski]]

*[[Jon A. Shirley]]

=== Microsoft In Europe ===

[[Gordon McKenzie]]

=== UK Executives ===

[[Gordon Frazer]]

[[Neil Thompson]]

[[Nick Barley]]

[[Sharon Baylay]]

[[Steve Dunn]]

[[Scott Dodds]]

[[Andy Watson]]

[[Matthew Bishop]]

[[Tery Smith]]

[[Chris Parker]]

[[Alison Dodd]]

[[Bronwyn Kunhardt]]

[[David Gartenberg]]

== Notes ==

#{{note|25}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{note|23}} Scottish Executive (2006)'''A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services'''[http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/05/11102023/0 Scottish Executive Website]11th May (accessed 28/01/07)
#{{note|26}} Lettice, J (2004) '''One Standard, One Microsoft - How the NHS Sold its Choice''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/nhs_ms_deal_analysis/ The Register]8th Novemeber accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|5}} Murden, T (2004) '''Microsoft Accuses 'Piecemeal' NHS of Wasting Money''' [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1465512004 The Scotsman]26th December (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{note|35}} Kablenet (2006) '''Microsoft signs for NHS Wales''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/01/microsoft_nhs_wales_procurement_deal/ The Register] Ist Feburary (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|38}} Corporate Watch (2004) '''Microsoft: A Corporate Profile'''[http://archive.corporatewatch.org/profiles/microsoft/microsoft4.htm Corporate Watch] (accessed 05/04/07)
#{{note|90}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{ref|101}}Microsoft (2005) '''Central Scotland Police and Microsoft Launch ICT Alliance to Support the Police Modernization Agenda'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/aug05/08-11CSPPR.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{ref|60}}McCabe, T (2006) '''Efficient Government in Scotland'''[http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/4417 eGov monitor] 6th Feburary (accessed 11/04/07)
#{{ref|50}}Scottish Executive (2006) '''Microsoft and NEET''' e-mail from Melanie Weldon to Sarah Davidson, 30th June, Freedom of Information request
{{ref|49}}Scottish Executive (2006) '''Microsoft and NEET''' e-mail from Melanie Weldon to Sarah Davidson, 30th June, Freedom of Information request

Microsoft

2007-04-20T09:54:22Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

== History of Microsoft ==

The company was founded by [[Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]] in 1975 and generated profits of $16,000. In the 1980s microsoft flourished as it provided the operating system DOS for IBM’s PC.

Today Microsoft is an international company present in 102 different countries, employing 76,000 people and generalting a profit of $44.28 billion per year.

Microsoft takes up 18.3 million square feet of office building space and is ranked 15th in the world's top 500 companies. Microsoft's has driven 93% of the world's desktop computers since 1991 and its office software dominates 90% of the market and earns the company $9 billion a year. In 1990 Microsoft became the first software company to reach $1 billion in revenue. In 2003 Microsoft's revenue increased by $3.82 billion to $32.19 billion with a net income of $9993 billion. Although Microsoft have been accused of fraudulent accounting in order to show profit.{{ref|38}}

The company headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA.
Microsoft have ownership of MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.

The company has faced much controversy over the years as many have attributed their success to their illegal monopoly over operating systems which effectively pushes competition out of the market. The company has faced legal proceedings aroung the world and have been found guilty on the charges of holding an unfair monopoly. However, as microsoft are an extrmely rich company, the finacial penalties they face are insignificant and they often pay their way out of any legal obligations to rectify this monopoly.

== Microsoft’s Philanthropy ==

Bill Gates likes to consider himself above all as a philanthropic man. At the Government Leaders Forum he quoted Carnegie: ‘he who dies rich dies disgraced.’ Although Gates found the funny side to this, saying that he was still working on it, his charity has been described as the ‘Microsoft of charities’. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was launched by a donation from Bill Gates of £54 million in 2000. Gates has a very philanthropic public image and has joined Bono on the cover of Time magazine as Humanitarian of the year and was voted 8th in the list of “Heros of our Time” by the New Statesman.

However, the ‘Microsoft of charities’ may hold alternative meanings as it has been criticised for disinvestments. In January the Los Angeles Times exposed the foundation for investing over £254 million in oil companies including [[Royal Dutch Shell]], [[Exxon Mobil]], [[Chevron]] and [[Total]] who were being accused of causing health problems in Nigeria which, ironically, is another area of funding for the trust.{{ref|90}}

== International Conflicts ==

Microsoft have faced criticism and legal action around the world. The main accusation are that they constitute a monopoly and effectively push competitors out of the market. The court cases in the US and Europe give some indication of how they conduct their business and political activities.

'''[[Microsoft: US Conflicts]]'''

'''[[Microsoft: European Conflicts]]'''

== Microsoft's Involvement with UK Public Services ==

'''NHS UK'''

The UK's National Health Service has a nine-year licensing deal with Microsoft, claiming that it will amount to savings of £330 million.
The discount come from the licensing fee but is suspicious, as the NHS was not paying this fee in the first place.

The December announcement was followed by a [[Bill Gates]] summit with [[Richard Granger]], the IT director general for the NHS and Secretary of State for Health [[John Reid]]. This meeting was followed by discussions between Granger and Microsoft CEO [[Steven A. Ballmer]] which ultimately lead to the deal.

The contract, in effect, ties the NHS into a single supplier for desktops, and in that sense flies in the face of advice from the Office of Government Commerce in its OSS report to :"determine whether current technologies and IT policies inhibit future choice; and if so consider what steps may be necessary to prevent future 'lock in'". The OGC has been evaluating open source precisely because it needs government departments to have an alternative to Microsoft.

This standardisation is effectively eliminating smaller suppliers, for example [[EMIS]] who claim that although they produced the most widely-used GP system they have been unable to gain contracts with any of the five English Local Service Providers (LSPs) for the NPfIT, claiming that

:"The conditions that would have been imposed on it were "untenable." In a letter stating its position the company claims the "NPfIT is intent on standardising NHS I.T not by encouraging innovation and competition but by monopolising the market place..." {{ref|26}}

'''NHS Wales'''

In 2006 the Welsh NHS made a deal with Microsoft for desktop and mobile computing software claiming that it would lead to savings of £8.5 million. The deal includes 35,000 desktop software licences and incorporates all local health boards and trusts in Wales for three years.

Health workers will receive IT vouchers and "home -use" scheme will allow staff to purchase cheaper software licences for their home computers.

The Health Minister at the Welsh Assembly Dr [[Brian Gibbons]], the director of IM&T [[Mike Lugg]] and the head of IT in Bro Morgannwg
[[Carol Mustad]] have all commented positively on the new deal. {{ref|35}}

== Microsoft Scotland ==

Microsoft Edinburgh 127 George Street Edinburgh EH2 4JN

08706010100

=== Microsoft Workers ===

[[Raymond O'Hare]]

Microsoft Scotland have a work force of 40 people mostly working in sales and technical support

=== Scottish Company Investors===

[[Scottish Widows Investment Partnership]]

[[Aegon]] UK

[[Scottish Equitable]]

[[Aberdeen Asset Management]]

=== Microsoft's Involvement with Scotland's Public Services ===

Microsoft has fiercely lobbied the Scottish Executive to have access to Scotland’s public services. The Scottish Executive and Microsoft are both clients of the lobbying agency [[2Collaborate]], which may account for Microsoft’s success in gaining public service contracts.

====Police Force====

On the 11th August 2005 Central Scotland Police announced that Microsoft Windows would replace some open source technologies and [[Charteris plc]], a Microsoft partner, is providing training and consultancy.

:“Central Scotland Police is basing its IT system on the Microsoft platform because its internal study shows that it offers the best value in total cost of ownership, ease of use, interoperability, reliability and support,” said [[Nick McGrath]], head of Platform Strategy for Microsoft Ltd. “Central Scotland Police estimates that it could save 30 percent on IT maintenance costs and 25 percent of IT staff’s time by using Microsoft technology.”{{ref|101}}

====NHS Scotland====

NHS Scotland has signed a national deal with Microsoft to supply office software and desktop operating systems at a discounted rate, saving an estimated £8m. Software will be provided to NHS Scotland through an appointed reseller, [[Trustmarque Solutions]].

The recent deal between Microsoft and NHS Scotland followed public criticism by Microsoft that NHS Scotland was wasting billions on IT

Microsoft’s former director for Scotland, [[Gordon McKenzie]] publicly criticised NHS Scotland for it's inefficiency and claiming that the NHS in Scotland pays four times more than the English health service for its IT systems.

:"But NHS Scotland is still operating in a piecemeal way," said McKenzie. "Royal Bank of Scotland has 100,000 employees and one IT system. The NHS in Scotland is about the same size, but there are 14 NHS trusts and even within each trust there may be four different systems. They even have different e-mail systems."

McKenzie said there was "no plan for convergence" in the NHS and that the public services, including local government, could be heavily streamlined so there was one system for HR, one for payroll, and even one council tax across Scotland, but he said Microsoft was "making more money out of the mess". {{ref|5}}

=== Shared Services ===

Shared Services was born in the 1980s when large corporations adopted the strategy to improve efficiency. Since then the American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and UK governments have adopted shared services.

According to the Scottish Executives publication ‘A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services’ shared services will be the best method for increasing the efficiency of Scottish Public Services. They set out five main aims including

1. To be user focused and personalised, organised around users and citizen needs and aspirations, not convenience of the service provider
2. Drive up quality and encourage innovation
3. Continue to improve efficiency and productivity
4. Be joined up and minimise separation
5. Ensure strong accountability

The Executive have created supportive work streams such as the [[Efficient Government Initiative]], The [[McClelland Review of Public Procurement in Scotland]], [[The integrated Services and Governance Modelling Project]], [[Review of Local Government Finance]] [[Best Value Framework]] [[Modernising Government]].

The shared services strategy has been developed with the Efficient Government Initiative which was launched in Novemeber 2004 but has ties with the other initiative mentioned above. The Shared Services Strategy has the following objectives

1 Identify and realise opportunities for efficiency savings and service improvements to be gained through the adoption of shared service initiatives
2. Promote the development of shred services, processes and systems that are resilient to changes in service delivery structures and boundaries and better able to meet the needs of joined up public services.
3. Build on the standards and infrastructure being put in place through the modernising Government Customer First and e-card initiatives and ideas developed through the Efficient Government Fund.

Opportunities for the shared services fall into two categories

1. Support functions such as Accounting, Payroll, Procurement, Human Resources, Facilities, Information and Communication Technology
2. Common Operational processes and systems that underpin front line services and which are duplicated across multiple organisations.

The Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform [[Tom McCabe]] estimated savings of between £250 million and £750 million a year across the whole of the Scottish public sector.

:"The Executive is committed to spending taxpayers' money as efficiently and effectively as possible. This new shared services strategy on which we are seeking views is a central plank of our Efficient Government initiative which aims to tackle bureaucracy and duplication in the public sector." {{ref|23}}

In formation Technology is second in the top six most popular areas for shared services. Institutions such as [[Scottish Enterprise]] and [[NHS Scotland]] have implemented national shared support services and smaller organisations such as [[Glasgow City Council]], [[the city of Edinburgh Council]] and the [[Scottish Executive]] have implemented internal shared support. This can be a very efficient way of opertaing public services. Tom McCabe backs the efficiency of shared services convincingly:

:"Take Shared Services for example. It is a waste to have the same function replicated in each and every public body. This can be effectively tackled by sharing support services, like finance, human resources, facilities and estates and IT across the whole public sector in Scotland." {{ref|60}}

However, this arguement may be redundant if sharing the services was not delegated by open competition. The Shared Services strategy was set up with the involvement of many big businesses such as [[Microsoft]], [[Cap Gemini]] and [[Logica]]. [[David Amos]] met with these companies to discuss the executive’s proposals for the planned [[Holyrood Consultations]] research to determine the best way forward for Shared Services. This meeting was followed up with Amos and Microsoft on the 8th November 2006 to discuss their response to the consultation.

Microsoft representatives [[Caroline Findlay]] and [[Marcus Henderson]] also met with the head of Shared Services [[Jonathan Moore]] for an informal discussion on developing the shared services strategy. And further meetings between Microsoft and the Permanent secretary [[John Elvidge]] took place on the following dates 23/01/06, 17/03/06, 03/07/06, 08/08/06, 06/09/06, and 05/10/06. Thus, Microsoft have been greatly involved in the development of shared services and there is little doubt that their input has been strongly related to their own interests of gaining a stronger hold on Scottish public services.

=== Microsoft Government Leaders Forum ===

On the 30th January 2007 Microsoft held their fourth annual European Government leaders forum in the Scottish Parliament. The forum is a gathering of leaders including Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and policy advisers from across Europe. The event aims to discuss issues relating to the government, the role of technology in education and employability issues.

The announcement of Microsoft partnership with the Scottish Executive was fitting in this context. Bill gates accompanied Jack Mc Connell in a press statement highlighting the philanthropic work both the Microsoft Corporation and the Scottish Executive will undertake in helping young Scots achieve. The signed agreement aims to train 100,000 Scots in computer skills. {{ref|25}} The project is aimed at those not in education, employment or training (NEET. this is not a new market for Microsoft as they are already involved with [[Learn Direct Scotland]]Microsoft envisages supporting NEET through the use of the Microsoft brand, seconding a senior person for 2/3 days per week, facilitating access to the Microsoft Partner network (1500 SMEs), all of which aim to deliver ICT solutions customers, connecting to Microsoft's existing skills and education programmes and helping ensure new programmes are practical and offering IT and software development expertise. {{ref|50}}

The Executive identified seven local authorities 'where NEET is a particular challenge and where reducing NEET locally would make an impact nationally." {{ref|49}}These included Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee.

Four high profile recruits have agreed to support the work of the NEET Programme Board in improving access to opportunities for those identified as NEET, estimated to be around 20,000.

Four recruits helping in the NEET project

[[Mark Adams]] from Microsoft

[[David Watt]] from [[KPMG]]

[[Euan Davidson]], formerly CEO of the [[Princes Trust]]

[[Ray Perman]] from the [[Hunter Foundation]]

However, Bill Gates did not come to Scotland solely for the purpose of the forum. Gates was awarded an honorary degree by Edinburgh University. A further coincidence was that the forum was undertaken at the same time as Microsoft’s new operating systems launch, Vista. The company has invested £3 billion and expects a healthy return on those investments as Vista is expected to be used in 100 million computers by 2008.

== Microsoft's Partner Companies ==

[[Charteris plc]]

== Affiliations ==

[[Business Software Association]]

[[European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association]]

[[Computing Technology Industry Association]]

[[Institute for Software Choice]]

===PR Firms===

[[Edelman]]

[[APCO]]

[[G Plus]]

===Media===

[[MSNBC]]

[[Slate Magazine]]

[[Tech Central Station]]

==People==
=== Microsoft Board of Directors ===

*[[Bill Gates]]

*[[Steven A. Ballmer]]

*[[James I. Cash Jr.]] Ph.D.

*[[Dina Dublon]]

*[[Raymond V. Gilmartin]]

*[[David F. Marquardt]]

*[[Charles H. Noski]]

*[[Jon A. Shirley]]

=== Microsoft In Europe ===

[[Gordon McKenzie]]

=== UK Executives ===

[[Gordon Frazer]]

[[Neil Thompson]]

[[Nick Barley]]

[[Sharon Baylay]]

[[Steve Dunn]]

[[Scott Dodds]]

[[Andy Watson]]

[[Matthew Bishop]]

[[Tery Smith]]

[[Chris Parker]]

[[Alison Dodd]]

[[Bronwyn Kunhardt]]

[[David Gartenberg]]

== Notes ==

#{{note|25}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{note|23}} Scottish Executive (2006)'''A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services'''[http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/05/11102023/0 Scottish Executive Website]11th May (accessed 28/01/07)
#{{note|26}} Lettice, J (2004) '''One Standard, One Microsoft - How the NHS Sold its Choice''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/nhs_ms_deal_analysis/ The Register]8th Novemeber accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|5}} Murden, T (2004) '''Microsoft Accuses 'Piecemeal' NHS of Wasting Money''' [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1465512004 The Scotsman]26th December (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{note|35}} Kablenet (2006) '''Microsoft signs for NHS Wales''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/01/microsoft_nhs_wales_procurement_deal/ The Register] Ist Feburary (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|38}} Corporate Watch (2004) '''Microsoft: A Corporate Profile'''[http://archive.corporatewatch.org/profiles/microsoft/microsoft4.htm Corporate Watch] (accessed 05/04/07)
#{{note|90}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{ref|101}}Microsoft (2005) '''Central Scotland Police and Microsoft Launch ICT Alliance to Support the Police Modernization Agenda'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/aug05/08-11CSPPR.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{ref|60}}McCabe, T (2006) '''Efficient Government in Scotland'''[http://www.egovmonitor.com/node/4417 eGov monitor] 6th Feburary (accessed 11/04/07)
#{{ref|50}}Scottish executive (2006) '''Microsoft and NEET''' e-mail from Melanie Weldon to Sarah Davidson, 30th June, Freedom of Information request
{{ref|49}}Scottish executive (2006) '''Microsoft and NEET''' e-mail from Melanie Weldon to Sarah Davidson, 30th June, Freedom of Information request

Microsoft

2007-04-20T09:29:22Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

Microsoft

2007-04-20T09:27:46Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

Microsoft

2007-04-20T09:26:30Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Shared Services */

Alison Dodd

2007-04-19T20:02:48Z

Fiona Campbell: /* notes */

'''Senior Director, OEM, Microsoft Ltd'''

There is no further information on the Microsoft website of Alison Dodd

== notes ==

Microsoft (2007) '''UK Executives'''[http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/executives/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 21/02/07)

Microsoft

2007-04-19T19:43:16Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

== History of Microsoft ==

The company was founded by [[Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]] in 1975 and generated profits of $16,000. In the 1980s microsoft flourished as it provided the operating system DOS for IBM’s PC.

Today Microsoft is an international company present in 102 different countries, employing 76,000 people and generalting a profit of $44.28 billion per year.

Microsoft takes up 18.3 million square feet of office building space and is ranked 15th in the world's top 500 companies. Microsoft's has driven 93% of the world's desktop computers since 1991 and its office software dominates 90% of the market and earns the company $9 billion a year. In 1990 Microsoft became the first software company to reach $1 billion in revenue. In 2003 Microsoft's revenue increased by $3.82 billion to $32.19 billion with a net income of $9993 billion. Although Microsoft have been accused of fraudulent accounting in order to show profit.{{ref|38}}

The company headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA.
Microsoft have ownership of MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.

The company has faced much controversy over the years as many have attributed their success to their illegal monopoly over operating systems which effectively pushes competition out of the market. The company has faced legal proceedings aroung the world and have been found guilty on the charges of holding an unfair monopoly. However, as microsoft are an extrmely rich company, the finacial penalties they face are insignificant and they often pay their way out of any legal obligations to rectify this monopoly.

== Microsoft’s Philanthropy ==

Bill Gates likes to consider himself above all as a philanthropic man. At the Government Leaders Forum he quoted Carnegie: ‘he who dies rich dies disgraced.’ Although Gates found the funny side to this, saying that he was still working on it, his charity has been described as the ‘Microsoft of charities’. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was launched by a donation from Bill Gates of £54 million in 2000. Gates has a very philanthropic public image and has joined Bono on the cover of Time magazine as Humanitarian of the year and was voted 8th in the list of “Heros of our Time” by the New Statesman.

However, the ‘Microsoft of charities’ may hold alternative meanings as it has been criticised for disinvestments. In January the Los Angeles Times exposed the foundation for investing over £254 million in oil companies including [[Royal Dutch Shell]], [[Exxon Mobil]], [[Chevron]] and [[Total]] who were being accused of causing health problems in Nigeria which, ironically, is another area of funding for the trust.{{ref|90}}

== International Conflicts ==

Microsoft have faced criticism and legal action around the world. The main accusation are that they constitute a monopoly and effectively push competitors out of the market. The court cases in the US and Europe give some indication of how they conduct their business and political activities.

'''[[Microsoft: US Conflicts]]'''

'''[[Microsoft: European Conflicts]]'''

== Microsoft's Involvement with UK Public Services ==

'''NHS UK'''

The UK's National Health Service has a nine-year licensing deal with Microsoft, claiming that it will amount to savings of £330 million.
The discount come from the licensing fee but is suspicious, as the NHS was not paying this fee in the first place.

The December announcement was followed by a [[Bill Gates]] summit with [[Richard Granger]], the IT director general for the NHS and Secretary of State for Health [[John Reid]]. This meeting was followed by discussions between Granger and Microsoft CEO [[Steven A. Ballmer]] which ultimately lead to the deal.

The contract, in effect, ties the NHS into a single supplier for desktops, and in that sense flies in the face of advice from the Office of Government Commerce in its OSS report to :"determine whether current technologies and IT policies inhibit future choice; and if so consider what steps may be necessary to prevent future 'lock in'". The OGC has been evaluating open source precisely because it needs government departments to have an alternative to Microsoft.

This standardisation is effectively eliminating smaller suppliers, for example [[EMIS]] who claim that although they produced the most widely-used GP system they have been unable to gain contracts with any of the five English Local Service Providers (LSPs) for the NPfIT, claiming that

:"The conditions that would have been imposed on it were "untenable." In a letter stating its position the company claims the "NPfIT is intent on standardising NHS I.T not by encouraging innovation and competition but by monopolising the market place..." {{ref|26}}

'''NHS Wales'''

In 2006 the Welsh NHS made a deal with Microsoft for desktop and mobile computing software claiming that it would lead to savings of £8.5 million. The deal includes 35,000 desktop software licences and incorporates all local health boards and trusts in Wales for three years.

Health workers will receive IT vouchers and "home -use" scheme will allow staff to purchase cheaper software licences for their home computers.

The Health Minister at the Welsh Assembly Dr [[Brian Gibbons]], the director of IM&T [[Mike Lugg]] and the head of IT in Bro Morgannwg
[[Carol Mustad]] have all commented positively on the new deal. {{ref|35}}

== Microsoft Scotland ==

Microsoft Edinburgh 127 George Street Edinburgh EH2 4JN

08706010100

=== Microsoft Workers ===

[[Raymond O'Hare]]

Microsoft Scotland have a work force of 40 people mostly working in sales and technical support

=== Scottish Company Investors===

[[Scottish Widows Investment Partnership]]

[[Aegon]] UK

[[Scottish Equitable]]

[[Aberdeen Asset Management]]

=== Microsoft's Involvement with Scotland's Public Services ===

Microsoft has fiercely lobbied the Scottish Executive to have access to Scotland’s public services. The Scottish Executive and Microsoft are both clients of the lobbying agency [[2Collaborate]], which may account for Microsoft’s success in gaining public service contracts.

====Police Force====

On the 11th August 2005 Central Scotland Police announced that Microsoft Windows would replace some open source technologies and [[Charteris plc]], a Microsoft partner, is providing training and consultancy.

:“Central Scotland Police is basing its IT system on the Microsoft platform because its internal study shows that it offers the best value in total cost of ownership, ease of use, interoperability, reliability and support,” said [[Nick McGrath]], head of Platform Strategy for Microsoft Ltd. “Central Scotland Police estimates that it could save 30 percent on IT maintenance costs and 25 percent of IT staff’s time by using Microsoft technology.”{{ref|101}}

====NHS Scotland====

NHS Scotland has signed a national deal with Microsoft to supply office software and desktop operating systems at a discounted rate, saving an estimated £8m. Software will be provided to NHS Scotland through an appointed reseller, [[Trustmarque Solutions]].

The recent deal between Microsoft and NHS Scotland followed public criticism by Microsoft that NHS Scotland was wasting billions on IT

Microsoft’s former director for Scotland, [[Gordon McKenzie]] publicly criticised NHS Scotland for it's inefficiency and claiming that the NHS in Scotland pays four times more than the English health service for its IT systems.

:"But NHS Scotland is still operating in a piecemeal way," said McKenzie. "Royal Bank of Scotland has 100,000 employees and one IT system. The NHS in Scotland is about the same size, but there are 14 NHS trusts and even within each trust there may be four different systems. They even have different e-mail systems."

McKenzie said there was "no plan for convergence" in the NHS and that the public services, including local government, could be heavily streamlined so there was one system for HR, one for payroll, and even one council tax across Scotland, but he said Microsoft was "making more money out of the mess". {{ref|5}}

=== Shared Services ===

Shared Services was born in the 1980s when large corporations adopted the strategy to improve efficiency. Since then the American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and UK governments have adopted shared services.

According to the Scottish Executives publication ‘A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services’ shared services will be the best method for increasing the efficiency of Scottish Public Services. They set out five main aims including

1. To be user focused and personalised, organised around users and citizen needs and aspirations, not convenience of the service provider
2. Drive up quality and encourage innovation
3. Continue to improve efficiency and productivity
4. Be joined up and minimise separation
5. Ensure strong accountability

The Executive have created supportive work streams such as the [[Efficient Government Initiative]], The [[McClelland Review of Public Procurement in Scotland]], [[The integrated Services and Governance Modelling Project]], [[Review of Local Government Finance]] [[Best Value Framework]] [[Modernising Government]].

The shared services strategy has been developed with the Efficient Government Initiative which was launched in Novemeber 2004 but has ties with the other initiative mentioned above. The Shared Services Strategy has the following objectives

1 Identify and realise opportunities for efficiency savings and service improvements to be gained through the adoption of shared service initiatives
2. Promote the development of shred services, processes and systems that are resilient to changes in service delivery structures and boundaries and better able to meet the needs of joined up public services.
3. Build on the standards and infrastructure being put in place through the modernising Government Customer First and e-card initiatives and ideas developed through the Efficient Government Fund.

Opportunities for the shared services fall into two categories

1. Support functions such as Accounting, Payroll, Procurement, Human Resources, Facilities, Information and Communication Technology
2. Common Operational processes and systems that underpin front line services and which are duplicated across multiple organisations.

The Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform [[Tom McCabe]] estimated savings of between £250 million and £750 million a year across the whole of the Scottish public sector.

:"The Executive is committed to spending taxpayers' money as efficiently and effectively as possible. This new shared services strategy on which we are seeking views is a central plank of our Efficient Government initiative which aims to tackle bureaucracy and duplication in the public sector." {{ref|23}}

In formation Technology is second in the top six most popular areas for shared services. Institutions such as [[Scottish Enterprise]] and [[NHS Scotland]] have implemented national shared support services and smaller organisations such as [[Glasgow City Council]], [[the city of Edinburgh Council]] and the [[Scottish Executive]] have implemented internal shared support. This can be a very efficient way of opertaing public services. Tom McCabe backs the efficiency of shred services convincingly:

:"Take Shared Services for example. It is a waste to have the same function replicated in each and every public body. This can be effectively tackled by sharing support services, like finance, human resources, facilities and estates and IT across the whole public sector in Scotland." {{ref|60}}

However, this arguement may be redundant if sharing the services was not delegated by open competition. The Shared Services strategy was set up with the involvement of many big businesses such as [[Microsoft]], [[Cap Gemini]] and [[Logica]]. [[David Amos]] met with these companies to discuss the executive’s proposals for the planned [[Holyrood Consultations]] research to determine the best way forward for Shared Services. This meeting was followed up with Amos and Microsoft on the 8th November 2006 to discuss their response to the consultation.

Microsoft representatives [[Caroline Findlay]] and [[Marcus Henderson]] also met with the head of Shared Services [[Jonathan Moore]] for an informal discussion on developing the shared services strategy. And further meetings between Microsoft and the Permanent secretary [[John Elvidge]] took place on the following dates 23/01/06, 17/03/06, 03/07/06, 08/08/06, 06/09/06, and 05/10/06. Thus, Microsoft have been greatly involved in the development of shared services and there is little doubt that their input has been strongly related to their own interests of gaining a stronger hold on Scottish public services.

=== Microsoft Government Leaders Forum ===

On the 30th January 2007 Microsoft held their fourth annual European Government leaders forum in the Scottish Parliament. The forum is a gathering of leaders including Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and policy advisers from across Europe. The event aims to discuss issues relating to the government, the role of technology in education and employability issues.

The announcement of Microsoft partnership with the Scottish Executive was fitting in this context. Bill gates accompanied Jack Mc Connell in a press statement highlighting the philanthropic work both the Microsoft Corporation and the Scottish Executive will undertake in helping young Scots achieve. The signed agreement aims to train 100,000 Scots in computer skills. {{ref|25}} The project is aimed at those not in education, employment or training (NEET. this is not a new market for Microsoft as they are already involved with [[Learn Direct Scotland]]Microsoft envisages supporting NEET through the use of the Microsoft brand, seconding a senior person for 2/3 days per week, facilitating access to the Microsoft Partner network (1500 SMEs), all of which aim to deliver ICT solutions customers, connecting to Microsoft's existing skills and education programmes and helping ensure new programmes are practical and offering IT and software development expertise. {{ref|50}}

The Executive identified seven local authorities 'where NEET is a particular challenge and where reducing NEET locally would make an impact nationally." {{ref|49}}These included Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee.

Four high profile recruits have agreed to support the work of the NEET Programme Board in improving access to opportunities for those identified as NEET, estimated to be around 20,000.

Four recruits helping in the NEET project

[[Mark Adams]] from Microsoft

[[David Watt]] from [[KPMG]]

[[Euan Davidson]], formerly CEO of the [[Princes Trust]]

[[Ray Perman]] from the [[Hunter Foundation]]

However, Bill Gates did not come to Scotland solely for the purpose of the forum. Gates was awarded an honorary degree by Edinburgh University. A further coincidence was that the forum was undertaken at the same time as Microsoft’s new operating systems launch, Vista. The company has invested £3 billion and expects a healthy return on those investments as Vista is expected to be used in 100 million computers by 2008.

== Microsoft's Partner Companies ==

[[Charteris plc]]

== Affiliations ==

[[Business Software Association]]

[[European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association]]

[[Computing Technology Industry Association]]

[[Institute for Software Choice]]

===PR Firms===

[[Edelman]]

[[APCO]]

[[G Plus]]

===Media===

[[MSNBC]]

[[Slate Magazine]]

[[Tech Central Station]]

==People==
=== Microsoft Board of Directors ===

*[[Bill Gates]]

*[[Steven A. Ballmer]]

*[[James I. Cash Jr.]] Ph.D.

*[[Dina Dublon]]

*[[Raymond V. Gilmartin]]

*[[David F. Marquardt]]

*[[Charles H. Noski]]

*[[Jon A. Shirley]]

=== Microsoft In Europe ===

[[Gordon McKenzie]]

=== UK Executives ===

[[Gordon Frazer]]

[[Neil Thompson]]

[[Nick Barley]]

[[Sharon Baylay]]

[[Steve Dunn]]

[[Scott Dodds]]

[[Andy Watson]]

[[Matthew Bishop]]

[[Tery Smith]]

[[Chris Parker]]

[[Alison Dodd]]

[[Bronwyn Kunhardt]]

[[David Gartenberg]]

== Notes ==

#{{note|25}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{note|23}} Scottish Executive (2006)'''A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services'''[http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/05/11102023/0 Scottish Executive Website]11th May (accessed 28/01/07)
#{{note|26}} Lettice, J (2004) '''One Standard, One Microsoft - How the NHS Sold its Choice''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/nhs_ms_deal_analysis/ The Register]8th Novemeber accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|5}} Murden, T (2004) '''Microsoft Accuses 'Piecemeal' NHS of Wasting Money''' [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1465512004 The Scotsman]26th December (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{note|35}} Kablenet (2006) '''Microsoft signs for NHS Wales''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/01/microsoft_nhs_wales_procurement_deal/ The Register] Ist Feburary (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|38}} Corporate Watch (2004) '''Microsoft: A Corporate Profile'''[http://archive.corporatewatch.org/profiles/microsoft/microsoft4.htm Corporate Watch] (accessed 05/04/07)
#{{note|90}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{ref|101}}Microsoft (2005) '''Central Scotland Police and Microsoft Launch ICT Alliance to Support the Police Modernization Agenda'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/aug05/08-11CSPPR.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{ref|60}}
#{{ref|50}}
#{{ref|49}}

William H Gates

2007-04-19T19:42:00Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

Bill H. Gates is chairman of [[Microsoft]] Corporation, the worldwide leader in software. Microsoft had revenues of US$44.28 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2006, and employs more than 71,000 people in 103 countries and regions.

On June 15, 2006, Microsoft announced that effective July 2008 Gates will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. After July 2008 Gates will continue to serve as Microsoft’s chairman and an advisor on key development projects.
In his junior year, Gates left Harvard University to devote his energies to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend [[Paul Allen]].

Microsoft has invested $6.2 billion on research and development in the 2005 fiscal year. {{ref|5}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|5}}Microsoft (2007) '''Board of Directors'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/bod/jcash/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 30/01/07)

David Gartenberg

2007-04-19T19:41:12Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

'''HR Director, Microsoft Ltd'''

Dave Gartenberg was appointed HR Director of Microsoft Ltd in July 2005 to oversee the People, Organisation and Culture strategies for the whole of the UK.

Dave first joined Microsoft in the US in January 2001, as Senior HR Manager within the US Eastern region where he was responsible for 1,200 employees located across five sales districts.

Dave’s next role from September 2002 was as HR Director in the US Corporate Business team, where he led the HR team focused on the newly formed 3,000 person Operations and Technology Group (OTG).

Prior to joining Microsoft, Dave spent more than seven years with [[Rohm and Haas]], a $6B global specialty chemicals manufacturer. He started off as an Internal Consultant in their Leadership and Organization Effectiveness group, and then worked his way though a variety of client focused HR roles, finishing up as the HR Director for the Office of Technology, responsible for the technology backbone of the company (Research, Manufacturing, Engineering and Corporate Development functions).

Dave earned his undergraduate degree in Economics at George Washington University, Washington DC and spent three years as an Economic analyst working for a consulting firm that was focused on Mergers and Acquisitions. Dave then returned to university and gained an MBA in Organisational Behaviour and Development, where he was offered a Fellowship and taught undergraduate Management Science classes. {{ref|24}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|24}}Microsoft (2007) '''UK Executives'''[http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/executives/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 21/02/07)

Bronwyn Kunhardt

2007-04-19T19:40:45Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

'''Head of Corporate Reputation and Diversity, Microsoft Ltd'''

Bronwyn Kunhardt is a member of Microsoft's leadership team in the UK. As head of Corporate Reputation and Diversity, she is briefed to create and drive policy within Microsoft in these critical areas and to allocate the necessary resources to ensure that the organisation maintains its leadership position in the industry.

In fulfilling her role, Bronwyn develops and evangelises the innovative policies adopted by Microsoft to promote increased diversity within its organisation. She also works collaboratively with its stakeholders and partners, including pressure groups, political parties and government to lead new thinking and policy in this area.

Bronwyn has been with Microsoft for ten years. Before taking up her new role in January 2005, she headed the Image and Reputation team at MSN UK, focused on building understanding of issues such as child safety, work life balance. She was also responsible for managing '''MSN's Citizenship, Community Affairs, and Consumer Research programmes'''.

While in this role, she spearheaded an award winning employment package which has led to 80% of the workforce, including all of the leadership team, starting to work flexibly.

Bronwyn holds a Masters Degree in Social Anthropology and Development from the School of African and Oriental Studies in London. {{ref|23}}
== Notes ==

#{{note|23}}Microsoft (2007) '''UK Executives'''[http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/executives/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 21/02/07)

Alison Dodd

2007-04-19T19:40:14Z

Fiona Campbell:

'''Senior Director, OEM, Microsoft Ltd'''

== notes ==

Microsoft (2007) '''UK Executives'''[http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/executives/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 21/02/07)

Chris Parker

2007-04-19T19:39:38Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

'''Chris Parker
Senior Director, Law and Corporate Affairs, Microsoft Ltd'''

Chris leads the Law and Corporate Affairs team in the UK.
He has significant legal and corporate affairs experience in the information technology industry. Prior to joining Microsoft, Chris was Senior Counsel for [[Apple Europe]] and Legal & Government Affairs Director at [[Compaq]]. He also spent more than 17 years at [[Digital Equipment Co. Ltd]] (DEC) in various legal roles.

His main areas of expertise are IT licensing, Intellectual Property and competition law. He has been involved in a number of competition investigations, by both UK and EU authorities and was instrumental in settling the European Commission's investigation into DEC in 1997 (the Digital Undertaking).

Chris is an English barrister and holds a law degree from the University of Hull.{{ref|2}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|2}} Microsoft (2007) '''UK Executives'''[http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/executives/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 21/02/07)

Terry Smith

2007-04-19T19:39:10Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

'''General Manager, Public Sector, Microsoft Ltd'''

Terry Smith is responsible for the strategic direction of [[Microsoft]]’s Public Sector business in the UK. He leads sales, marketing and services teams which address the healthcare, central and local government, defence, education, police and criminal justice sectors.

Terry has worked at Microsoft since July 1995 and has managed a number of partner & customer groups in that time, spanning independent software vendors (ISVs), SI’s, web developers as well as enterprise & corporate customers. Whilst heading the Public Sector business at Microsoft Ltd, Terry has been responsible for some of the world’s largest IT projects, notably the provision of the UK Digital Curriculum in partnership with the [[BBC]] as well as major innovative projects with the NHS, Inland Revenue, MOD and a number of local authorities.

Terry has led his team in fundamentally altering the relationships Microsoft has with UK Government. The aim has been to become a strategic partner with Government organisations (such as the MOD, FCO, and London Borough of Newham) in their efforts to make Britain a better place in which to live, learn and do business. Terry has also been instrumental in building strategic relationships with organisations such as [[Accenture]] and [[CAP]] and ensuring that Microsoft is a key partner for specialist companies in the UK.

Prior to his current role, Terry was Head of the Internet Business Group focussing sales and marketing efforts targeting DotComs, Marketplaces & ASP’s. With 25 years experience in the IT industry, immediately prior to Microsoft Terry worked as Sales Director for the largest UK Healthcare ISV – ACT Medisys.

Born in the North West, Terry started his career at Unisys where he spent 12 years in a number of sales & management positions, working with major customers such as [[Pilkingtons]], [[ICI]] & [[Bass]]. {{ref|21}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|21}} Microsoft (2007) '''UK Executives'''[http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/executives/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 21/02/07)

Matthew Bishop

2007-04-19T19:38:34Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

'''Business & Marketing Officer, Microsoft Ltd'''

Matthew is responsible for the success of five of the company's commercial business groups, as well as the Marketing and Corporate Affairs organisation in the UK. His remit covers orchestrating the direction and success of the sales, marketing and services resources in each of the business groups, as well as leading the marketing teams responsible for promoting the company's commercial products and services.

Prior to this role, Matthew has worked as Senior Director, Developer Platform Evangelism (DPE) and Senior Director of Government (EMEA regions). Before this, Matthew was Director of Government Sales & Solutions (EMEA regions) where he increased business in local and regional Government and created a successful European Government Leaders Forum.

Matthew first joined Microsoft in December 1998 to become a Strategy Consultant, working with Enterprise customers and partners. In 2000, Matthew became Government Services Practice Manager which included working on the Government Gateway and New Tax Credits projects. Matthew then became Director of Customer Experience within the Services team.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Matthew was a civil servant in the UK Government Cabinet Office, where his team advised ministers on e-government goals for electronic service delivery and produced the first e-government Green Paper in Europe.{{ref|20}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|20}} Microsoft (2007) '''UK Executives'''[http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/executives/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 21/02/07)

Andy Watson

2007-04-19T19:37:51Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

'''Senior Director of Enterprise Services, Microsoft Ltd'''

As Group Director of Microsoft Services in the UK, Andy's area of responsibility is the delivery of high quality consulting and support services to the Enterprise Sector. Ultimately he is responsible for the transfer of knowledge to customers and partners in order to accelerate the adoption, deployment, and long-term acceptance of Microsoft products, technologies, and solutions that drive significant business value and satisfaction.

Andy brings to the role experience gained as the Director of Microsoft Technology and Solution Consulting Services in the UK, providing high-level IT management and technical consulting to Microsoft's largest customers and strategic partners. Prior to this he was Chief Technology Officer for Microsoft UK and Group manager of Technology Consulting and Systems Engineering (pre-sales technical field staff). He was appointed to the role of Group Director in May 2002.

Andy has been with Microsoft for 4 years. Prior to this he spent 18 years with [[IBM]] in a variety of consulting and management roles. His earliest career steps were taken with Coopers and Lybrand and British Aerospace. Andy graduated from Cambridge University with a degree in Electrical Sciences. He is a Chartered Engineer.{{ref|19}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|18}} Microsoft (2007) '''UK Executives'''[http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/executives/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 21/02/07)

Scott Dodds

2007-04-19T19:37:20Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

'''General Manager of Small, Medium Enterprises & Partners Group'''

Scott Dodds was appointed General Manager of SMS&P (Small, Medium Enterprises & Partners Group) for Microsoft UK on 1 January 2007.

The SME and Partner group focuses on Microsoft's small and medium-sized customers and strives to improve the way that Microsoft and its partners engage with this sector. This involves the delivery of first-class sales, marketing and services programmes and drives partner education and support schemes to ensure the best possible customer experience. Scott’s initial focus within SMS&P for FY07 will include driving double-digit growth for the company through working closely with our partners, propelling Microsoft to lead the mid market in the UK and cultivating a more competitive spirit among employees.

Previously, Scott ran the company’s OEM UK and Northern European divisions, since joining Microsoft three years ago in November 2003. He has made a strong impact both internally and externally, utilising his skills and experience to increase customer satisfaction levels in a challenging environment.

Scott has 20 years broad experience in engineering, sales and management. Scott joined Microsoft from Acer, where he was Managing Director of Acer UK & Ireland and on the European Management team for Acer EMEA. Prior to this, Scott worked seven years for Compaq UK in various management roles – latterly as General Manager of UK Channels, responsible for all of Compaq’s direct and indirect partner teams. {{ref|18}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|18}} Microsoft (2007) '''UK Executives'''[http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/executives/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 21/02/07)

Steve Dunn

2007-04-19T19:36:47Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

'''Finance Director, Microsoft Ltd'''

Since joining [[Microsoft]] in 1997, Steve has worked in a number of roles including financial analyst and the Controller of Microsoft New Zealand, where Steve was responsible for all financial operations of Microsoft’s New Zealand subsidiary.

Steve returned to the United States in 2000 to be the US West Region Controller. Steve’s role was to manage five analysts aligned with the US West Region sales organisation.

In 2002, Steve became Microsoft US EPG Controller, whereby he directly managed a team of 60 controllers and analysts that align with the MSUS EPG Sales and Services organisations.

Steve has an undergraduate degree from Lehigh University and an MBA from the Kellogg School at Northwestern University. Prior to joining Microsoft he worked for [[Ernst & Young]] LLP in their financial audit group.{{ref|17}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|17}} Microsoft (2007) '''UK Executives'''[http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/executives/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 21/02/07)

Sharon Baylay

2007-04-19T19:36:16Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

'''General Manager, Microsoft Online Services Group, UK'''

Sharon Baylay is General Manager, Microsoft Online Services Group in the UK, where she has overall responsibility for running the Windows Live and MSN businesses which form part of the newly formed Online Services Group for Microsoft UK. In her role, Sharon will lead the next chapter in the development and revenue growth of the UK business.

Sharon takes up the post having spent the last three years running the MSN business in Asia Pacific, Greater China and the Americas where she was responsible for overseeing business development in these countries, as well as implementing investment strategies for emerging markets to help extend MSN’s lead in global reach.

In her previous role as Regional Director of MSN EMEA, Sharon was responsible for building the MSN brand into the number one web destination for consumers in Europe, Middle East and Africa and for the last ten years she has worked at the leading edge of new technology in developing and emerging markets. Many of her experiences are related to how information technology is becoming a significant enabler of the economies and people in these countries.

Sharon learnt her skills managing the growth of emerging markets from 1996 when she worked as a regional manager for Africa, Mediterranean and Middle East region specifically running Microsoft’s Anti-Piracy and Internet Security team. In 1998, she moved to become marketing manager for a Microsoft team dedicated to bringing enhanced television to the UK. This involved a major collaboration between a number of partners including [[BBC]], [[BT and Pace Technology plc]] and led to the first major trial of interactive television content and delivery to homes in the UK.

Before joining Microsoft, Sharon worked in the PC and PC Services Industry for [[Olivetti]] and was an Accredited IBM, Apple and Compaq Systems Sales Manager.

Sharon is a Member of the [[Chartered Institute of Marketing]], and has travelled the world extensively in her roles at Microsoft. {{ref|16}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|16}} Microsoft (2007) '''UK Executives'''[http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/executives/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 21/02/07)

Nick Barley

2007-04-19T19:35:45Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

'''Chief Marketing Officer, Microsoft Ltd'''

Nick Barley is the Chief Marketing Officer at Microsoft Ltd. Nick joined Microsoft in 2002 and has held various executive level business and marketing roles. Nick's remit is to provide a central marketing powerhouse and to drive Microsoft’s relationship marketing programme in the UK. He is also responsible for Microsoft's branding, image and corporate social responsibility activities in the UK.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Nick was Vice President and Director of Marketing for [[Oracle]] UK and Ireland. He has also held senior sales, marketing and consulting positions within [[Bull Information Systems]], [[Digital Equipment Co.]], [[Management Science America]] and [[Hewlett Packard]]

Nick has over 21 years' experience in the information technology industry. His experience spans UK, European and US markets as well as multiple market sectors, both public and private. Nick has a Bachelor of Arts honours (BA Hons) degree in Economics, and a Master of Science (MSc) degree in Economic and Regional Planning from the University of Reading.{{ref|15}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|15}} Microsoft (2007) '''UK Executives'''[http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/executives/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 21/02/07)

Neil Thompson

2007-04-19T19:35:14Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

'''Senior Regional Director, Northern Europe, Entertainment & Devices Division, Microsoft Corporation'''

Neil Thompson has overall responsibility for Microsoft's Entertainment & Devices Division in Northern Europe (UK, Ireland & Nordics). His responsibilities include the sales and marketing of all of Microsoft's products sold through retail which include gaming products (Xbox 360, Xbox, Xbox Live, Xbox accessories, Xbox games and PC games), PC software products (Office, Windows, Encarta, Works, Digital Imaging, Student etc), PC peripherals (Mice and Keyboards) and products produced for Mac (primarily Mac Office).

Thompson previously held the same role for Central & Southern Europe (Spain, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Austria, Switzerland, Portugal, Greece, Eastern Europe, Middle East and Africa). Prior to this, Thompson held a variety of marketing management roles at Microsoft, including Director of Marketing at Xbox Europe, Head of Image & Communications at Microsoft EMEA and Head of Relationship Marketing at Microsoft UK.

Prior to joining Microsoft, Thompson was Direct Marketing Manager for [[Stena AB/Sealink]].

Thompson holds a degree in Economics from Loughborough University. {{ref|14}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|14}}Microsoft (2007) '''UK Executives'''[http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/executives/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 21/02/07)

Gordon Frazer

2007-04-19T19:34:45Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

Managing Director Microsoft Ltd

Gordon Frazer is Managing Director at Microsoft Limited in the UK and was appointed to this role in July 2006. Prior to this appointment he spent four years as Managing Director for Microsoft South Africa. He is a member of the Microsoft International Leadership Team and also sits on the industry board of e-Skills UK.

During his long career at Microsoft Gordon has held many key roles. Before becoming Managing Director for South Africa he was responsible for the Enterprise and Partner Group, focusing on Microsoft’s largest customers and partners in the country. Prior to this, he was head of the Business Solutions Group, working with Microsoft partners to develop and deliver line of business applications to organizations. Gordon joined Microsoft in November 1995 in a marketing role, where he concentrated on intellectual property and software licensing issues.

Outside Microsoft he has held various positions including Chairman of the [[Business Software Alliance]], President of the [[Information Technology Association]] and was also a trustee for the [[World Wildlife Fund]].

Before joining Microsoft, Gordon was Technical Director at a software development company and had previously worked in financial services and the mining industry. Gordon holds a Bachelors degree from Rhodes University.{{ref|13}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|13}}Microsoft (2007) '''UK Executives'''[http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/executives/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 21/02/07)

Jon A. Shirley

2007-04-19T19:33:27Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

Former President and Chief Operating Officer, Microsoft Corporation

Jon A. Shirley was born in San Diego in 1938, graduated from The Hill School in Pottstown, Pennsylvania, and then attended MIT in Cambridge, Massachusetts.
He was with [[Tandy Corporation]] for 25 years in many positions, last as vice president Computer Merchandising when he left in 1983 to move to Seattle and become president, chief operating officer and a director of Microsoft Corporation. He retired from Microsoft in 1990 but remains a director. He is also a director of [[Manzanita Capital]], a private financial services company in Seattle.{{ref|100}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|100}} Microsoft (2007) '''Board of Directors'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/bod/jcash/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 30/01/07)

Charles H. Noski

2007-04-19T19:32:49Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

[[Charles H. Noski]]
Former Vice Chairman, AT&T Corporation

From 1999 to 2002, Mr. Noski served as senior executive vice president and chief financial officer of [[AT&T]]Corporation and was named vice chairman of AT&T's Board of Directors in February 2002. He retired from AT&T upon the completion of its restructuring in November 2002. From December 2003 to March 2005, Mr. Noski served as Corporate Vice President and Chief Financial Officer of [[Northrop Grumman Corporation]], and was a director from November 2002 to May 2005.
Prior to joining AT&T, Mr. Noski was president, chief operating officer, and a member of the Board of Directors of [[Hughes Electronics Corporation]], a publicly-traded subsidiary of General Motors Corporation in the satellite and wireless communications business. He is a member of the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants and Financial Executives International, and is a past member of the Financial Accounting Standards Advisory Council. Mr. Noski also serves as a director of the Los Angeles County Music Center and the California State University, Northridge Foundation.
Mr. Noski joined the Microsoft Board on November 11, 2003. He also serves on the boards of directors of [[Air Products & Chemicals, Inc.]], and [[Morgan Stanley]].{{ref|8}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|8}}Microsoft (2007) '''Board of Directors'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/bod/jcash/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 30/01/07)

David F. Marquardt

2007-04-19T19:32:11Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

General Partner, August Capital

Mr. Marquardt is a founding general partner of [[August Capital]], a private venture capital firm in Menlo Park, California, organized in 1995. Mr. Marquardt entered the venture capital business in 1979 as an associate at [[Institutional Venture Associates]] (IVA).
During his tenure at IVA, he led successful investments in [[Seagate]], [[Archive and SpectraLogic]] (acquired by Seagate) and [[Stratus Computer]]. In 1980, Mr. Marquardt became a founding partner in Technology Venture Investors, four highly successful venture funds that invested in more than 100 start-up and emerging growth companies.
During his venture career, Mr. Marquardt has led investments in more than 35 companies, serving on 20 boards of directors. In addition to the companies mentioned above, his venture successes include [[Adaptec]], [[Auspex]], [[Grand Junction Networks]] (acquired by Cisco), [[Linear Technology]], Microsoft (where Dave was the sole venture investor) and [[Sun Microsystems]].{{ref|7}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|7}}Microsoft (2007) '''Board of Directors'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/bod/jcash/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 30/01/07)

Raymond V. Gilmartin

2007-04-19T19:31:44Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

==Former Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer, Merck & Co., Inc.==

Raymond V. Gilmartin is the former Chairman, President and Chief Executive Officer of [[Merck & Co.Inc.]], a global research-driven pharmaceutical company that discovers, develops, manufactures and markets innovative vaccines and medicines. In July 2006, he joined the faculty at the Harvard Business School as Professor of Management Practice teaching in the MBA program.

Mr. Gilmartin joined Merck as President and Chief Executive Officer in June 1994, was named to the additional position of Chairman of the Board in November 1994. He served in those capacities until May 2005 when he relinquished those titles as part of the succession planning process leading up to his planned retirement in April 2006. In the interim, he served as Special Advisor to the Executive Committee of the Board of Directors.

Prior to joining Merck, Mr. Gilmartin served as Chairman, President and CEO of [[Becton Dickinson]], a global company that develops, manufactures and markets medical devices and diagnostic products. He joined that company in 1976 as vice president, strategic planning, and took on positions of increasing responsibility over the next eighteen years.
Mr. Gilmartin serves on the board of [[General Mills, Inc.]] He is chairman of the Board of Directors of The United Negro College Fund and serves on the Board of Dean’s Advisors for the [[Harvard Business School]].

An active participant in health industry affairs worldwide, Mr. Gilmartin is a stakeholder in the Harvard Program for Health System Improvement, is a past chair of the [[Healthcare Leadership Council]] and was a board member of the [[Alliance for Healthcare Reform]]. In addition, he is a past chair of the [[Pharmaceutical Research and Manufacturers of America]] and a past president of the [[International Federation of Pharmaceutical Manufacturers and Associations]].

Mr. Gilmartin also has been involved in global economic and trade issues that concern the pharmaceutical industry. He was a member of the President’s Export Council and is a past chair of the Council on Competitiveness. He was a member of the [[Transatlantic Business Dialogue]] and of the Trade and Poverty Forum, a project of the [[German Marshall Fund]].

Mr. Gilmartin received a BS in electrical engineering from Union College in 1963 and an MBA from Harvard Business School in 1968.

usalem and a Masters degree from the Business School at Carnegie Mellon University.{{ref|6}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|6}} Microsoft (2007) '''Board of Directors'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/bod/jcash/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 30/01/07)

Dina Dublon

2007-04-19T19:30:37Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

'''Former Chief Financial Officer, JPMorgan Chase'''

Dina Dublon was, from December 1998 until her retirement in September 2004, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for [[JPMorgan Chase]]. Ms. Dublon was responsible for the global financial management and reporting, related technology and operations, strategy and acquisitions, corporate treasury, investor relations and tax. She was integral to the negotiation and implementation of the mergers of Chemical Bank with Manufacturers [[Hanover]], [[Chase]], [[JPMorgan]], and [[Bank One]].
Ms. Dublon joined [[Chemical Bank's capital]] markets group as a trainee on the trading floor in 1981. From 1981 to 1996, Ms. Dublon held positions in capital markets, asset liability management and investment banking. She became Corporate Treasurer in 1994 and head of corporate planning in 1996. Prior to joining [[Chemical Bank]], Ms. Dublon worked as a research associate for the Harvard Business School and as Regional Director, Securities Division at [[Bank Hapoalim]] in Israel.
Ms. Dublon joined the Microsoft board on March 22, 2005. She also serves on the board of directors of [[Accenture, Ltd.]], and [[PepsiCo, Inc.]] She is a founding board member of Greenstone Media, and serves on the boards of [[Carnegie]] [[Mellon University]], the Global Fund for Women and the Women's Commission for Refugee Women & Children.{{ref|5}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|5}} Microsoft (2007) '''Board of Directors'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/steve/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 30/01/07)

Dina Dublon

2007-04-19T19:29:59Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

'''Former Chief Financial Officer, JPMorgan Chase'''

Dina Dublon was, from December 1998 until her retirement in September 2004, Executive Vice President and Chief Financial Officer for [[JPMorgan Chase]]. Ms. Dublon was responsible for the global financial management and reporting, related technology and operations, strategy and acquisitions, corporate treasury, investor relations and tax. She was integral to the negotiation and implementation of the mergers of Chemical Bank with Manufacturers [[Hanover]], [[Chase]], [[JPMorgan]], and [[Bank One]].
Ms. Dublon joined [[Chemical Bank's capital]] markets group as a trainee on the trading floor in 1981. From 1981 to 1996, Ms. Dublon held positions in capital markets, asset liability management and investment banking. She became Corporate Treasurer in 1994 and head of corporate planning in 1996. Prior to joining [[Chemical Bank]], Ms. Dublon worked as a research associate for the Harvard Business School and as Regional Director, Securities Division at [[Bank Hapoalim]] in Israel.
Ms. Dublon joined the Microsoft board on March 22, 2005. She also serves on the board of directors of [[Accenture, Ltd.]], and [[PepsiCo, Inc.]] She is a founding board member of Greenstone Media, and serves on the boards of [[Carnegie]] [[Mellon University]], the Global Fund for Women and the Women's Commission for Refugee Women & Children.{{ref|5}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|5}} Microsoft '''(2007) Board of Directors'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/steve/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 30/01/07)

James I. Cash Jr.

2007-04-19T19:28:45Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

Dr. Cash received a Bachelor of Science degree in mathematics from Texas Christian University; a Master of Science in computer science from Purdue University's Graduate School of Mathematical Sciences; and a Doctor of Philosophy in Management Information Systems (MIS) from Purdue University's Krannert Graduate School of Management. He joined the Harvard Business School Faculty in 1976, and has taught in all the major HBS programs MBA, Program for Management Development (PMD), Program for Global Leadership (PGL), and Advanced Management Program (AMP). Among his administrative assignments he has served as chairman of the MBA Program from 1992 to 1995, during the schools project to redesign the MBA Program MBA: Leadership and Learning; and as Senior Associate Dean and Chairman of HBS Publishing from 1998 to 2003.

Dr. Cash's nonacademic activities include serving as a trustee or overseer for nonprofit organizations and on the board of directors for several public companies. He has worked with many companies and governments around the world in both consulting and teaching assignments. Before his graduate education and joining the Harvard Faculty, he worked as director of Data Processing for several years, which followed jobs as a systems analyst, systems programmer and application programmer. His research focused on the strategic use of information technology in the service sector.

Dr. Cash is currently running an invitation-only program for chief information officers of leading companies-designed to promote peer-to-peer exchange and learning, and exposure to leading thinkers from business, government and academia – titled The Cash Concours. He also designed and implemented a leadership development program for The Concours Group which targets senior managers in large information technology organizations.{{ref|3}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|3}} Microsoft (2007) '''Board of Directors'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/bod/jcash/default.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 30/01/07)

Steven A. Ballmer

2007-04-19T19:27:31Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

is a Harvard graduate with a degree in mathemeatics and Economics and is now Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corporation. Ballmer joined in 1980 and was the first business manager hired by Bill Gates. Former President, now CEO
The company has seven business
After college he worked at [[Procter and Gamble]] Co for two years.
Beofore working for Microsoft he attended Stanford University Graduate School of Business. {{ref|1}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|1}} Microsoft (2007)'''Board of Directors'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/steve/default.mspx Microsoft Website](accessed 30/01/07)

Steven A. Ballmer

2007-04-19T19:26:40Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

is a Harvard graduate with a degree in mathemeatics and Economics and is now Chief Executive Officer of Microsoft Corporation. Ballmer joined in 1980 and was the first business manager hired by Bill Gates. Former President, now CEO
The company has seven business
After college he worked at [[Procter and Gamble]] Co for two years.
Beofore working for Microsoft he attended Stanford University Graduate School of Business. {{ref|1}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|1}} Microsoft (2007)'''Steven A. Ballmer'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/exec/steve/default.mspx Board of Directors](accessed 30/01/07)

William H Gates

2007-04-19T19:25:12Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

Bill H. Gates is chairman of [[Microsoft]] Corporation, the worldwide leader in software. Microsoft had revenues of US$44.28 billion for the fiscal year ending June 2006, and employs more than 71,000 people in 103 countries and regions.

On June 15, 2006, Microsoft announced that effective July 2008 Gates will transition out of a day-to-day role in the company to spend more time on his global health and education work at the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation. After July 2008 Gates will continue to serve as Microsoft’s chairman and an advisor on key development projects.
In his junior year, Gates left Harvard University to devote his energies to Microsoft, a company he had begun in 1975 with his childhood friend [[Paul Allen]].

Microsoft has invested $6.2 billion on research and development in the 2005 fiscal year. {{ref|5}}

== Notes ==

#{{note|5}}Microsoft (2007)'''Bill Gates''' [http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/bod/jcash/default.mspx Board of Directors] (accessed 30/01/07)

Raymond O'Hare

2007-04-19T19:23:31Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

Regional Director in Scotland

Raymond O'Hare was appointed as Regional Director for Scotland in November. O'Hare was previously Regional Manager for Scotland. O'Hare joined Microsoft in 1997 and under his leadership, the UK retail banking and Scotland Services organisations have grown into a 12million + business.

O'Hare was responsible for establishing Microsoft's SME community in Scotland and working with enterprise customers and partners to develop solutions based on Microsoft technologies that allow them to realise their business potential.

Partners remain a key focus for O'Hare and he will continue to develop the local partner network to service the requirements of all Scottish businesses. O'Hare has very strong existing relationships with the [[Scottish Chamber of Commerce]] [[Federation of Small Businesses]], [[Institure of Chartered Accountants of Scotland]] ICAS, [[Law Society of Scotland]] and [[Scottish Enterprise]].

As O'Hare explained. "We have had a very positive year in Scotland. My new role will allow me to build on the relationships I have developed with key influencers, partners and customers and expand this work to cover all our Scottish business. I am very pleased with what we have achieved and am looking forward to establishing a strong Microsoft presence in Scotland."

Prior to joining Microsoft O'Hare worked for [[Royal Bank of Scotland]] and built a number of businesses from their early stages, including a financial services sales division for ICL in Dublin and a substantial multi-vendor services business for Digital in Scotland. {{ref|z}}

Raymond O'hare is also involved with [[Scottish Council for Development and Industry]] [[SCDI]] and the [[Institute of Directors]]

== Notes ==

#{{note|z}}Microsoft (2007)'''Board of Directors, Raymond O'Hare'''[http://www.microsoft.com/uk/press/content/presscentre/releases/2004/11/pr03340.mspx Microsoft Website](accessed 18/02/07)

Microsoft: European Conflicts

2007-04-19T19:21:20Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

The European Commission fined Microsoft 497 million Euros for misconduct in the market place.

Two complaints were made against Microsoft:

The first accusation was that Microsoft 'illegally tied the availability of Windows to Windows Media Player, making it impossible to obtain the former without the latter, and so distorting the market in media Players.'{{ref|y}}

The Second complaint was that "Microsoft enagaged in conduct designed to make it difficult for other companies or organisations to write software with interoperates with Windows in particular important ways."{{ref|x}}

The European Commission demanded that Microsoft remody the situation and stipulated that Microsoft produced a version of Windows with the Windows Media Player. However, although Microsoft have complied they have attempted to undermine these stipulations. Firstly they suggested that the new versions would be given "Not with Windows Media Player" labels. The EU did not agree to this and so following further negotiations they agreed to "Edition N"

Microsoft have retailed the new versions at the same price as the older version, ensuring its failure in the market place.

The second remody demanaded that Microsoft publish the specifications of the CIFS protocol. However, Microsoft provided further barriers to this demand. The main competitor in the CIFS server space is a free software project named [[Samba]]. Samba are generally a generation behind Microsoft as the have to "reverse-engineer all the behaviuor from scratch."

:"For example, machines in Windows domains which talk to each other using the latest versions of CIFS use a machine acting as an Active Directory Domain Controller to keep order. At the moment, Microsoft has a monopoly on these Domain Controllers - the code is built into the expensive Server versions of Windows 2000 and Windows 2003."{{ref|91}}

The information that would have to be publish would assist Samba in catching up with Windows and would make the more expensive Microsoft products redundant.

Microsoft have not fully complied with the demands set and the EU's Monitoring Trustee ruled that "using the current documentation to implement anything would be "frustrating, time cinsuming and ultimately fruitless." Thus, the EU ruled that unless Microsoft fully complies 'by the end of January, it will be fined £1.5 million per day,back dated to Decemnber 15, for non compliance."

However, Microsoft makes £14 million per day from Windows client operating system liciences. This success is credited to their monopoly over operating systems. Therefore, £1.5 million per day is a small price to pay for a company that has a monopoly that will earn then £14 million. {{ref|36}}

During this trial Microsoft recruited [[Detlef Eckert]], who was working on information technology policy in the European Commission. The official line was that Eckert would help Microsoft develop better computer security.

The president of [[The Computer and Communication Industry Association]], [[Ed Black]] visited Eckert put forward their concerns of Microsoft’s misconduct. The Association have been lobbying the European Commission to impose an anti trust ruling on Microsft. Black reports Eckert as saying:

:“he was not within the competition directorate but he was probably in the directorate most closely involved in this case. {{ref|80}}

Despite the European Commissions assurances that Eckert signed an agreement to fully respect with the conflict of interest rules and refrain from revealing confidential Commission information to Microsoft his involvement will surely be of some political use to the company.

Microsoft have also been greatly involved with the [[Campaign for Creativity]]. Microsoft have been concerned with patent rights and have used the campaign to represent their concerns in Europe. The Campaign was replaced by the [[Innovation and Creativity Group]] in 2005. Although they would not reveal where their funding came from there has been strong speculation that Microsoft gave significant finacial supoort.

== Notes ==

#{{note|y}}Markham, G (2005) '''Microsoft Fine Could Be a Price Worth Paying'''[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article782791.ece? The Scotsman] 27th December (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|x}}Markham, G (2005) '''Microsoft Fine Could Be a Price Worth Paying'''[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article782791.ece? The Scotsman] 27th December (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|91}} Markham, G (2005) '''Microsoft Fine Could Be a Price Worth Paying'''[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article782791.ece? The Scotsman] 27th December (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|36}} Markham, G (2005) '''Microsoft Fine Could Be a PriceWorth Paying'''[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article782791.ece? The Scotsman] 27th December (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|80}}BBC News (2002) '''Anger As Microsoft Hires EU Official'''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2523757.stm BBC News] 29th Novemeber (accessed 24/03/07)

Microsoft: European Conflicts

2007-04-19T19:20:11Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

The European Commission fined Microsoft 497 million Euros for misconduct in the market place.

Two complaints were made against Microsoft:

The first accusation was that Microsoft 'illegally tied the availability of Windows to Windows Media Player, making it impossible to obtain the former without the latter, and so distorting the market in media Players.'{{ref|y}}

The Second complaint was that "Microsoft enagaged in conduct designed to make it difficult for other companies or organisations to write software with interoperates with Windows in particular important ways."{{ref|x}}

The European Commission demanded that Microsoft remody the situation and stipulated that Microsoft produced a version of Windows with the Windows Media Player. However, although Microsoft have complied they have attempted to undermine these stipulations. Firstly they suggested that the new versions would be given "Not with Windows Media Player" labels. The EU did not agree to this and so following further negotiations they agreed to "Edition N"

Microsoft have retailed the new versions at the same price as the older version, ensuring its failure in the market place.

The second remody demanaded that Microsoft publish the specifications of the CIFS protocol. However, Microsoft provided further barriers to this demand. The main competitor in the CIFS server space is a free software project named [[Samba]]. Samba are generally a generation behind Microsoft as the have to "reverse-engineer all the behaviuor from scratch."

:"For example, machines in Windows domains which talk to each other using the latest versions of CIFS use a machine acting as an Active Directory Domain Controller to keep order. At the moment, Microsoft has a monopoly on these Domain Controllers - the code is built into the expensive Server versions of Windows 2000 and Windows 2003."{{ref|91}}

The information that would have to be publish would assist Samba in catching up with Windows and would make the more expensive Microsoft products redundant.

Microsoft have not fully complied with the demands set and the EU's Monitoring Trustee ruled that "using the current documentation to implement anything would be "frustrating, time cinsuming and ultimately fruitless." Thus, the EU ruled that unless Microsoft fully complies 'by the end of January, it will be fined £1.5 million per day,back dated to Decemnber 15, for non compliance."

However, Microsoft makes £14 million per day from Windows client operating system liciences. This success is credited to their monopoly over operating systems. Therefore, £1.5 million per day is a small price to pay for a company that has a monopoly that will earn then £14 million. {{ref|36}}

During this trial Microsoft recruited [[Detlef Eckert]], who was working on information technology policy in the European Commission. The official line was that Eckert would help Microsoft develop better computer security.

The president of [[The Computer and Communication Industry Association]], [[Ed Black]] visited Eckert put forward their concerns of Microsoft’s misconduct. The Association have been lobbying the European Commission to impose an anti trust ruling on Microsft. Black reports Eckert as saying:

:“he was not within the competition directorate but he was probably in the directorate most closely involved in this case. {{ref|80}}

Despite the European Commissions assurances that Eckert signed an agreement to fully respect with the conflict of interest rules and refrain from revealing confidential Commission information to Microsoft his involvement will surely be of some political use to the company.

Microsoft have also been greatly involved with the [[Campaign for Creativity]]. Microsoft have been concerned with patent rights and have used the campaign to represent their concerns in Europe. The Campaign was replaced by the [[Innovation and Creativity Group]] in 2005. Although they would not reveal where their funding came from there has been strong speculation that Microsoft gave significant finacial supoort.

== Notes ==

#{{note|y}}
#{{note|x}}
#{{note|91}} Markham, G (2005) '''Microsoft Fine Could Be a Price Worth Paying'''[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article782791.ece? The Scotsman] 27th December (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|36}} Markham, G (2005) '''Microsoft Fine Could Be a PriceWorth Paying'''[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article782791.ece? The Scotsman] 27th December (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|80}}BBC News (2002) '''Anger As Microsoft Hires EU Official'''[http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/business/2523757.stm BBC News] 29th Novemeber (accessed 24/03/07)

Microsoft: European Conflicts

2007-04-19T19:18:41Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

The European Commission fined Microsoft 497 million Euros for misconduct in the market place.

Two complaints were made against Microsoft:

The first accusation was that Microsoft 'illegally tied the availability of Windows to Windows Media Player, making it impossible to obtain the former without the latter, and so distorting the market in media Players.'{{ref|y}}

The Second complaint was that "Microsoft enagaged in conduct designed to make it difficult for other companies or organisations to write software with interoperates with Windows in particular important ways."{{ref|x}}

The European Commission demanded that Microsoft remody the situation and stipulated that Microsoft produced a version of Windows with the Windows Media Player. However, although Microsoft have complied they have attempted to undermine these stipulations. Firstly they suggested that the new versions would be given "Not with Windows Media Player" labels. The EU did not agree to this and so following further negotiations they agreed to "Edition N"

Microsoft have retailed the new versions at the same price as the older version, ensuring its failure in the market place.

The second remody demanaded that Microsoft publish the specifications of the CIFS protocol. However, Microsoft provided further barriers to this demand. The main competitor in the CIFS server space is a free software project named [[Samba]]. Samba are generally a generation behind Microsoft as the have to "reverse-engineer all the behaviuor from scratch."

:"For example, machines in Windows domains which talk to each other using the latest versions of CIFS use a machine acting as an Active Directory Domain Controller to keep order. At the moment, Microsoft has a monopoly on these Domain Controllers - the code is built into the expensive Server versions of Windows 2000 and Windows 2003."{{ref|91}}

The information that would have to be publish would assist Samba in catching up with Windows and would make the more expensive Microsoft products redundant.

Microsoft have not fully complied with the demands set and the EU's Monitoring Trustee ruled that "using the current documentation to implement anything would be "frustrating, time cinsuming and ultimately fruitless." Thus, the EU ruled that unless Microsoft fully complies 'by the end of January, it will be fined £1.5 million per day,back dated to Decemnber 15, for non compliance."

However, Microsoft makes £14 million per day from Windows client operating system liciences. This success is credited to their monopoly over operating systems. Therefore, £1.5 million per day is a small price to pay for a company that has a monopoly that will earn then £14 million. {{ref|36}}

During this trial Microsoft recruited [[Detlef Eckert]], who was working on information technology policy in the European Commission. The official line was that Eckert would help Microsoft develop better computer security.

The president of [[The Computer and Communication Industry Association]], [[Ed Black]] visited Eckert put forward their concerns of Microsoft’s misconduct. The Association have been lobbying the European Commission to impose an anti trust ruling on Microsft. Black reports Eckert as saying:

:“he was not within the competition directorate but he was probably in the directorate most closely involved in this case. {{ref|80}}

Despite the European Commissions assurances that Eckert signed an agreement to fully respect with the conflict of interest rules and refrain from revealing confidential Commission information to Microsoft his involvement will surely be of some political use to the company.

Microsoft have also been greatly involved with the [[Campaign for Creativity]]. Microsoft have been concerned with patent rights and have used the campaign to represent their concerns in Europe. The Campaign was replaced by the [[Innovation and Creativity Group]] in 2005. Although they would not reveal where their funding came from there has been strong speculation that Microsoft gave significant finacial supoort.

== Notes ==

#{{note|y}}
#{{note|x}}
#{{note|91}} Markham, G (2005) '''Microsoft Fine Could Be a Price Worth Paying'''[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article782791.ece? The Scotsman] 27th December (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|36}} Markham, G (2005) '''Microsoft Fine Could Be a PriceWorth Paying'''[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article782791.ece? The Scotsman] 27th December (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|80}}BBC News (2002) '''Anger As Microsoft Hires EU Official'''[ (accessed 24/03/07)

Microsoft: European Conflicts

2007-04-19T19:16:12Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

The European Commission fined Microsoft 497 million Euros for misconduct in the market place.

Two complaints were made against Microsoft:

The first accusation was that Microsoft 'illegally tied the availability of Windows to Windows Media Player, making it impossible to obtain the former without the latter, and so distorting the market in media Players.'{{ref|y}}

The Second complaint was that "Microsoft enagaged in conduct designed to make it difficult for other companies or organisations to write software with interoperates with Windows in particular important ways."{{ref|x}}

The European Commission demanded that Microsoft remody the situation and stipulated that Microsoft produced a version of Windows with the Windows Media Player. However, although Microsoft have complied they have attempted to undermine these stipulations. Firstly they suggested that the new versions would be given "Not with Windows Media Player" labels. The EU did not agree to this and so following further negotiations they agreed to "Edition N"

Microsoft have retailed the new versions at the same price as the older version, ensuring its failure in the market place.

The second remody demanaded that Microsoft publish the specifications of the CIFS protocol. However, Microsoft provided further barriers to this demand. The main competitor in the CIFS server space is a free software project named [[Samba]]. Samba are generally a generation behind Microsoft as the have to "reverse-engineer all the behaviuor from scratch."

:"For example, machines in Windows domains which talk to each other using the latest versions of CIFS use a machine acting as an Active Directory Domain Controller to keep order. At the moment, Microsoft has a monopoly on these Domain Controllers - the code is built into the expensive Server versions of Windows 2000 and Windows 2003."{{ref|91}}

The information that would have to be publish would assist Samba in catching up with Windows and would make the more expensive Microsoft products redundant.

Microsoft have not fully complied with the demands set and the EU's Monitoring Trustee ruled that "using the current documentation to implement anything would be "frustrating, time cinsuming and ultimately fruitless." Thus, the EU ruled that unless Microsoft fully complies 'by the end of January, it will be fined £1.5 million per day,back dated to Decemnber 15, for non compliance."

However, Microsoft makes £14 million per day from Windows client operating system liciences. This success is credited to their monopoly over operating systems. Therefore, £1.5 million per day is a small price to pay for a company that has a monopoly that will earn then £14 million. {{ref|36}}

During this trial Microsoft recruited [[Detlef Eckert]], who was working on information technology policy in the European Commission. The official line was that Eckert would help Microsoft develop better computer security.

The president of [[The Computer and Communication Industry Association]], [[Ed Black]] visited Eckert put forward their concerns of Microsoft’s misconduct. The Association have been lobbying the European Commission to impose an anti trust ruling on Microsft. Black reports Eckert as saying:

:“he was not within the competition directorate but he was probably in the directorate most closely involved in this case. {{ref|80}}

Despite the European Commissions assurances that Eckert signed an agreement to fully respect with the conflict of interest rules and refrain from revealing confidential Commission information to Microsoft his involvement will surely be of some political use to the company.

Microsoft have also been greatly involved with the [[Campaign for Creativity]]. Microsoft have been concerned with patent rights and have used the campaign to represent their concerns in Europe. The Campaign was replaced by the [[Innovation and Creativity Group]] in 2005. Although they would not reveal where their funding came from there has been strong speculation that Microsoft gave significant finacial supoort.

== Notes ==

#{{note|y}}
#{{note|x}}
#{{note|91}} Markham, G (2005) '''Microsoft Fine Could Be a Price Worth Paying'''[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article782791.ece? The Scotsman] 27th December (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|36}} Markham, G (2005) '''Microsoft Fine Could Be a PriceWorth Paying'''[http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/sport/football/european_football/article782791.ece? The Scotsman] 27th December (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|80}}

Microsoft: US Conflicts

2007-04-19T19:13:30Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

On May 18th 1998 Microsoft faced a public court case against the United States Department of Justice (DOJ) and 20 other US states. Microsoft were subjected to two accusations:

1. Microsoft was accused of abusing their monopoly in operating system and web browser sales. Microsoft’s combination of Windows and Internet Explorer software came under scrutiny as its legality was questioned.

2. Microsoft was also accused of restricting web browser competitors. Microsoft was suspected of changing its Application Programming Interfaces (APIs) to suit Internet Explorer and to the detriment of competitors.

In October 1998 Microsoft were sued by the Justice Department for threatening PC manufacturers with revoking their licence to distribute Windows if they removed the Internet Explorer icon from the initial desktop, a request made by its competitors Netscape.

Microsoft lost their cases as Judge Jackson concluded that Microsoft were guilty of holding a monopoly over personal computer operating systems and had taken illegal actions to prevent competitors from realistically competing in the market. However, Microsoft launched an appeal, and in September 2000 the Federal Appeals Court overturned Judge Jackson’s ruling due to the fact that he had given off the record interviews to the media during the trial and they believed him to have allowed his personal opinions to interfere with his decision. Despite this the court upheld Jackson monopolization ruling and remanded the case for ‘consideration of a proper remedy.’ In September 2001 under George Bush’s government the Department of Justice decided that they were no longer demanding Microsoft separate their products and were deciding on a lesser antitrust punishment. The final settlement came in November 2001 requiring Microsoft to make public its application programming interfaces with competitors and employ three people who would have full access to Microsoft systems, records and source codes for five years. There was no restriction on Microsoft combining other software with Windows again. Despite the objections of nine of the prosecuting states the US Appeals Court approved the settlement in 2004.

Wired magazine has quoted Bill gates as saying "Of course I have as much power as the president has" {{ref|42}}
Microsft undertook a public defence. The [[Independent Institute]] who are funded by Microsft put a full page advert in the Washinton Post and the New York Times on June 2nd 1999. The publication was a"An open letter to president Clinton From 240 Economists On Anti Trust Protectionism:

:"Consumers did not ask for these antitrust actions -rival business firms did. Consumers of high technology have enjoyed falling prices, expanding outputs, and a breathtaking array of new products and innovations...Increasinly, however, some firms have sought to handicap their rival' races by turnign to governemnt for protection...Many of these cases are based on speculation about some vague specified consumer harm in some unspecified future, and many of the proposed interventions will weaken successful U.S firms and inpede their competitiveness abroad."

During this trial Microsoft became very involved in politics. In 1995 Microsoft had one person working in Washington, which grew to ten in 1999. Microsoft increased their presidential campaign contributions and lobbying budget greatly. In 1994 Microsoft donated $106,000 to presidential election campaigns, in 1996 this figure rose to $232,000 and in 1998 it had reached $1 million. Their lobbying budget almost doubled between 1997 and 1998 to $3.74 million. Lobbying efforts were focused on the Anti Trust case as they lobbied against the budget increase for the Justice Departments Anti Trust department. This was criticised fiercely as the Washington Post wrote:

:“The effort by Microsoft to get the proposed budget of the Justice Departments Anti Trust division slashed fits a comical caricature of the thuggish company that Microsoft enemies believe the software giant to be “

In relation to the Anti trust campaign Microsoft most interesting financial contributions have been their contributions to Members of the Judiciary Committees in the Senate and the House of Representatives, the people that would have the greatest influence over the Justice Department.

Microsoft are also involved with The [[Association for Competitive Technology]] and The [[Americans for Technology Leadership]] The latter were accused of sending letters, from two dead, people to Mark Shurtless, the Utah Attorney General, asking for lenient treatment to Microsoft for their monopoly conduct. This is reportedly part of Microsoft's strategy to influence Congress {{ref|45}}

Microsoft has also lobbied for tax relief, stronger intellectual property protection and a greater number of visas for foreign high tech workers. It is speculated that as well as attempting to influence the Anti Trust case in their favour Microsoft have been anxious to get a greater influence in the White House to counter the increased lobbying efforts of their competitors. Sun Microsystems, Netscape and Oracle formed a group called The Project to Promote Competition and Innovation in the Digital Age or ProComp. ProComp’s strategic advisor and former presidential candidate Bob Dole tried to convince the Justice Department to pursue Microsoft further on the Anti Trust case.

== Notes ==

#{{note|42}}
#{{note|45}} Corporate Watch (2004) '''Microsoft: A Corporate Profile'''[http://archive.corporatewatch.org/profiles/microsoft/microsoft4.htm Corporate Watch](accessed 05/04/07)

Microsoft

2007-04-19T19:04:59Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

== History of Microsoft ==

The company was founded by [[Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]] in 1975 and generated profits of $16,000. In the 1980s microsoft flourished as it provided the operating system DOS for IBM’s PC.

Today Microsoft is an international company present in 102 different countries, employing 76,000 people and generalting a profit of $44.28 billion per year.

Microsoft takes up 18.3 million square feet of office building space and is ranked 15th in the world's top 500 companies. Microsoft's has driven 93% of the world's desktop computers since 1991 and its office software dominates 90% of the market and earns the company $9 billion a year. In 1990 Microsoft became the first software company to reach $1 billion in revenue. In 2003 Microsoft's revenue increased by $3.82 billion to $32.19 billion with a net income of $9993 billion. Although Microsoft have been accused of fraudulent accounting in order to show profit.{{ref|38}}

The company headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA.
Microsoft have ownership of MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.

The company has faced much controversy over the years as many have attributed their success to their illegal monopoly over operating systems which effectively pushes competition out of the market. The company has faced legal proceedings aroung the world and have been found guilty on the charges of holding an unfair monopoly. However, as microsoft are an extrmely rich company, the finacial penalties they face are insignificant and they often pay their way out of any legal obligations to rectify this monopoly.

== Microsoft’s Philanthropy ==

Bill Gates likes to consider himself above all as a philanthropic man. At the Government Leaders Forum he quoted Carnegie: ‘he who dies rich dies disgraced.’ Although Gates found the funny side to this, saying that he was still working on it, his charity has been described as the ‘Microsoft of charities’. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was launched by a donation from Bill Gates of £54 million in 2000. Gates has a very philanthropic public image and has joined Bono on the cover of Time magazine as Humanitarian of the year and was voted 8th in the list of “Heros of our Time” by the New Statesman.

However, the ‘Microsoft of charities’ may hold alternative meanings as it has been criticised for disinvestments. In January the Los Angeles Times exposed the foundation for investing over £254 million in oil companies including [[Royal Dutch Shell]], [[Exxon Mobil]], [[Chevron]] and [[Total]] who were being accused of causing health problems in Nigeria which, ironically, is another area of funding for the trust.{{ref|90}}

== International Conflicts ==

Microsoft have faced criticism and legal action around the world. The main accusation are that they constitute a monopoly and effectively push competitors out of the market. The court cases in the US and Europe give some indication of how they conduct their business and political activities.

'''[[Microsoft: US Conflicts]]'''

'''[[Microsoft: European Conflicts]]'''

== Microsoft's Involvement with UK Public Services ==

'''NHS UK'''

The UK's National Health Service has a nine-year licensing deal with Microsoft, claiming that it will amount to savings of £330 million.
The discount come from the licensing fee but is suspicious, as the NHS was not paying this fee in the first place.

The December announcement was followed by a [[Bill Gates]] summit with [[Richard Granger]], the IT director general for the NHS and Secretary of State for Health [[John Reid]]. This meeting was followed by discussions between Granger and Microsoft CEO [[Steven A. Ballmer]] which ultimately lead to the deal.

The contract, in effect, ties the NHS into a single supplier for desktops, and in that sense flies in the face of advice from the Office of Government Commerce in its OSS report to :"determine whether current technologies and IT policies inhibit future choice; and if so consider what steps may be necessary to prevent future 'lock in'". The OGC has been evaluating open source precisely because it needs government departments to have an alternative to Microsoft.

This standardisation is effectively eliminating smaller suppliers, for example [[EMIS]] who claim that although they produced the most widely-used GP system they have been unable to gain contracts with any of the five English Local Service Providers (LSPs) for the NPfIT, claiming that

:"The conditions that would have been imposed on it were "untenable." In a letter stating its position the company claims the "NPfIT is intent on standardising NHS I.T not by encouraging innovation and competition but by monopolising the market place..." {{ref|26}}

'''NHS Wales'''

In 2006 the Welsh NHS made a deal with Microsoft for desktop and mobile computing software claiming that it would lead to savings of £8.5 million. The deal includes 35,000 desktop software licences and incorporates all local health boards and trusts in Wales for three years.

Health workers will receive IT vouchers and "home -use" scheme will allow staff to purchase cheaper software licences for their home computers.

The Health Minister at the Welsh Assembly Dr [[Brian Gibbons]], the director of IM&T [[Mike Lugg]] and the head of IT in Bro Morgannwg
[[Carol Mustad]] have all commented positively on the new deal. {{ref|35}}

== Microsoft Scotland ==

Microsoft Edinburgh 127 George Street Edinburgh EH2 4JN

08706010100

=== Microsoft Workers ===

[[Raymond O'Hare]]

Microsoft Scotland have a work force of 40 people mostly working in sales and technical support

=== Scottish Company Investors===

[[Scottish Widows Investment Partnership]]

[[Aegon]] UK

[[Scottish Equitable]]

[[Aberdeen Asset Management]]

=== Microsoft's Involvement with Scotland's Public Services ===

Microsoft has fiercely lobbied the Scottish Executive to have access to Scotland’s public services. The Scottish Executive and Microsoft are both clients of the lobbying agency [[2Collaborate]], which may account for Microsoft’s success in gaining public service contracts.

====Police Force====

On the 11th August 2005 Central Scotland Police announced that Microsoft Windows would replace some open source technologies and [[Charteris plc]], a Microsoft partner, is providing training and consultancy.

:“Central Scotland Police is basing its IT system on the Microsoft platform because its internal study shows that it offers the best value in total cost of ownership, ease of use, interoperability, reliability and support,” said [[Nick McGrath]], head of Platform Strategy for Microsoft Ltd. “Central Scotland Police estimates that it could save 30 percent on IT maintenance costs and 25 percent of IT staff’s time by using Microsoft technology.”{{ref|101}}

====NHS Scotland====

NHS Scotland has signed a national deal with Microsoft to supply office software and desktop operating systems at a discounted rate, saving an estimated £8m. Software will be provided to NHS Scotland through an appointed reseller, [[Trustmarque Solutions]].

The recent deal between Microsoft and NHS Scotland followed public criticism by Microsoft that NHS Scotland was wasting billions on IT

Microsoft’s former director for Scotland, [[Gordon McKenzie]] publicly criticised NHS Scotland for it's inefficiency and claiming that the NHS in Scotland pays four times more than the English health service for its IT systems.

:"But NHS Scotland is still operating in a piecemeal way," said McKenzie. "Royal Bank of Scotland has 100,000 employees and one IT system. The NHS in Scotland is about the same size, but there are 14 NHS trusts and even within each trust there may be four different systems. They even have different e-mail systems."

McKenzie said there was "no plan for convergence" in the NHS and that the public services, including local government, could be heavily streamlined so there was one system for HR, one for payroll, and even one council tax across Scotland, but he said Microsoft was "making more money out of the mess". {{ref|5}}

=== Shared Services ===

Shared Services was born in the 1980s when large corporations adopted the strategy to improve efficiency. Since then the American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and UK governments have adopted shared services.

According to the Scottish Executives publication ‘A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services’ shared services will be the best method for increasing the efficiency of Scottish Public Services. They set out five main aims including

1. To be user focused and personalised, organised around users and citizen needs and aspirations, not convenience of the service provider
2. Drive up quality and encourage innovation
3. Continue to improve efficiency and productivity
4. Be joined up and minimise separation
5. Ensure strong accountability

The Executive have created supportive work streams such as the [[Efficient Government Initiative]], The [[McClelland Review of Public Procurement in Scotland]], [[The integrated Services and Governance Modelling Project]], [[Review of Local Government Finance]] [[Best Value Framework]] [[Modernising Government]].

The shared services strategy has been developed with the Efficient Government Initiative which was launched in Novemeber 2004 but has ties with the other initiative mentioned above. The Shared Services Strategy has the following objectives

1 Identify and realise opportunities for efficiency savings and service improvements to be gained through the adoption of shared service initiatives
2. Promote the development of shred services, processes and systems that are resilient to changes in service delivery structures and boundaries and better able to meet the needs of joined up public services.
3. Build on the standards and infrastructure being put in place through the modernising Government Customer First and e-card initiatives and ideas developed through the Efficient Government Fund.

Opportunities for the shared services fall into two categories

1. Support functions such as Accounting, Payroll, Procurement, Human Resources, Facilities, Information and Communication Technology
2. Common Operational processes and systems that underpin front line services and which are duplicated across multiple organisations.

The Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform [[Tom McCabe]] estimated savings of between £250 million and £750 million a year across the whole of the Scottish public sector.

:"The Executive is committed to spending taxpayers' money as efficiently and effectively as possible. This new shared services strategy on which we are seeking views is a central plank of our Efficient Government initiative which aims to tackle bureaucracy and duplication in the public sector." {{ref|23}}

In formation Technology is second in the top six most popular areas for shared services. Institutions such as [[Scottish Enterprise]] and [[NHS Scotland]] have implemented national shared support services and smaller organisations such as [[Glasgow City Council]], [[the city of Edinburgh Council]] and the [[Scottish Executive]] have implemented internal shared support. This can be a very efficient way of opertaing public services. Tom McCabe backs the efficiency of shred services convincingly:

:"Take Shared Services for example. It is a waste to have the same function replicated in each and every public body. This can be effectively tackled by sharing support services, like finance, human resources, facilities and estates and IT across the whole public sector in Scotland." {{ref|60}}

However, this arguement may be redundant if sharing the services was not delegated by open competition. The Shared Services strategy was set up with the involvement of many big businesses such as [[Microsoft]], [[Cap Gemini]] and [[Logica]]. [[David Amos]] met with these companies to discuss the executive’s proposals for the planned [[Holyrood Consultations]] research to determine the best way forward for Shared Services. This meeting was followed up with Amos and Microsoft on the 8th November 2006 to discuss their response to the consultation.

Microsoft representatives [[Caroline Findlay]] and [[Marcus Henderson]] also met with the head of Shared Services [[Jonathan Moore]] for an informal discussion on developing the shared services strategy. And further meetings between Microsoft and the Permanent secretary [[John Elvidge]] took place on the following dates 23/01/06, 17/03/06, 03/07/06, 08/08/06, 06/09/06, and 05/10/06. Thus, Microsoft have been greatly involved in the development of shared services and there is little doubt that their input has been strongly related to their own interests of gaining a stronger hold on Scottish public services.

=== Microsoft Government Leaders Forum ===

On the 30th January 2007 Microsoft held their fourth annual European Government leaders forum in the Scottish Parliament. The forum is a gathering of leaders including Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and policy advisers from across Europe. The event aims to discuss issues relating to the government, the role of technology in education and employability issues.

The announcement of Microsoft partnership with the Scottish Executive was fitting in this context. Bill gates accompanied Jack Mc Connell in a press statement highlighting the philanthropic work both the Microsoft Corporation and the Scottish Executive will undertake in helping young Scots achieve. The signed agreement aims to train 100,000 Scots in computer skills. {{ref|25}} The project is aimed at those not in education, employment or training (NEET. this is not a new market for Microsoft as they are already involved with [[Learn Direct Scotland]]Microsoft envisages supporting NEET through the use of the Microsoft brand, seconding a senior person for 2/3 days per week, facilitating access to the Microsoft Partner network (1500 SMEs), all of which aim to deliver ICT solutions customers, connecting to Microsoft's existing skills and education programmes and helping ensure new programmes are practical and offering IT and software development expertise. {{ref|50}}

The Executive identified seven local authorities 'where NEET is a particular challenge and where reducing NEET locally would make an impact nationally." {{ref|49}}These included Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee.

Four high profile recruits have agreed to support the work of the NEET Programme Board in improving access to opportunities for those identified as NEET, estimated to be around 20,000.

Four recruits helping in the NEET project

[[Mark Adams]] from Microsoft

[[David Watt]] from [[KPMG]]

[[Euan Davidson]], formerly CEO of the [[Princes Trust]]

[[Ray Perman]] from the [[Hunter Foundation]]

However, Bill Gates did not come to Scotland solely for the purpose of the forum. Gates was awarded an honorary degree by Edinburgh University. A further coincidence was that the forum was undertaken at the same time as Microsoft’s new operating systems launch, Vista. The company has invested £3 billion and expects a healthy return on those investments as Vista is expected to be used in 100 million computers by 2008.

== Microsoft's Partner Companies ==

[[Charteris plc]]

== Affiliations ==

[[Business Software Association]]

[[European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association]]

[[Computing Technology Industry Association]]

[[Institute for Software Choice]]

===PR Firms===

[[Edelman]]

[[APCO]]

[[G Plus]]

===Media===

[[MSNBC]]

[[Slate Magazine]]

[[Tech Central Station]]

==People==
=== Microsoft Board of Directors ===

*[[Bill Gates]]

*[[Steven A. Ballmer]]

*[[James I. Cash Jr.]] Ph.D.

*[[Dina Dublon]]

*[[Raymond V. Gilmartin]]

*[[David F. Marquardt]]

*[[Charles H. Noski]]

*[[Jon A. Shirley]]

=== Microsoft In Europe ===

[[Gordon McKenzie]]

=== UK Executives ===

[[Gordon Frazer]]

[[Neil Thompson]]

[[Nick Barley]]

[[Sharon Baylay]]

[[Steve Dunn]]

[[Scott Dodds]]

[[Andy Watson]]

[[Matthew Bishop]]

[[Tery Smith]]

[[Chris Parker]]

[[Alison Dodd]]

[[Bronwyn Kunhardt]]

[[David Gartenberg]]

== Notes ==
{{note|1}} Bowker J. (2006) ''Stewart facing tug-o-war over double chair'', Scotsman, January 10 [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=40122006]

#{{note|25}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{note|23}} Scottish Executive (2006)'''A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services'''[http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/05/11102023/0 Scottish Executive Website]11th May(accessed 28/01/07)
#{{note|26}} Lettice, J (2004) '''One Standard, One Microsoft - How the NHS Sold its Choice''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/nhs_ms_deal_analysis/ The Register]8th Novemeber accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|5}} Murden, T (2004) '''Microsoft Accuses 'Piecemeal' NHS of Wasting Money''' [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1465512004 The Scotsman]26th December (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{note|35}} Kablenet (2006) '''Microsoft signs for NHS Wales''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/01/microsoft_nhs_wales_procurement_deal/ The Register] Ist Feburary (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|38}} Corporate Watch (2004) '''Microsoft: A Corporate Profile'''[http://archive.corporatewatch.org/profiles/microsoft/microsoft4.htm Corporate Watch]accessed 05/04/07
#{{note|90}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{ref|101}}Microsoft (2005) '''Central Scotland Police and Microsoft Launch ICT Alliance to Support the Police Modernization Agenda'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/aug05/08-11CSPPR.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{ref|60}}
#{{ref|50}}
#{{ref|49}}

Microsoft

2007-04-19T19:03:08Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

== History of Microsoft ==

The company was founded by [[Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]] in 1975 and generated profits of $16,000. In the 1980s microsoft flourished as it provided the operating system DOS for IBM’s PC.

Today Microsoft is an international company present in 102 different countries, employing 76,000 people and generalting a profit of $44.28 billion per year.

Microsoft takes up 18.3 million square feet of office building space and is ranked 15th in the world's top 500 companies. Microsoft's has driven 93% of the world's desktop computers since 1991 and its office software dominates 90% of the market and earns the company $9 billion a year. In 1990 Microsoft became the first software company to reach $1 billion in revenue. In 2003 Microsoft's revenue increased by $3.82 billion to $32.19 billion with a net income of $9993 billion. Although Microsoft have been accused of fraudulent accounting in order to show profit.{{ref|38}}

The company headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA.
Microsoft have ownership of MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.

The company has faced much controversy over the years as many have attributed their success to their illegal monopoly over operating systems which effectively pushes competition out of the market. The company has faced legal proceedings aroung the world and have been found guilty on the charges of holding an unfair monopoly. However, as microsoft are an extrmely rich company, the finacial penalties they face are insignificant and they often pay their way out of any legal obligations to rectify this monopoly.

== Microsoft’s Philanthropy ==

Bill Gates likes to consider himself above all as a philanthropic man. At the Government Leaders Forum he quoted Carnegie: ‘he who dies rich dies disgraced.’ Although Gates found the funny side to this, saying that he was still working on it, his charity has been described as the ‘Microsoft of charities’. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was launched by a donation from Bill Gates of £54 million in 2000. Gates has a very philanthropic public image and has joined Bono on the cover of Time magazine as Humanitarian of the year and was voted 8th in the list of “Heros of our Time” by the New Statesman.

However, the ‘Microsoft of charities’ may hold alternative meanings as it has been criticised for disinvestments. In January the Los Angeles Times exposed the foundation for investing over £254 million in oil companies including [[Royal Dutch Shell]], [[Exxon Mobil]], [[Chevron]] and [[Total]] who were being accused of causing health problems in Nigeria which, ironically, is another area of funding for the trust.{{ref|90}}

== International Conflicts ==

Microsoft have faced criticism and legal action around the world. The main accusation are that they constitute a monopoly and effectively push competitors out of the market. The court cases in the US and Europe give some indication of how they conduct their business and political activities.

'''[[Microsoft: US Conflicts]]'''

'''[[Microsoft: European Conflicts]]'''

== Microsoft's Involvement with UK Public Services ==

'''NHS UK'''

The UK's National Health Service has a nine-year licensing deal with Microsoft, claiming that it will amount to savings of £330 million.
The discount come from the licensing fee but is suspicious, as the NHS was not paying this fee in the first place.

The December announcement was followed by a [[Bill Gates]] summit with [[Richard Granger]], the IT director general for the NHS and Secretary of State for Health [[John Reid]]. This meeting was followed by discussions between Granger and Microsoft CEO [[Steven A. Ballmer]] which ultimately lead to the deal.

The contract, in effect, ties the NHS into a single supplier for desktops, and in that sense flies in the face of advice from the Office of Government Commerce in its OSS report to :"determine whether current technologies and IT policies inhibit future choice; and if so consider what steps may be necessary to prevent future 'lock in'". The OGC has been evaluating open source precisely because it needs government departments to have an alternative to Microsoft.

This standardisation is effectively eliminating smaller suppliers, for example [[EMIS]] who claim that although they produced the most widely-used GP system they have been unable to gain contracts with any of the five English Local Service Providers (LSPs) for the NPfIT, claiming that

:"The conditions that would have been imposed on it were "untenable." In a letter stating its position the company claims the "NPfIT is intent on standardising NHS I.T not by encouraging innovation and competition but by monopolising the market place..." {{ref|26}}

'''NHS Wales'''

In 2006 the Welsh NHS made a deal with Microsoft for desktop and mobile computing software claiming that it would lead to savings of £8.5 million. The deal includes 35,000 desktop software licences and incorporates all local health boards and trusts in Wales for three years.

Health workers will receive IT vouchers and "home -use" scheme will allow staff to purchase cheaper software licences for their home computers.

The Health Minister at the Welsh Assembly Dr [[Brian Gibbons]], the director of IM&T [[Mike Lugg]] and the head of IT in Bro Morgannwg
[[Carol Mustad]] have all commented positively on the new deal. {{ref|35}}

== Microsoft Scotland ==

Microsoft Edinburgh 127 George Street Edinburgh EH2 4JN

08706010100

=== Microsoft Workers ===

[[Raymond O'Hare]]

Microsoft Scotland have a work force of 40 people mostly working in sales and technical support

=== Scottish Company Investors===

[[Scottish Widows Investment Partnership]]

[[Aegon]] UK

[[Scottish Equitable]]

[[Aberdeen Asset Management]]

=== Microsoft's Involvement with Scotland's Public Services ===

Microsoft has fiercely lobbied the Scottish Executive to have access to Scotland’s public services. The Scottish Executive and Microsoft are both clients of the lobbying agency [[2Collaborate]], which may account for Microsoft’s success in gaining public service contracts.

====Police Force====

On the 11th August 2005 Central Scotland Police announced that Microsoft Windows would replace some open source technologies and [[Charteris plc]], a Microsoft partner, is providing training and consultancy.

:“Central Scotland Police is basing its IT system on the Microsoft platform because its internal study shows that it offers the best value in total cost of ownership, ease of use, interoperability, reliability and support,” said [[Nick McGrath]], head of Platform Strategy for Microsoft Ltd. “Central Scotland Police estimates that it could save 30 percent on IT maintenance costs and 25 percent of IT staff’s time by using Microsoft technology.”{{ref|101}}

====NHS Scotland====

NHS Scotland has signed a national deal with Microsoft to supply office software and desktop operating systems at a discounted rate, saving an estimated £8m. Software will be provided to NHS Scotland through an appointed reseller, [[Trustmarque Solutions]].

The recent deal between Microsoft and NHS Scotland followed public criticism by Microsoft that NHS Scotland was wasting billions on IT

Microsoft’s former director for Scotland, [[Gordon McKenzie]] publicly criticised NHS Scotland for it's inefficiency and claiming that the NHS in Scotland pays four times more than the English health service for its IT systems.

:"But NHS Scotland is still operating in a piecemeal way," said McKenzie. "Royal Bank of Scotland has 100,000 employees and one IT system. The NHS in Scotland is about the same size, but there are 14 NHS trusts and even within each trust there may be four different systems. They even have different e-mail systems."

McKenzie said there was "no plan for convergence" in the NHS and that the public services, including local government, could be heavily streamlined so there was one system for HR, one for payroll, and even one council tax across Scotland, but he said Microsoft was "making more money out of the mess". {{ref|5}}

=== Shared Services ===

Shared Services was born in the 1980s when large corporations adopted the strategy to improve efficiency. Since then the American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and UK governments have adopted shared services.

According to the Scottish Executives publication ‘A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services’ shared services will be the best method for increasing the efficiency of Scottish Public Services. They set out five main aims including

1. To be user focused and personalised, organised around users and citizen needs and aspirations, not convenience of the service provider
2. Drive up quality and encourage innovation
3. Continue to improve efficiency and productivity
4. Be joined up and minimise separation
5. Ensure strong accountability

The Executive have created supportive work streams such as the [[Efficient Government Initiative]], The [[McClelland Review of Public Procurement in Scotland]], [[The integrated Services and Governance Modelling Project]], [[Review of Local Government Finance]] [[Best Value Framework]] [[Modernising Government]].

The shared services strategy has been developed with the Efficient Government Initiative which was launched in Novemeber 2004 but has ties with the other initiative mentioned above. The Shared Services Strategy has the following objectives

1 Identify and realise opportunities for efficiency savings and service improvements to be gained through the adoption of shared service initiatives
2. Promote the development of shred services, processes and systems that are resilient to changes in service delivery structures and boundaries and better able to meet the needs of joined up public services.
3. Build on the standards and infrastructure being put in place through the modernising Government Customer First and e-card initiatives and ideas developed through the Efficient Government Fund.

Opportunities for the shared services fall into two categories

1. Support functions such as Accounting, Payroll, Procurement, Human Resources, Facilities, Information and Communication Technology
2. Common Operational processes and systems that underpin front line services and which are duplicated across multiple organisations.

The Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform [[Tom McCabe]] estimated savings of between £250 million and £750 million a year across the whole of the Scottish public sector.

:"The Executive is committed to spending taxpayers' money as efficiently and effectively as possible. This new shared services strategy on which we are seeking views is a central plank of our Efficient Government initiative which aims to tackle bureaucracy and duplication in the public sector." {{ref|23}}

In formation Technology is second in the top six most popular areas for shared services. Institutions such as [[Scottish Enterprise]] and [[NHS Scotland]] have implemented national shared support services and smaller organisations such as [[Glasgow City Council]], [[the city of Edinburgh Council]] and the [[Scottish Executive]] have implemented internal shared support. This can be a very efficient way of opertaing public services. Tom McCabe backs the efficiency of shred services convincingly:

:"Take Shared Services for example. It is a waste to have the same function replicated in each and every public body. This can be effectively tackled by sharing support services, like finance, human resources, facilities and estates and IT across the whole public sector in Scotland." {{ref|60}}

However, this arguement may be redundant if sharing the services was not delegated by open competition. The Shared Services strategy was set up with the involvement of many big businesses such as [[Microsoft]], [[Cap Gemini]] and [[Logica]]. [[David Amos]] met with these companies to discuss the executive’s proposals for the planned [[Holyrood Consultations]] research to determine the best way forward for Shared Services. This meeting was followed up with Amos and Microsoft on the 8th November 2006 to discuss their response to the consultation.

Microsoft representatives [[Caroline Findlay]] and [[Marcus Henderson]] also met with the head of Shared Services [[Jonathan Moore]] for an informal discussion on developing the shared services strategy. And further meetings between Microsoft and the Permanent secretary [[John Elvidge]] took place on the following dates 23/01/06, 17/03/06, 03/07/06, 08/08/06, 06/09/06, and 05/10/06. Thus, Microsoft have been greatly involved in the development of shared services and there is little doubt that their input has been strongly related to their own interests of gaining a stronger hold on Scottish public services.

=== Microsoft Government Leaders Forum ===

On the 30th January 2007 Microsoft held their fourth annual European Government leaders forum in the Scottish Parliament. The forum is a gathering of leaders including Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and policy advisers from across Europe. The event aims to discuss issues relating to the government, the role of technology in education and employability issues.

The announcement of Microsoft partnership with the Scottish Executive was fitting in this context. Bill gates accompanied Jack Mc Connell in a press statement highlighting the philanthropic work both the Microsoft Corporation and the Scottish Executive will undertake in helping young Scots achieve. The signed agreement aims to train 100,000 Scots in computer skills. {{ref|25}} The project is aimed at those not in education, employment or training (NEET. this is not a new market for Microsoft as they are already involved with [[Learn Direct Scotland]]Microsoft envisages supporting NEET through the use of the Microsoft brand, seconding a senior person for 2/3 days per week, facilitating access to the Microsoft Partner network (1500 SMEs), all of which aim to deliver ICT solutions customers, connecting to Microsoft's existing skills and education programmes and helping ensure new programmes are practical and offering IT and software development expertise. {{ref|50}}

The Executive identified seven local authorities 'where NEET is a particular challenge and where reducing NEET locally would make an impact nationally." {{ref|49}}These included Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee.

Four high profile recruits have agreed to support the work of the NEET Programme Board in improving access to opportunities for those identified as NEET, estimated to be around 20,000.

Four recruits helping in the NEET project

[[Mark Adams]] from Microsoft

[[David Watt]] from [[KPMG]]

[[Euan Davidson]], formerly CEO of the [[Princes Trust]]

[[Ray Perman]] from the [[Hunter Foundation]]

However, Bill Gates did not come to Scotland solely for the purpose of the forum. Gates was awarded an honorary degree by Edinburgh University. A further coincidence was that the forum was undertaken at the same time as Microsoft’s new operating systems launch, Vista. The company has invested £3 billion and expects a healthy return on those investments as Vista is expected to be used in 100 million computers by 2008.

== Microsoft's Partner Companies ==

[[Charteris plc]]

== Affiliations ==

[[Business Software Association]]

[[European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association]]

[[Computing Technology Industry Association]]

[[Institute for Software Choice]]

===PR Firms===

[[Edelman]]

[[APCO]]

[[G Plus]]

===Media===

[[MSNBC]]

[[Slate Magazine]]

[[Tech Central Station]]

==People==
=== Microsoft Board of Directors ===

*[[Bill Gates]]

*[[Steven A. Ballmer]]

*[[James I. Cash Jr.]] Ph.D.

*[[Dina Dublon]]

*[[Raymond V. Gilmartin]]

*[[David F. Marquardt]]

*[[Charles H. Noski]]

*[[Jon A. Shirley]]

=== Microsoft In Europe ===

[[Gordon McKenzie]]

=== UK Executives ===

[[Gordon Frazer]]

[[Neil Thompson]]

[[Nick Barley]]

[[Sharon Baylay]]

[[Steve Dunn]]

[[Scott Dodds]]

[[Andy Watson]]

[[Matthew Bishop]]

[[Tery Smith]]

[[Chris Parker]]

[[Alison Dodd]]

[[Bronwyn Kunhardt]]

[[David Gartenberg]]

== Notes ==
{{note|1}} Bowker J. (2006) ''Stewart facing tug-o-war over double chair'', Scotsman, January 10 [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=40122006]

#{{note|25}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{note|23}} Scottish Executive [http://www.scotland.gov.uk/Publications/2006/05/11102023/0 Scottish Executive Website](accessed 28/01/07)
#{{note|26}} Lettice, J (2004) '''One Standard, One Microsoft - How the NHS Sold its Choice''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/nhs_ms_deal_analysis/ The Register]8th Novemeber accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|5}} Murden, T (2004) '''Microsoft Accuses 'Piecemeal' NHS of Wasting Money''' [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1465512004 The Scotsman]26th December (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{note|35}} Kablenet (2006) '''Microsoft signs for NHS Wales''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/01/microsoft_nhs_wales_procurement_deal/ The Register] Ist Feburary (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|38}} Corporate Watch (2004) '''Microsoft: A Corporate Profile'''[http://archive.corporatewatch.org/profiles/microsoft/microsoft4.htm Corporate Watch]accessed 05/04/07
#{{note|90}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{ref|101}}Microsoft (2005) '''Central Scotland Police and Microsoft Launch ICT Alliance to Support the Police Modernization Agenda'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/aug05/08-11CSPPR.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{ref|60}}
#{{ref|50}}
#{{ref|49}}

Microsoft

2007-04-19T18:59:43Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

== History of Microsoft ==

The company was founded by [[Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]] in 1975 and generated profits of $16,000. In the 1980s microsoft flourished as it provided the operating system DOS for IBM’s PC.

Today Microsoft is an international company present in 102 different countries, employing 76,000 people and generalting a profit of $44.28 billion per year.

Microsoft takes up 18.3 million square feet of office building space and is ranked 15th in the world's top 500 companies. Microsoft's has driven 93% of the world's desktop computers since 1991 and its office software dominates 90% of the market and earns the company $9 billion a year. In 1990 Microsoft became the first software company to reach $1 billion in revenue. In 2003 Microsoft's revenue increased by $3.82 billion to $32.19 billion with a net income of $9993 billion. Although Microsoft have been accused of fraudulent accounting in order to show profit.{{ref|38}}

The company headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA.
Microsoft have ownership of MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.

The company has faced much controversy over the years as many have attributed their success to their illegal monopoly over operating systems which effectively pushes competition out of the market. The company has faced legal proceedings aroung the world and have been found guilty on the charges of holding an unfair monopoly. However, as microsoft are an extrmely rich company, the finacial penalties they face are insignificant and they often pay their way out of any legal obligations to rectify this monopoly.

== Microsoft’s Philanthropy ==

Bill Gates likes to consider himself above all as a philanthropic man. At the Government Leaders Forum he quoted Carnegie: ‘he who dies rich dies disgraced.’ Although Gates found the funny side to this, saying that he was still working on it, his charity has been described as the ‘Microsoft of charities’. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was launched by a donation from Bill Gates of £54 million in 2000. Gates has a very philanthropic public image and has joined Bono on the cover of Time magazine as Humanitarian of the year and was voted 8th in the list of “Heros of our Time” by the New Statesman.

However, the ‘Microsoft of charities’ may hold alternative meanings as it has been criticised for disinvestments. In January the Los Angeles Times exposed the foundation for investing over £254 million in oil companies including [[Royal Dutch Shell]], [[Exxon Mobil]], [[Chevron]] and [[Total]] who were being accused of causing health problems in Nigeria which, ironically, is another area of funding for the trust.{{ref|90}}

== International Conflicts ==

Microsoft have faced criticism and legal action around the world. The main accusation are that they constitute a monopoly and effectively push competitors out of the market. The court cases in the US and Europe give some indication of how they conduct their business and political activities.

'''[[Microsoft: US Conflicts]]'''

'''[[Microsoft: European Conflicts]]'''

== Microsoft's Involvement with UK Public Services ==

'''NHS UK'''

The UK's National Health Service has a nine-year licensing deal with Microsoft, claiming that it will amount to savings of £330 million.
The discount come from the licensing fee but is suspicious, as the NHS was not paying this fee in the first place.

The December announcement was followed by a [[Bill Gates]] summit with [[Richard Granger]], the IT director general for the NHS and Secretary of State for Health [[John Reid]]. This meeting was followed by discussions between Granger and Microsoft CEO [[Steven A. Ballmer]] which ultimately lead to the deal.

The contract, in effect, ties the NHS into a single supplier for desktops, and in that sense flies in the face of advice from the Office of Government Commerce in its OSS report to :"determine whether current technologies and IT policies inhibit future choice; and if so consider what steps may be necessary to prevent future 'lock in'". The OGC has been evaluating open source precisely because it needs government departments to have an alternative to Microsoft.

This standardisation is effectively eliminating smaller suppliers, for example [[EMIS]] who claim that although they produced the most widely-used GP system they have been unable to gain contracts with any of the five English Local Service Providers (LSPs) for the NPfIT, claiming that

:"The conditions that would have been imposed on it were "untenable." In a letter stating its position the company claims the "NPfIT is intent on standardising NHS I.T not by encouraging innovation and competition but by monopolising the market place..." {{ref|26}}

'''NHS Wales'''

In 2006 the Welsh NHS made a deal with Microsoft for desktop and mobile computing software claiming that it would lead to savings of £8.5 million. The deal includes 35,000 desktop software licences and incorporates all local health boards and trusts in Wales for three years.

Health workers will receive IT vouchers and "home -use" scheme will allow staff to purchase cheaper software licences for their home computers.

The Health Minister at the Welsh Assembly Dr [[Brian Gibbons]], the director of IM&T [[Mike Lugg]] and the head of IT in Bro Morgannwg
[[Carol Mustad]] have all commented positively on the new deal. {{ref|35}}

== Microsoft Scotland ==

Microsoft Edinburgh 127 George Street Edinburgh EH2 4JN

08706010100

=== Microsoft Workers ===

[[Raymond O'Hare]]

Microsoft Scotland have a work force of 40 people mostly working in sales and technical support

=== Scottish Company Investors===

[[Scottish Widows Investment Partnership]]

[[Aegon]] UK

[[Scottish Equitable]]

[[Aberdeen Asset Management]]

=== Microsoft's Involvement with Scotland's Public Services ===

Microsoft has fiercely lobbied the Scottish Executive to have access to Scotland’s public services. The Scottish Executive and Microsoft are both clients of the lobbying agency [[2Collaborate]], which may account for Microsoft’s success in gaining public service contracts.

====Police Force====

On the 11th August 2005 Central Scotland Police announced that Microsoft Windows would replace some open source technologies and [[Charteris plc]], a Microsoft partner, is providing training and consultancy.

:“Central Scotland Police is basing its IT system on the Microsoft platform because its internal study shows that it offers the best value in total cost of ownership, ease of use, interoperability, reliability and support,” said [[Nick McGrath]], head of Platform Strategy for Microsoft Ltd. “Central Scotland Police estimates that it could save 30 percent on IT maintenance costs and 25 percent of IT staff’s time by using Microsoft technology.”{{ref|101}}

====NHS Scotland====

NHS Scotland has signed a national deal with Microsoft to supply office software and desktop operating systems at a discounted rate, saving an estimated £8m. Software will be provided to NHS Scotland through an appointed reseller, [[Trustmarque Solutions]].

The recent deal between Microsoft and NHS Scotland followed public criticism by Microsoft that NHS Scotland was wasting billions on IT

Microsoft’s former director for Scotland, [[Gordon McKenzie]] publicly criticised NHS Scotland for it's inefficiency and claiming that the NHS in Scotland pays four times more than the English health service for its IT systems.

:"But NHS Scotland is still operating in a piecemeal way," said McKenzie. "Royal Bank of Scotland has 100,000 employees and one IT system. The NHS in Scotland is about the same size, but there are 14 NHS trusts and even within each trust there may be four different systems. They even have different e-mail systems."

McKenzie said there was "no plan for convergence" in the NHS and that the public services, including local government, could be heavily streamlined so there was one system for HR, one for payroll, and even one council tax across Scotland, but he said Microsoft was "making more money out of the mess". {{ref|5}}

=== Shared Services ===

Shared Services was born in the 1980s when large corporations adopted the strategy to improve efficiency. Since then the American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and UK governments have adopted shared services.

According to the Scottish Executives publication ‘A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services’ shared services will be the best method for increasing the efficiency of Scottish Public Services. They set out five main aims including

1. To be user focused and personalised, organised around users and citizen needs and aspirations, not convenience of the service provider
2. Drive up quality and encourage innovation
3. Continue to improve efficiency and productivity
4. Be joined up and minimise separation
5. Ensure strong accountability

The Executive have created supportive work streams such as the [[Efficient Government Initiative]], The [[McClelland Review of Public Procurement in Scotland]], [[The integrated Services and Governance Modelling Project]], [[Review of Local Government Finance]] [[Best Value Framework]] [[Modernising Government]].

The shared services strategy has been developed with the Efficient Government Initiative which was launched in Novemeber 2004 but has ties with the other initiative mentioned above. The Shared Services Strategy has the following objectives

1 Identify and realise opportunities for efficiency savings and service improvements to be gained through the adoption of shared service initiatives
2. Promote the development of shred services, processes and systems that are resilient to changes in service delivery structures and boundaries and better able to meet the needs of joined up public services.
3. Build on the standards and infrastructure being put in place through the modernising Government Customer First and e-card initiatives and ideas developed through the Efficient Government Fund.

Opportunities for the shared services fall into two categories

1. Support functions such as Accounting, Payroll, Procurement, Human Resources, Facilities, Information and Communication Technology
2. Common Operational processes and systems that underpin front line services and which are duplicated across multiple organisations.

The Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform [[Tom McCabe]] estimated savings of between £250 million and £750 million a year across the whole of the Scottish public sector.

:"The Executive is committed to spending taxpayers' money as efficiently and effectively as possible. This new shared services strategy on which we are seeking views is a central plank of our Efficient Government initiative which aims to tackle bureaucracy and duplication in the public sector." {{ref|23}}

In formation Technology is second in the top six most popular areas for shared services. Institutions such as [[Scottish Enterprise]] and [[NHS Scotland]] have implemented national shared support services and smaller organisations such as [[Glasgow City Council]], [[the city of Edinburgh Council]] and the [[Scottish Executive]] have implemented internal shared support. This can be a very efficient way of opertaing public services. Tom McCabe backs the efficiency of shred services convincingly:

:"Take Shared Services for example. It is a waste to have the same function replicated in each and every public body. This can be effectively tackled by sharing support services, like finance, human resources, facilities and estates and IT across the whole public sector in Scotland." {{ref|60}}

However, this arguement may be redundant if sharing the services was not delegated by open competition. The Shared Services strategy was set up with the involvement of many big businesses such as [[Microsoft]], [[Cap Gemini]] and [[Logica]]. [[David Amos]] met with these companies to discuss the executive’s proposals for the planned [[Holyrood Consultations]] research to determine the best way forward for Shared Services. This meeting was followed up with Amos and Microsoft on the 8th November 2006 to discuss their response to the consultation.

Microsoft representatives [[Caroline Findlay]] and [[Marcus Henderson]] also met with the head of Shared Services [[Jonathan Moore]] for an informal discussion on developing the shared services strategy. And further meetings between Microsoft and the Permanent secretary [[John Elvidge]] took place on the following dates 23/01/06, 17/03/06, 03/07/06, 08/08/06, 06/09/06, and 05/10/06. Thus, Microsoft have been greatly involved in the development of shared services and there is little doubt that their input has been strongly related to their own interests of gaining a stronger hold on Scottish public services.

=== Microsoft Government Leaders Forum ===

On the 30th January 2007 Microsoft held their fourth annual European Government leaders forum in the Scottish Parliament. The forum is a gathering of leaders including Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and policy advisers from across Europe. The event aims to discuss issues relating to the government, the role of technology in education and employability issues.

The announcement of Microsoft partnership with the Scottish Executive was fitting in this context. Bill gates accompanied Jack Mc Connell in a press statement highlighting the philanthropic work both the Microsoft Corporation and the Scottish Executive will undertake in helping young Scots achieve. The signed agreement aims to train 100,000 Scots in computer skills. {{ref|25}} The project is aimed at those not in education, employment or training (NEET. this is not a new market for Microsoft as they are already involved with [[Learn Direct Scotland]]Microsoft envisages supporting NEET through the use of the Microsoft brand, seconding a senior person for 2/3 days per week, facilitating access to the Microsoft Partner network (1500 SMEs), all of which aim to deliver ICT solutions customers, connecting to Microsoft's existing skills and education programmes and helping ensure new programmes are practical and offering IT and software development expertise. {{ref|50}}

The Executive identified seven local authorities 'where NEET is a particular challenge and where reducing NEET locally would make an impact nationally." {{ref|49}}These included Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee.

Four high profile recruits have agreed to support the work of the NEET Programme Board in improving access to opportunities for those identified as NEET, estimated to be around 20,000.

Four recruits helping in the NEET project

[[Mark Adams]] from Microsoft

[[David Watt]] from [[KPMG]]

[[Euan Davidson]], formerly CEO of the [[Princes Trust]]

[[Ray Perman]] from the [[Hunter Foundation]]

However, Bill Gates did not come to Scotland solely for the purpose of the forum. Gates was awarded an honorary degree by Edinburgh University. A further coincidence was that the forum was undertaken at the same time as Microsoft’s new operating systems launch, Vista. The company has invested £3 billion and expects a healthy return on those investments as Vista is expected to be used in 100 million computers by 2008.

== Microsoft's Partner Companies ==

[[Charteris plc]]

== Affiliations ==

[[Business Software Association]]

[[European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association]]

[[Computing Technology Industry Association]]

[[Institute for Software Choice]]

===PR Firms===

[[Edelman]]

[[APCO]]

[[G Plus]]

===Media===

[[MSNBC]]

[[Slate Magazine]]

[[Tech Central Station]]

==People==
=== Microsoft Board of Directors ===

*[[Bill Gates]]

*[[Steven A. Ballmer]]

*[[James I. Cash Jr.]] Ph.D.

*[[Dina Dublon]]

*[[Raymond V. Gilmartin]]

*[[David F. Marquardt]]

*[[Charles H. Noski]]

*[[Jon A. Shirley]]

=== Microsoft In Europe ===

[[Gordon McKenzie]]

=== UK Executives ===

[[Gordon Frazer]]

[[Neil Thompson]]

[[Nick Barley]]

[[Sharon Baylay]]

[[Steve Dunn]]

[[Scott Dodds]]

[[Andy Watson]]

[[Matthew Bishop]]

[[Tery Smith]]

[[Chris Parker]]

[[Alison Dodd]]

[[Bronwyn Kunhardt]]

[[David Gartenberg]]

== Notes ==
{{note|1}} Bowker J. (2006) ''Stewart facing tug-o-war over double chair'', Scotsman, January 10 [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=40122006]

#{{note|25}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{note|23}} Scottish Executive Website [http://http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2006/05/05110720 Scottish executive Website Shared Services Strategy]accessed 28/01/07
#{{note|26}} Lettice, J (2004) '''One Standard, One Microsoft - How the NHS Sold its Choice''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/nhs_ms_deal_analysis/ The Register]8th Novemeber accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|5}} Murden, T (2004) '''Microsoft Accuses 'Piecemeal' NHS of Wasting Money''' [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1465512004 The Scotsman]26th December (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{note|35}} Kablenet (2006) '''Microsoft signs for NHS Wales''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/01/microsoft_nhs_wales_procurement_deal/ The Register] Ist Feburary (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|38}} Corporate Watch (2004) '''Microsoft: A Corporate Profile'''[http://archive.corporatewatch.org/profiles/microsoft/microsoft4.htm Corporate Watch]accessed 05/04/07
#{{note|90}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{ref|101}}Microsoft (2005) '''Central Scotland Police and Microsoft Launch ICT Alliance to Support the Police Modernization Agenda'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/aug05/08-11CSPPR.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{ref|60}}
#{{ref|50}}
#{{ref|49}}

Microsoft

2007-04-19T18:57:35Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

== History of Microsoft ==

The company was founded by [[Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]] in 1975 and generated profits of $16,000. In the 1980s microsoft flourished as it provided the operating system DOS for IBM’s PC.

Today Microsoft is an international company present in 102 different countries, employing 76,000 people and generalting a profit of $44.28 billion per year.

Microsoft takes up 18.3 million square feet of office building space and is ranked 15th in the world's top 500 companies. Microsoft's has driven 93% of the world's desktop computers since 1991 and its office software dominates 90% of the market and earns the company $9 billion a year. In 1990 Microsoft became the first software company to reach $1 billion in revenue. In 2003 Microsoft's revenue increased by $3.82 billion to $32.19 billion with a net income of $9993 billion. Although Microsoft have been accused of fraudulent accounting in order to show profit.{{ref|38}}

The company headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA.
Microsoft have ownership of MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.

The company has faced much controversy over the years as many have attributed their success to their illegal monopoly over operating systems which effectively pushes competition out of the market. The company has faced legal proceedings aroung the world and have been found guilty on the charges of holding an unfair monopoly. However, as microsoft are an extrmely rich company, the finacial penalties they face are insignificant and they often pay their way out of any legal obligations to rectify this monopoly.

== Microsoft’s Philanthropy ==

Bill Gates likes to consider himself above all as a philanthropic man. At the Government Leaders Forum he quoted Carnegie: ‘he who dies rich dies disgraced.’ Although Gates found the funny side to this, saying that he was still working on it, his charity has been described as the ‘Microsoft of charities’. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was launched by a donation from Bill Gates of £54 million in 2000. Gates has a very philanthropic public image and has joined Bono on the cover of Time magazine as Humanitarian of the year and was voted 8th in the list of “Heros of our Time” by the New Statesman.

However, the ‘Microsoft of charities’ may hold alternative meanings as it has been criticised for disinvestments. In January the Los Angeles Times exposed the foundation for investing over £254 million in oil companies including [[Royal Dutch Shell]], [[Exxon Mobil]], [[Chevron]] and [[Total]] who were being accused of causing health problems in Nigeria which, ironically, is another area of funding for the trust.{{ref|90}}

== International Conflicts ==

Microsoft have faced criticism and legal action around the world. The main accusation are that they constitute a monopoly and effectively push competitors out of the market. The court cases in the US and Europe give some indication of how they conduct their business and political activities.

'''[[Microsoft: US Conflicts]]'''

'''[[Microsoft: European Conflicts]]'''

== Microsoft's Involvement with UK Public Services ==

'''NHS UK'''

The UK's National Health Service has a nine-year licensing deal with Microsoft, claiming that it will amount to savings of £330 million.
The discount come from the licensing fee but is suspicious, as the NHS was not paying this fee in the first place.

The December announcement was followed by a [[Bill Gates]] summit with [[Richard Granger]], the IT director general for the NHS and Secretary of State for Health [[John Reid]]. This meeting was followed by discussions between Granger and Microsoft CEO [[Steven A. Ballmer]] which ultimately lead to the deal.

The contract, in effect, ties the NHS into a single supplier for desktops, and in that sense flies in the face of advice from the Office of Government Commerce in its OSS report to :"determine whether current technologies and IT policies inhibit future choice; and if so consider what steps may be necessary to prevent future 'lock in'". The OGC has been evaluating open source precisely because it needs government departments to have an alternative to Microsoft.

This standardisation is effectively eliminating smaller suppliers, for example [[EMIS]] who claim that although they produced the most widely-used GP system they have been unable to gain contracts with any of the five English Local Service Providers (LSPs) for the NPfIT, claiming that

:"The conditions that would have been imposed on it were "untenable." In a letter stating its position the company claims the "NPfIT is intent on standardising NHS I.T not by encouraging innovation and competition but by monopolising the market place..." {{ref|26}}

'''NHS Wales'''

In 2006 the Welsh NHS made a deal with Microsoft for desktop and mobile computing software claiming that it would lead to savings of £8.5 million. The deal includes 35,000 desktop software licences and incorporates all local health boards and trusts in Wales for three years.

Health workers will receive IT vouchers and "home -use" scheme will allow staff to purchase cheaper software licences for their home computers.

The Health Minister at the Welsh Assembly Dr [[Brian Gibbons]], the director of IM&T [[Mike Lugg]] and the head of IT in Bro Morgannwg
[[Carol Mustad]] have all commented positively on the new deal. {{ref|35}}

== Microsoft Scotland ==

Microsoft Edinburgh 127 George Street Edinburgh EH2 4JN

08706010100

=== Microsoft Workers ===

[[Raymond O'Hare]]

Microsoft Scotland have a work force of 40 people mostly working in sales and technical support

=== Scottish Company Investors===

[[Scottish Widows Investment Partnership]]

[[Aegon]] UK

[[Scottish Equitable]]

[[Aberdeen Asset Management]]

=== Microsoft's Involvement with Scotland's Public Services ===

Microsoft has fiercely lobbied the Scottish Executive to have access to Scotland’s public services. The Scottish Executive and Microsoft are both clients of the lobbying agency [[2Collaborate]], which may account for Microsoft’s success in gaining public service contracts.

====Police Force====

On the 11th August 2005 Central Scotland Police announced that Microsoft Windows would replace some open source technologies and [[Charteris plc]], a Microsoft partner, is providing training and consultancy.

:“Central Scotland Police is basing its IT system on the Microsoft platform because its internal study shows that it offers the best value in total cost of ownership, ease of use, interoperability, reliability and support,” said [[Nick McGrath]], head of Platform Strategy for Microsoft Ltd. “Central Scotland Police estimates that it could save 30 percent on IT maintenance costs and 25 percent of IT staff’s time by using Microsoft technology.”{{ref|101}}

====NHS Scotland====

NHS Scotland has signed a national deal with Microsoft to supply office software and desktop operating systems at a discounted rate, saving an estimated £8m. Software will be provided to NHS Scotland through an appointed reseller, [[Trustmarque Solutions]].

The recent deal between Microsoft and NHS Scotland followed public criticism by Microsoft that NHS Scotland was wasting billions on IT

Microsoft’s former director for Scotland, [[Gordon McKenzie]] publicly criticised NHS Scotland for it's inefficiency and claiming that the NHS in Scotland pays four times more than the English health service for its IT systems.

:"But NHS Scotland is still operating in a piecemeal way," said McKenzie. "Royal Bank of Scotland has 100,000 employees and one IT system. The NHS in Scotland is about the same size, but there are 14 NHS trusts and even within each trust there may be four different systems. They even have different e-mail systems."

McKenzie said there was "no plan for convergence" in the NHS and that the public services, including local government, could be heavily streamlined so there was one system for HR, one for payroll, and even one council tax across Scotland, but he said Microsoft was "making more money out of the mess". {{ref|5}}

=== Shared Services ===

Shared Services was born in the 1980s when large corporations adopted the strategy to improve efficiency. Since then the American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and UK governments have adopted shared services.

According to the Scottish Executives publication ‘A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services’ shared services will be the best method for increasing the efficiency of Scottish Public Services. They set out five main aims including

1. To be user focused and personalised, organised around users and citizen needs and aspirations, not convenience of the service provider
2. Drive up quality and encourage innovation
3. Continue to improve efficiency and productivity
4. Be joined up and minimise separation
5. Ensure strong accountability

The Executive have created supportive work streams such as the [[Efficient Government Initiative]], The [[McClelland Review of Public Procurement in Scotland]], [[The integrated Services and Governance Modelling Project]], [[Review of Local Government Finance]] [[Best Value Framework]] [[Modernising Government]].

The shared services strategy has been developed with the Efficient Government Initiative which was launched in Novemeber 2004 but has ties with the other initiative mentioned above. The Shared Services Strategy has the following objectives

1 Identify and realise opportunities for efficiency savings and service improvements to be gained through the adoption of shared service initiatives
2. Promote the development of shred services, processes and systems that are resilient to changes in service delivery structures and boundaries and better able to meet the needs of joined up public services.
3. Build on the standards and infrastructure being put in place through the modernising Government Customer First and e-card initiatives and ideas developed through the Efficient Government Fund.

Opportunities for the shared services fall into two categories

1. Support functions such as Accounting, Payroll, Procurement, Human Resources, Facilities, Information and Communication Technology
2. Common Operational processes and systems that underpin front line services and which are duplicated across multiple organisations.

The Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform [[Tom McCabe]] estimated savings of between £250 million and £750 million a year across the whole of the Scottish public sector.

:"The Executive is committed to spending taxpayers' money as efficiently and effectively as possible. This new shared services strategy on which we are seeking views is a central plank of our Efficient Government initiative which aims to tackle bureaucracy and duplication in the public sector." {{ref|23}}

In formation Technology is second in the top six most popular areas for shared services. Institutions such as [[Scottish Enterprise]] and [[NHS Scotland]] have implemented national shared support services and smaller organisations such as [[Glasgow City Council]], [[the city of Edinburgh Council]] and the [[Scottish Executive]] have implemented internal shared support. This can be a very efficient way of opertaing public services. Tom McCabe backs the efficiency of shred services convincingly:

:"Take Shared Services for example. It is a waste to have the same function replicated in each and every public body. This can be effectively tackled by sharing support services, like finance, human resources, facilities and estates and IT across the whole public sector in Scotland." {{ref|60}}

However, this arguement may be redundant if sharing the services was not delegated by open competition. The Shared Services strategy was set up with the involvement of many big businesses such as [[Microsoft]], [[Cap Gemini]] and [[Logica]]. [[David Amos]] met with these companies to discuss the executive’s proposals for the planned [[Holyrood Consultations]] research to determine the best way forward for Shared Services. This meeting was followed up with Amos and Microsoft on the 8th November 2006 to discuss their response to the consultation.

Microsoft representatives [[Caroline Findlay]] and [[Marcus Henderson]] also met with the head of Shared Services [[Jonathan Moore]] for an informal discussion on developing the shared services strategy. And further meetings between Microsoft and the Permanent secretary [[John Elvidge]] took place on the following dates 23/01/06, 17/03/06, 03/07/06, 08/08/06, 06/09/06, and 05/10/06. Thus, Microsoft have been greatly involved in the development of shared services and there is little doubt that their input has been strongly related to their own interests of gaining a stronger hold on Scottish public services.

=== Microsoft Government Leaders Forum ===

On the 30th January 2007 Microsoft held their fourth annual European Government leaders forum in the Scottish Parliament. The forum is a gathering of leaders including Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and policy advisers from across Europe. The event aims to discuss issues relating to the government, the role of technology in education and employability issues.

The announcement of Microsoft partnership with the Scottish Executive was fitting in this context. Bill gates accompanied Jack Mc Connell in a press statement highlighting the philanthropic work both the Microsoft Corporation and the Scottish Executive will undertake in helping young Scots achieve. The signed agreement aims to train 100,000 Scots in computer skills. {{ref|25}} The project is aimed at those not in education, employment or training (NEET. this is not a new market for Microsoft as they are already involved with [[Learn Direct Scotland]]Microsoft envisages supporting NEET through the use of the Microsoft brand, seconding a senior person for 2/3 days per week, facilitating access to the Microsoft Partner network (1500 SMEs), all of which aim to deliver ICT solutions customers, connecting to Microsoft's existing skills and education programmes and helping ensure new programmes are practical and offering IT and software development expertise. {{ref|50}}

The Executive identified seven local authorities 'where NEET is a particular challenge and where reducing NEET locally would make an impact nationally." {{ref|49}}These included Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee.

Four high profile recruits have agreed to support the work of the NEET Programme Board in improving access to opportunities for those identified as NEET, estimated to be around 20,000.

Four recruits helping in the NEET project

[[Mark Adams]] from Microsoft

[[David Watt]] from [[KPMG]]

[[Euan Davidson]], formerly CEO of the [[Princes Trust]]

[[Ray Perman]] from the [[Hunter Foundation]]

However, Bill Gates did not come to Scotland solely for the purpose of the forum. Gates was awarded an honorary degree by Edinburgh University. A further coincidence was that the forum was undertaken at the same time as Microsoft’s new operating systems launch, Vista. The company has invested £3 billion and expects a healthy return on those investments as Vista is expected to be used in 100 million computers by 2008.

== Microsoft's Partner Companies ==

[[Charteris plc]]

== Affiliations ==

[[Business Software Association]]

[[European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association]]

[[Computing Technology Industry Association]]

[[Institute for Software Choice]]

===PR Firms===

[[Edelman]]

[[APCO]]

[[G Plus]]

===Media===

[[MSNBC]]

[[Slate Magazine]]

[[Tech Central Station]]

==People==
=== Microsoft Board of Directors ===

*[[Bill Gates]]

*[[Steven A. Ballmer]]

*[[James I. Cash Jr.]] Ph.D.

*[[Dina Dublon]]

*[[Raymond V. Gilmartin]]

*[[David F. Marquardt]]

*[[Charles H. Noski]]

*[[Jon A. Shirley]]

=== Microsoft In Europe ===

[[Gordon McKenzie]]

=== UK Executives ===

[[Gordon Frazer]]

[[Neil Thompson]]

[[Nick Barley]]

[[Sharon Baylay]]

[[Steve Dunn]]

[[Scott Dodds]]

[[Andy Watson]]

[[Matthew Bishop]]

[[Tery Smith]]

[[Chris Parker]]

[[Alison Dodd]]

[[Bronwyn Kunhardt]]

[[David Gartenberg]]

== Notes ==
{{note|1}} Bowker J. (2006) ''Stewart facing tug-o-war over double chair'', Scotsman, January 10 [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=40122006]

#{{note|25}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{note|23}} Scottish Executive Website [http://http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2006/05/05110720 Scottish executive Website Shared Services Strategy]accessed 28/01/07
#{{note|26}} Lettice, J (2004) '''One Standard, One Microsoft - How the NHS Sold its Choice''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/nhs_ms_deal_analysis/ The Register]8th Novemeber accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|5}} NHS Scotland pre Microsoft [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1465512004 Microsoft Criticisms] accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|35}} Kablenet (2006) '''Microsoft signs for NHS Wales''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/01/microsoft_nhs_wales_procurement_deal/ The Register] Ist Feburary (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|38}} Corporate Watch (2004) '''Microsoft: A Corporate Profile'''[http://archive.corporatewatch.org/profiles/microsoft/microsoft4.htm Corporate Watch]accessed 05/04/07
#{{note|90}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{ref|101}}Microsoft (2005) '''Central Scotland Police and Microsoft Launch ICT Alliance to Support the Police Modernization Agenda'''[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/aug05/08-11CSPPR.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{ref|60}}
#{{ref|50}}
#{{ref|49}}

Microsoft

2007-04-19T18:56:13Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

== History of Microsoft ==

The company was founded by [[Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]] in 1975 and generated profits of $16,000. In the 1980s microsoft flourished as it provided the operating system DOS for IBM’s PC.

Today Microsoft is an international company present in 102 different countries, employing 76,000 people and generalting a profit of $44.28 billion per year.

Microsoft takes up 18.3 million square feet of office building space and is ranked 15th in the world's top 500 companies. Microsoft's has driven 93% of the world's desktop computers since 1991 and its office software dominates 90% of the market and earns the company $9 billion a year. In 1990 Microsoft became the first software company to reach $1 billion in revenue. In 2003 Microsoft's revenue increased by $3.82 billion to $32.19 billion with a net income of $9993 billion. Although Microsoft have been accused of fraudulent accounting in order to show profit.{{ref|38}}

The company headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA.
Microsoft have ownership of MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.

The company has faced much controversy over the years as many have attributed their success to their illegal monopoly over operating systems which effectively pushes competition out of the market. The company has faced legal proceedings aroung the world and have been found guilty on the charges of holding an unfair monopoly. However, as microsoft are an extrmely rich company, the finacial penalties they face are insignificant and they often pay their way out of any legal obligations to rectify this monopoly.

== Microsoft’s Philanthropy ==

Bill Gates likes to consider himself above all as a philanthropic man. At the Government Leaders Forum he quoted Carnegie: ‘he who dies rich dies disgraced.’ Although Gates found the funny side to this, saying that he was still working on it, his charity has been described as the ‘Microsoft of charities’. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was launched by a donation from Bill Gates of £54 million in 2000. Gates has a very philanthropic public image and has joined Bono on the cover of Time magazine as Humanitarian of the year and was voted 8th in the list of “Heros of our Time” by the New Statesman.

However, the ‘Microsoft of charities’ may hold alternative meanings as it has been criticised for disinvestments. In January the Los Angeles Times exposed the foundation for investing over £254 million in oil companies including [[Royal Dutch Shell]], [[Exxon Mobil]], [[Chevron]] and [[Total]] who were being accused of causing health problems in Nigeria which, ironically, is another area of funding for the trust.{{ref|90}}

== International Conflicts ==

Microsoft have faced criticism and legal action around the world. The main accusation are that they constitute a monopoly and effectively push competitors out of the market. The court cases in the US and Europe give some indication of how they conduct their business and political activities.

'''[[Microsoft: US Conflicts]]'''

'''[[Microsoft: European Conflicts]]'''

== Microsoft's Involvement with UK Public Services ==

'''NHS UK'''

The UK's National Health Service has a nine-year licensing deal with Microsoft, claiming that it will amount to savings of £330 million.
The discount come from the licensing fee but is suspicious, as the NHS was not paying this fee in the first place.

The December announcement was followed by a [[Bill Gates]] summit with [[Richard Granger]], the IT director general for the NHS and Secretary of State for Health [[John Reid]]. This meeting was followed by discussions between Granger and Microsoft CEO [[Steven A. Ballmer]] which ultimately lead to the deal.

The contract, in effect, ties the NHS into a single supplier for desktops, and in that sense flies in the face of advice from the Office of Government Commerce in its OSS report to :"determine whether current technologies and IT policies inhibit future choice; and if so consider what steps may be necessary to prevent future 'lock in'". The OGC has been evaluating open source precisely because it needs government departments to have an alternative to Microsoft.

This standardisation is effectively eliminating smaller suppliers, for example [[EMIS]] who claim that although they produced the most widely-used GP system they have been unable to gain contracts with any of the five English Local Service Providers (LSPs) for the NPfIT, claiming that

:"The conditions that would have been imposed on it were "untenable." In a letter stating its position the company claims the "NPfIT is intent on standardising NHS I.T not by encouraging innovation and competition but by monopolising the market place..." {{ref|26}}

'''NHS Wales'''

In 2006 the Welsh NHS made a deal with Microsoft for desktop and mobile computing software claiming that it would lead to savings of £8.5 million. The deal includes 35,000 desktop software licences and incorporates all local health boards and trusts in Wales for three years.

Health workers will receive IT vouchers and "home -use" scheme will allow staff to purchase cheaper software licences for their home computers.

The Health Minister at the Welsh Assembly Dr [[Brian Gibbons]], the director of IM&T [[Mike Lugg]] and the head of IT in Bro Morgannwg
[[Carol Mustad]] have all commented positively on the new deal. {{ref|35}}

== Microsoft Scotland ==

Microsoft Edinburgh 127 George Street Edinburgh EH2 4JN

08706010100

=== Microsoft Workers ===

[[Raymond O'Hare]]

Microsoft Scotland have a work force of 40 people mostly working in sales and technical support

=== Scottish Company Investors===

[[Scottish Widows Investment Partnership]]

[[Aegon]] UK

[[Scottish Equitable]]

[[Aberdeen Asset Management]]

=== Microsoft's Involvement with Scotland's Public Services ===

Microsoft has fiercely lobbied the Scottish Executive to have access to Scotland’s public services. The Scottish Executive and Microsoft are both clients of the lobbying agency [[2Collaborate]], which may account for Microsoft’s success in gaining public service contracts.

====Police Force====

On the 11th August 2005 Central Scotland Police announced that Microsoft Windows would replace some open source technologies and [[Charteris plc]], a Microsoft partner, is providing training and consultancy.

:“Central Scotland Police is basing its IT system on the Microsoft platform because its internal study shows that it offers the best value in total cost of ownership, ease of use, interoperability, reliability and support,” said [[Nick McGrath]], head of Platform Strategy for Microsoft Ltd. “Central Scotland Police estimates that it could save 30 percent on IT maintenance costs and 25 percent of IT staff’s time by using Microsoft technology.”{{ref|101}}

====NHS Scotland====

NHS Scotland has signed a national deal with Microsoft to supply office software and desktop operating systems at a discounted rate, saving an estimated £8m. Software will be provided to NHS Scotland through an appointed reseller, [[Trustmarque Solutions]].

The recent deal between Microsoft and NHS Scotland followed public criticism by Microsoft that NHS Scotland was wasting billions on IT

Microsoft’s former director for Scotland, [[Gordon McKenzie]] publicly criticised NHS Scotland for it's inefficiency and claiming that the NHS in Scotland pays four times more than the English health service for its IT systems.

:"But NHS Scotland is still operating in a piecemeal way," said McKenzie. "Royal Bank of Scotland has 100,000 employees and one IT system. The NHS in Scotland is about the same size, but there are 14 NHS trusts and even within each trust there may be four different systems. They even have different e-mail systems."

McKenzie said there was "no plan for convergence" in the NHS and that the public services, including local government, could be heavily streamlined so there was one system for HR, one for payroll, and even one council tax across Scotland, but he said Microsoft was "making more money out of the mess". {{ref|5}}

=== Shared Services ===

Shared Services was born in the 1980s when large corporations adopted the strategy to improve efficiency. Since then the American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and UK governments have adopted shared services.

According to the Scottish Executives publication ‘A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services’ shared services will be the best method for increasing the efficiency of Scottish Public Services. They set out five main aims including

1. To be user focused and personalised, organised around users and citizen needs and aspirations, not convenience of the service provider
2. Drive up quality and encourage innovation
3. Continue to improve efficiency and productivity
4. Be joined up and minimise separation
5. Ensure strong accountability

The Executive have created supportive work streams such as the [[Efficient Government Initiative]], The [[McClelland Review of Public Procurement in Scotland]], [[The integrated Services and Governance Modelling Project]], [[Review of Local Government Finance]] [[Best Value Framework]] [[Modernising Government]].

The shared services strategy has been developed with the Efficient Government Initiative which was launched in Novemeber 2004 but has ties with the other initiative mentioned above. The Shared Services Strategy has the following objectives

1 Identify and realise opportunities for efficiency savings and service improvements to be gained through the adoption of shared service initiatives
2. Promote the development of shred services, processes and systems that are resilient to changes in service delivery structures and boundaries and better able to meet the needs of joined up public services.
3. Build on the standards and infrastructure being put in place through the modernising Government Customer First and e-card initiatives and ideas developed through the Efficient Government Fund.

Opportunities for the shared services fall into two categories

1. Support functions such as Accounting, Payroll, Procurement, Human Resources, Facilities, Information and Communication Technology
2. Common Operational processes and systems that underpin front line services and which are duplicated across multiple organisations.

The Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform [[Tom McCabe]] estimated savings of between £250 million and £750 million a year across the whole of the Scottish public sector.

:"The Executive is committed to spending taxpayers' money as efficiently and effectively as possible. This new shared services strategy on which we are seeking views is a central plank of our Efficient Government initiative which aims to tackle bureaucracy and duplication in the public sector." {{ref|23}}

In formation Technology is second in the top six most popular areas for shared services. Institutions such as [[Scottish Enterprise]] and [[NHS Scotland]] have implemented national shared support services and smaller organisations such as [[Glasgow City Council]], [[the city of Edinburgh Council]] and the [[Scottish Executive]] have implemented internal shared support. This can be a very efficient way of opertaing public services. Tom McCabe backs the efficiency of shred services convincingly:

:"Take Shared Services for example. It is a waste to have the same function replicated in each and every public body. This can be effectively tackled by sharing support services, like finance, human resources, facilities and estates and IT across the whole public sector in Scotland." {{ref|60}}

However, this arguement may be redundant if sharing the services was not delegated by open competition. The Shared Services strategy was set up with the involvement of many big businesses such as [[Microsoft]], [[Cap Gemini]] and [[Logica]]. [[David Amos]] met with these companies to discuss the executive’s proposals for the planned [[Holyrood Consultations]] research to determine the best way forward for Shared Services. This meeting was followed up with Amos and Microsoft on the 8th November 2006 to discuss their response to the consultation.

Microsoft representatives [[Caroline Findlay]] and [[Marcus Henderson]] also met with the head of Shared Services [[Jonathan Moore]] for an informal discussion on developing the shared services strategy. And further meetings between Microsoft and the Permanent secretary [[John Elvidge]] took place on the following dates 23/01/06, 17/03/06, 03/07/06, 08/08/06, 06/09/06, and 05/10/06. Thus, Microsoft have been greatly involved in the development of shared services and there is little doubt that their input has been strongly related to their own interests of gaining a stronger hold on Scottish public services.

=== Microsoft Government Leaders Forum ===

On the 30th January 2007 Microsoft held their fourth annual European Government leaders forum in the Scottish Parliament. The forum is a gathering of leaders including Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and policy advisers from across Europe. The event aims to discuss issues relating to the government, the role of technology in education and employability issues.

The announcement of Microsoft partnership with the Scottish Executive was fitting in this context. Bill gates accompanied Jack Mc Connell in a press statement highlighting the philanthropic work both the Microsoft Corporation and the Scottish Executive will undertake in helping young Scots achieve. The signed agreement aims to train 100,000 Scots in computer skills. {{ref|25}} The project is aimed at those not in education, employment or training (NEET. this is not a new market for Microsoft as they are already involved with [[Learn Direct Scotland]]Microsoft envisages supporting NEET through the use of the Microsoft brand, seconding a senior person for 2/3 days per week, facilitating access to the Microsoft Partner network (1500 SMEs), all of which aim to deliver ICT solutions customers, connecting to Microsoft's existing skills and education programmes and helping ensure new programmes are practical and offering IT and software development expertise. {{ref|50}}

The Executive identified seven local authorities 'where NEET is a particular challenge and where reducing NEET locally would make an impact nationally." {{ref|49}}These included Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee.

Four high profile recruits have agreed to support the work of the NEET Programme Board in improving access to opportunities for those identified as NEET, estimated to be around 20,000.

Four recruits helping in the NEET project

[[Mark Adams]] from Microsoft

[[David Watt]] from [[KPMG]]

[[Euan Davidson]], formerly CEO of the [[Princes Trust]]

[[Ray Perman]] from the [[Hunter Foundation]]

However, Bill Gates did not come to Scotland solely for the purpose of the forum. Gates was awarded an honorary degree by Edinburgh University. A further coincidence was that the forum was undertaken at the same time as Microsoft’s new operating systems launch, Vista. The company has invested £3 billion and expects a healthy return on those investments as Vista is expected to be used in 100 million computers by 2008.

== Microsoft's Partner Companies ==

[[Charteris plc]]

== Affiliations ==

[[Business Software Association]]

[[European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association]]

[[Computing Technology Industry Association]]

[[Institute for Software Choice]]

===PR Firms===

[[Edelman]]

[[APCO]]

[[G Plus]]

===Media===

[[MSNBC]]

[[Slate Magazine]]

[[Tech Central Station]]

==People==
=== Microsoft Board of Directors ===

*[[Bill Gates]]

*[[Steven A. Ballmer]]

*[[James I. Cash Jr.]] Ph.D.

*[[Dina Dublon]]

*[[Raymond V. Gilmartin]]

*[[David F. Marquardt]]

*[[Charles H. Noski]]

*[[Jon A. Shirley]]

=== Microsoft In Europe ===

[[Gordon McKenzie]]

=== UK Executives ===

[[Gordon Frazer]]

[[Neil Thompson]]

[[Nick Barley]]

[[Sharon Baylay]]

[[Steve Dunn]]

[[Scott Dodds]]

[[Andy Watson]]

[[Matthew Bishop]]

[[Tery Smith]]

[[Chris Parker]]

[[Alison Dodd]]

[[Bronwyn Kunhardt]]

[[David Gartenberg]]

== Notes ==
{{note|1}} Bowker J. (2006) ''Stewart facing tug-o-war over double chair'', Scotsman, January 10 [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=40122006]

#{{note|25}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{note|23}} Scottish Executive Website [http://http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2006/05/05110720 Scottish executive Website Shared Services Strategy]accessed 28/01/07
#{{note|26}} Lettice, J (2004) '''One Standard, One Microsoft - How the NHS Sold its Choice''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/nhs_ms_deal_analysis/ The Register]8th Novemeber accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|5}} NHS Scotland pre Microsoft [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1465512004 Microsoft Criticisms] accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|35}} Kablenet (2006) '''Microsoft signs for NHS Wales''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/01/microsoft_nhs_wales_procurement_deal/ The Register] Ist Feburary (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|38}} Corporate Watch (2004) '''Microsoft: A Corporate Profile'''[http://archive.corporatewatch.org/profiles/microsoft/microsoft4.htm Corporate Watch]accessed 05/04/07
#{{note|90}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{ref|101}}Microsoft (2005)Police [http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/aug05/08-11CSPPR.mspx Microsoft Website] (accessed 22/03/07)
#{{ref|60}}
#{{ref|50}}
#{{ref|49}}

Microsoft

2007-04-19T18:54:14Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

== History of Microsoft ==

The company was founded by [[Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]] in 1975 and generated profits of $16,000. In the 1980s microsoft flourished as it provided the operating system DOS for IBM’s PC.

Today Microsoft is an international company present in 102 different countries, employing 76,000 people and generalting a profit of $44.28 billion per year.

Microsoft takes up 18.3 million square feet of office building space and is ranked 15th in the world's top 500 companies. Microsoft's has driven 93% of the world's desktop computers since 1991 and its office software dominates 90% of the market and earns the company $9 billion a year. In 1990 Microsoft became the first software company to reach $1 billion in revenue. In 2003 Microsoft's revenue increased by $3.82 billion to $32.19 billion with a net income of $9993 billion. Although Microsoft have been accused of fraudulent accounting in order to show profit.{{ref|38}}

The company headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA.
Microsoft have ownership of MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.

The company has faced much controversy over the years as many have attributed their success to their illegal monopoly over operating systems which effectively pushes competition out of the market. The company has faced legal proceedings aroung the world and have been found guilty on the charges of holding an unfair monopoly. However, as microsoft are an extrmely rich company, the finacial penalties they face are insignificant and they often pay their way out of any legal obligations to rectify this monopoly.

== Microsoft’s Philanthropy ==

Bill Gates likes to consider himself above all as a philanthropic man. At the Government Leaders Forum he quoted Carnegie: ‘he who dies rich dies disgraced.’ Although Gates found the funny side to this, saying that he was still working on it, his charity has been described as the ‘Microsoft of charities’. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was launched by a donation from Bill Gates of £54 million in 2000. Gates has a very philanthropic public image and has joined Bono on the cover of Time magazine as Humanitarian of the year and was voted 8th in the list of “Heros of our Time” by the New Statesman.

However, the ‘Microsoft of charities’ may hold alternative meanings as it has been criticised for disinvestments. In January the Los Angeles Times exposed the foundation for investing over £254 million in oil companies including [[Royal Dutch Shell]], [[Exxon Mobil]], [[Chevron]] and [[Total]] who were being accused of causing health problems in Nigeria which, ironically, is another area of funding for the trust.{{ref|90}}

== International Conflicts ==

Microsoft have faced criticism and legal action around the world. The main accusation are that they constitute a monopoly and effectively push competitors out of the market. The court cases in the US and Europe give some indication of how they conduct their business and political activities.

'''[[Microsoft: US Conflicts]]'''

'''[[Microsoft: European Conflicts]]'''

== Microsoft's Involvement with UK Public Services ==

'''NHS UK'''

The UK's National Health Service has a nine-year licensing deal with Microsoft, claiming that it will amount to savings of £330 million.
The discount come from the licensing fee but is suspicious, as the NHS was not paying this fee in the first place.

The December announcement was followed by a [[Bill Gates]] summit with [[Richard Granger]], the IT director general for the NHS and Secretary of State for Health [[John Reid]]. This meeting was followed by discussions between Granger and Microsoft CEO [[Steven A. Ballmer]] which ultimately lead to the deal.

The contract, in effect, ties the NHS into a single supplier for desktops, and in that sense flies in the face of advice from the Office of Government Commerce in its OSS report to :"determine whether current technologies and IT policies inhibit future choice; and if so consider what steps may be necessary to prevent future 'lock in'". The OGC has been evaluating open source precisely because it needs government departments to have an alternative to Microsoft.

This standardisation is effectively eliminating smaller suppliers, for example [[EMIS]] who claim that although they produced the most widely-used GP system they have been unable to gain contracts with any of the five English Local Service Providers (LSPs) for the NPfIT, claiming that

:"The conditions that would have been imposed on it were "untenable." In a letter stating its position the company claims the "NPfIT is intent on standardising NHS I.T not by encouraging innovation and competition but by monopolising the market place..." {{ref|26}}

'''NHS Wales'''

In 2006 the Welsh NHS made a deal with Microsoft for desktop and mobile computing software claiming that it would lead to savings of £8.5 million. The deal includes 35,000 desktop software licences and incorporates all local health boards and trusts in Wales for three years.

Health workers will receive IT vouchers and "home -use" scheme will allow staff to purchase cheaper software licences for their home computers.

The Health Minister at the Welsh Assembly Dr [[Brian Gibbons]], the director of IM&T [[Mike Lugg]] and the head of IT in Bro Morgannwg
[[Carol Mustad]] have all commented positively on the new deal. {{ref|35}}

== Microsoft Scotland ==

Microsoft Edinburgh 127 George Street Edinburgh EH2 4JN

08706010100

=== Microsoft Workers ===

[[Raymond O'Hare]]

Microsoft Scotland have a work force of 40 people mostly working in sales and technical support

=== Scottish Company Investors===

[[Scottish Widows Investment Partnership]]

[[Aegon]] UK

[[Scottish Equitable]]

[[Aberdeen Asset Management]]

=== Microsoft's Involvement with Scotland's Public Services ===

Microsoft has fiercely lobbied the Scottish Executive to have access to Scotland’s public services. The Scottish Executive and Microsoft are both clients of the lobbying agency [[2Collaborate]], which may account for Microsoft’s success in gaining public service contracts.

====Police Force====

On the 11th August 2005 Central Scotland Police announced that Microsoft Windows would replace some open source technologies and [[Charteris plc]], a Microsoft partner, is providing training and consultancy.

:“Central Scotland Police is basing its IT system on the Microsoft platform because its internal study shows that it offers the best value in total cost of ownership, ease of use, interoperability, reliability and support,” said [[Nick McGrath]], head of Platform Strategy for Microsoft Ltd. “Central Scotland Police estimates that it could save 30 percent on IT maintenance costs and 25 percent of IT staff’s time by using Microsoft technology.”{{ref|101}}

====NHS Scotland====

NHS Scotland has signed a national deal with Microsoft to supply office software and desktop operating systems at a discounted rate, saving an estimated £8m. Software will be provided to NHS Scotland through an appointed reseller, [[Trustmarque Solutions]].

The recent deal between Microsoft and NHS Scotland followed public criticism by Microsoft that NHS Scotland was wasting billions on IT

Microsoft’s former director for Scotland, [[Gordon McKenzie]] publicly criticised NHS Scotland for it's inefficiency and claiming that the NHS in Scotland pays four times more than the English health service for its IT systems.

:"But NHS Scotland is still operating in a piecemeal way," said McKenzie. "Royal Bank of Scotland has 100,000 employees and one IT system. The NHS in Scotland is about the same size, but there are 14 NHS trusts and even within each trust there may be four different systems. They even have different e-mail systems."

McKenzie said there was "no plan for convergence" in the NHS and that the public services, including local government, could be heavily streamlined so there was one system for HR, one for payroll, and even one council tax across Scotland, but he said Microsoft was "making more money out of the mess". {{ref|5}}

=== Shared Services ===

Shared Services was born in the 1980s when large corporations adopted the strategy to improve efficiency. Since then the American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and UK governments have adopted shared services.

According to the Scottish Executives publication ‘A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services’ shared services will be the best method for increasing the efficiency of Scottish Public Services. They set out five main aims including

1. To be user focused and personalised, organised around users and citizen needs and aspirations, not convenience of the service provider
2. Drive up quality and encourage innovation
3. Continue to improve efficiency and productivity
4. Be joined up and minimise separation
5. Ensure strong accountability

The Executive have created supportive work streams such as the [[Efficient Government Initiative]], The [[McClelland Review of Public Procurement in Scotland]], [[The integrated Services and Governance Modelling Project]], [[Review of Local Government Finance]] [[Best Value Framework]] [[Modernising Government]].

The shared services strategy has been developed with the Efficient Government Initiative which was launched in Novemeber 2004 but has ties with the other initiative mentioned above. The Shared Services Strategy has the following objectives

1 Identify and realise opportunities for efficiency savings and service improvements to be gained through the adoption of shared service initiatives
2. Promote the development of shred services, processes and systems that are resilient to changes in service delivery structures and boundaries and better able to meet the needs of joined up public services.
3. Build on the standards and infrastructure being put in place through the modernising Government Customer First and e-card initiatives and ideas developed through the Efficient Government Fund.

Opportunities for the shared services fall into two categories

1. Support functions such as Accounting, Payroll, Procurement, Human Resources, Facilities, Information and Communication Technology
2. Common Operational processes and systems that underpin front line services and which are duplicated across multiple organisations.

The Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform [[Tom McCabe]] estimated savings of between £250 million and £750 million a year across the whole of the Scottish public sector.

:"The Executive is committed to spending taxpayers' money as efficiently and effectively as possible. This new shared services strategy on which we are seeking views is a central plank of our Efficient Government initiative which aims to tackle bureaucracy and duplication in the public sector." {{ref|23}}

In formation Technology is second in the top six most popular areas for shared services. Institutions such as [[Scottish Enterprise]] and [[NHS Scotland]] have implemented national shared support services and smaller organisations such as [[Glasgow City Council]], [[the city of Edinburgh Council]] and the [[Scottish Executive]] have implemented internal shared support. This can be a very efficient way of opertaing public services. Tom McCabe backs the efficiency of shred services convincingly:

:"Take Shared Services for example. It is a waste to have the same function replicated in each and every public body. This can be effectively tackled by sharing support services, like finance, human resources, facilities and estates and IT across the whole public sector in Scotland." {{ref|60}}

However, this arguement may be redundant if sharing the services was not delegated by open competition. The Shared Services strategy was set up with the involvement of many big businesses such as [[Microsoft]], [[Cap Gemini]] and [[Logica]]. [[David Amos]] met with these companies to discuss the executive’s proposals for the planned [[Holyrood Consultations]] research to determine the best way forward for Shared Services. This meeting was followed up with Amos and Microsoft on the 8th November 2006 to discuss their response to the consultation.

Microsoft representatives [[Caroline Findlay]] and [[Marcus Henderson]] also met with the head of Shared Services [[Jonathan Moore]] for an informal discussion on developing the shared services strategy. And further meetings between Microsoft and the Permanent secretary [[John Elvidge]] took place on the following dates 23/01/06, 17/03/06, 03/07/06, 08/08/06, 06/09/06, and 05/10/06. Thus, Microsoft have been greatly involved in the development of shared services and there is little doubt that their input has been strongly related to their own interests of gaining a stronger hold on Scottish public services.

=== Microsoft Government Leaders Forum ===

On the 30th January 2007 Microsoft held their fourth annual European Government leaders forum in the Scottish Parliament. The forum is a gathering of leaders including Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and policy advisers from across Europe. The event aims to discuss issues relating to the government, the role of technology in education and employability issues.

The announcement of Microsoft partnership with the Scottish Executive was fitting in this context. Bill gates accompanied Jack Mc Connell in a press statement highlighting the philanthropic work both the Microsoft Corporation and the Scottish Executive will undertake in helping young Scots achieve. The signed agreement aims to train 100,000 Scots in computer skills. {{ref|25}} The project is aimed at those not in education, employment or training (NEET. this is not a new market for Microsoft as they are already involved with [[Learn Direct Scotland]]Microsoft envisages supporting NEET through the use of the Microsoft brand, seconding a senior person for 2/3 days per week, facilitating access to the Microsoft Partner network (1500 SMEs), all of which aim to deliver ICT solutions customers, connecting to Microsoft's existing skills and education programmes and helping ensure new programmes are practical and offering IT and software development expertise. {{ref|50}}

The Executive identified seven local authorities 'where NEET is a particular challenge and where reducing NEET locally would make an impact nationally." {{ref|49}}These included Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee.

Four high profile recruits have agreed to support the work of the NEET Programme Board in improving access to opportunities for those identified as NEET, estimated to be around 20,000.

Four recruits helping in the NEET project

[[Mark Adams]] from Microsoft

[[David Watt]] from [[KPMG]]

[[Euan Davidson]], formerly CEO of the [[Princes Trust]]

[[Ray Perman]] from the [[Hunter Foundation]]

However, Bill Gates did not come to Scotland solely for the purpose of the forum. Gates was awarded an honorary degree by Edinburgh University. A further coincidence was that the forum was undertaken at the same time as Microsoft’s new operating systems launch, Vista. The company has invested £3 billion and expects a healthy return on those investments as Vista is expected to be used in 100 million computers by 2008.

== Microsoft's Partner Companies ==

[[Charteris plc]]

== Affiliations ==

[[Business Software Association]]

[[European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association]]

[[Computing Technology Industry Association]]

[[Institute for Software Choice]]

===PR Firms===

[[Edelman]]

[[APCO]]

[[G Plus]]

===Media===

[[MSNBC]]

[[Slate Magazine]]

[[Tech Central Station]]

==People==
=== Microsoft Board of Directors ===

*[[Bill Gates]]

*[[Steven A. Ballmer]]

*[[James I. Cash Jr.]] Ph.D.

*[[Dina Dublon]]

*[[Raymond V. Gilmartin]]

*[[David F. Marquardt]]

*[[Charles H. Noski]]

*[[Jon A. Shirley]]

=== Microsoft In Europe ===

[[Gordon McKenzie]]

=== UK Executives ===

[[Gordon Frazer]]

[[Neil Thompson]]

[[Nick Barley]]

[[Sharon Baylay]]

[[Steve Dunn]]

[[Scott Dodds]]

[[Andy Watson]]

[[Matthew Bishop]]

[[Tery Smith]]

[[Chris Parker]]

[[Alison Dodd]]

[[Bronwyn Kunhardt]]

[[David Gartenberg]]

== Notes ==
{{note|1}} Bowker J. (2006) ''Stewart facing tug-o-war over double chair'', Scotsman, January 10 [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=40122006]

#{{note|25}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{note|23}} Scottish Executive Website [http://http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2006/05/05110720 Scottish executive Website Shared Services Strategy]accessed 28/01/07
#{{note|26}} Lettice, J (2004) '''One Standard, One Microsoft - How the NHS Sold its Choice''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/nhs_ms_deal_analysis/ The Register]8th Novemeber accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|5}} NHS Scotland pre Microsoft [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1465512004 Microsoft Criticisms] accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|35}} Kablenet (2006) '''Microsoft signs for NHS Wales''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2006/02/01/microsoft_nhs_wales_procurement_deal/ The Register] Ist Feburary (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|38}} Corporate Watch (2004) '''Microsoft: A Corporate Profile'''[http://archive.corporatewatch.org/profiles/microsoft/microsoft4.htm Corporate Watch]accessed 05/04/07
#{{note|90}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{ref|101}}Microsoft Website [[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/aug05/08-11CSPPR.mspx Police IT System]] accessed 22/03/07
#{{ref|60}}
#{{ref|50}}
#{{ref|49}}

Microsoft

2007-04-19T18:49:50Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

== History of Microsoft ==

The company was founded by [[Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]] in 1975 and generated profits of $16,000. In the 1980s microsoft flourished as it provided the operating system DOS for IBM’s PC.

Today Microsoft is an international company present in 102 different countries, employing 76,000 people and generalting a profit of $44.28 billion per year.

Microsoft takes up 18.3 million square feet of office building space and is ranked 15th in the world's top 500 companies. Microsoft's has driven 93% of the world's desktop computers since 1991 and its office software dominates 90% of the market and earns the company $9 billion a year. In 1990 Microsoft became the first software company to reach $1 billion in revenue. In 2003 Microsoft's revenue increased by $3.82 billion to $32.19 billion with a net income of $9993 billion. Although Microsoft have been accused of fraudulent accounting in order to show profit.{{ref|38}}

The company headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA.
Microsoft have ownership of MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.

The company has faced much controversy over the years as many have attributed their success to their illegal monopoly over operating systems which effectively pushes competition out of the market. The company has faced legal proceedings aroung the world and have been found guilty on the charges of holding an unfair monopoly. However, as microsoft are an extrmely rich company, the finacial penalties they face are insignificant and they often pay their way out of any legal obligations to rectify this monopoly.

== Microsoft’s Philanthropy ==

Bill Gates likes to consider himself above all as a philanthropic man. At the Government Leaders Forum he quoted Carnegie: ‘he who dies rich dies disgraced.’ Although Gates found the funny side to this, saying that he was still working on it, his charity has been described as the ‘Microsoft of charities’. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was launched by a donation from Bill Gates of £54 million in 2000. Gates has a very philanthropic public image and has joined Bono on the cover of Time magazine as Humanitarian of the year and was voted 8th in the list of “Heros of our Time” by the New Statesman.

However, the ‘Microsoft of charities’ may hold alternative meanings as it has been criticised for disinvestments. In January the Los Angeles Times exposed the foundation for investing over £254 million in oil companies including [[Royal Dutch Shell]], [[Exxon Mobil]], [[Chevron]] and [[Total]] who were being accused of causing health problems in Nigeria which, ironically, is another area of funding for the trust.{{ref|90}}

== International Conflicts ==

Microsoft have faced criticism and legal action around the world. The main accusation are that they constitute a monopoly and effectively push competitors out of the market. The court cases in the US and Europe give some indication of how they conduct their business and political activities.

'''[[Microsoft: US Conflicts]]'''

'''[[Microsoft: European Conflicts]]'''

== Microsoft's Involvement with UK Public Services ==

'''NHS UK'''

The UK's National Health Service has a nine-year licensing deal with Microsoft, claiming that it will amount to savings of £330 million.
The discount come from the licensing fee but is suspicious, as the NHS was not paying this fee in the first place.

The December announcement was followed by a [[Bill Gates]] summit with [[Richard Granger]], the IT director general for the NHS and Secretary of State for Health [[John Reid]]. This meeting was followed by discussions between Granger and Microsoft CEO [[Steven A. Ballmer]] which ultimately lead to the deal.

The contract, in effect, ties the NHS into a single supplier for desktops, and in that sense flies in the face of advice from the Office of Government Commerce in its OSS report to :"determine whether current technologies and IT policies inhibit future choice; and if so consider what steps may be necessary to prevent future 'lock in'". The OGC has been evaluating open source precisely because it needs government departments to have an alternative to Microsoft.

This standardisation is effectively eliminating smaller suppliers, for example [[EMIS]] who claim that although they produced the most widely-used GP system they have been unable to gain contracts with any of the five English Local Service Providers (LSPs) for the NPfIT, claiming that

:"The conditions that would have been imposed on it were "untenable." In a letter stating its position the company claims the "NPfIT is intent on standardising NHS I.T not by encouraging innovation and competition but by monopolising the market place..." {{ref|26}}

'''NHS Wales'''

In 2006 the Welsh NHS made a deal with Microsoft for desktop and mobile computing software claiming that it would lead to savings of £8.5 million. The deal includes 35,000 desktop software licences and incorporates all local health boards and trusts in Wales for three years.

Health workers will receive IT vouchers and "home -use" scheme will allow staff to purchase cheaper software licences for their home computers.

The Health Minister at the Welsh Assembly Dr [[Brian Gibbons]], the director of IM&T [[Mike Lugg]] and the head of IT in Bro Morgannwg
[[Carol Mustad]] have all commented positively on the new deal. {{ref|35}}

== Microsoft Scotland ==

Microsoft Edinburgh 127 George Street Edinburgh EH2 4JN

08706010100

=== Microsoft Workers ===

[[Raymond O'Hare]]

Microsoft Scotland have a work force of 40 people mostly working in sales and technical support

=== Scottish Company Investors===

[[Scottish Widows Investment Partnership]]

[[Aegon]] UK

[[Scottish Equitable]]

[[Aberdeen Asset Management]]

=== Microsoft's Involvement with Scotland's Public Services ===

Microsoft has fiercely lobbied the Scottish Executive to have access to Scotland’s public services. The Scottish Executive and Microsoft are both clients of the lobbying agency [[2Collaborate]], which may account for Microsoft’s success in gaining public service contracts.

====Police Force====

On the 11th August 2005 Central Scotland Police announced that Microsoft Windows would replace some open source technologies and [[Charteris plc]], a Microsoft partner, is providing training and consultancy.

:“Central Scotland Police is basing its IT system on the Microsoft platform because its internal study shows that it offers the best value in total cost of ownership, ease of use, interoperability, reliability and support,” said [[Nick McGrath]], head of Platform Strategy for Microsoft Ltd. “Central Scotland Police estimates that it could save 30 percent on IT maintenance costs and 25 percent of IT staff’s time by using Microsoft technology.”{{ref|101}}

====NHS Scotland====

NHS Scotland has signed a national deal with Microsoft to supply office software and desktop operating systems at a discounted rate, saving an estimated £8m. Software will be provided to NHS Scotland through an appointed reseller, [[Trustmarque Solutions]].

The recent deal between Microsoft and NHS Scotland followed public criticism by Microsoft that NHS Scotland was wasting billions on IT

Microsoft’s former director for Scotland, [[Gordon McKenzie]] publicly criticised NHS Scotland for it's inefficiency and claiming that the NHS in Scotland pays four times more than the English health service for its IT systems.

:"But NHS Scotland is still operating in a piecemeal way," said McKenzie. "Royal Bank of Scotland has 100,000 employees and one IT system. The NHS in Scotland is about the same size, but there are 14 NHS trusts and even within each trust there may be four different systems. They even have different e-mail systems."

McKenzie said there was "no plan for convergence" in the NHS and that the public services, including local government, could be heavily streamlined so there was one system for HR, one for payroll, and even one council tax across Scotland, but he said Microsoft was "making more money out of the mess". {{ref|5}}

=== Shared Services ===

Shared Services was born in the 1980s when large corporations adopted the strategy to improve efficiency. Since then the American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and UK governments have adopted shared services.

According to the Scottish Executives publication ‘A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services’ shared services will be the best method for increasing the efficiency of Scottish Public Services. They set out five main aims including

1. To be user focused and personalised, organised around users and citizen needs and aspirations, not convenience of the service provider
2. Drive up quality and encourage innovation
3. Continue to improve efficiency and productivity
4. Be joined up and minimise separation
5. Ensure strong accountability

The Executive have created supportive work streams such as the [[Efficient Government Initiative]], The [[McClelland Review of Public Procurement in Scotland]], [[The integrated Services and Governance Modelling Project]], [[Review of Local Government Finance]] [[Best Value Framework]] [[Modernising Government]].

The shared services strategy has been developed with the Efficient Government Initiative which was launched in Novemeber 2004 but has ties with the other initiative mentioned above. The Shared Services Strategy has the following objectives

1 Identify and realise opportunities for efficiency savings and service improvements to be gained through the adoption of shared service initiatives
2. Promote the development of shred services, processes and systems that are resilient to changes in service delivery structures and boundaries and better able to meet the needs of joined up public services.
3. Build on the standards and infrastructure being put in place through the modernising Government Customer First and e-card initiatives and ideas developed through the Efficient Government Fund.

Opportunities for the shared services fall into two categories

1. Support functions such as Accounting, Payroll, Procurement, Human Resources, Facilities, Information and Communication Technology
2. Common Operational processes and systems that underpin front line services and which are duplicated across multiple organisations.

The Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform [[Tom McCabe]] estimated savings of between £250 million and £750 million a year across the whole of the Scottish public sector.

:"The Executive is committed to spending taxpayers' money as efficiently and effectively as possible. This new shared services strategy on which we are seeking views is a central plank of our Efficient Government initiative which aims to tackle bureaucracy and duplication in the public sector." {{ref|23}}

In formation Technology is second in the top six most popular areas for shared services. Institutions such as [[Scottish Enterprise]] and [[NHS Scotland]] have implemented national shared support services and smaller organisations such as [[Glasgow City Council]], [[the city of Edinburgh Council]] and the [[Scottish Executive]] have implemented internal shared support. This can be a very efficient way of opertaing public services. Tom McCabe backs the efficiency of shred services convincingly:

:"Take Shared Services for example. It is a waste to have the same function replicated in each and every public body. This can be effectively tackled by sharing support services, like finance, human resources, facilities and estates and IT across the whole public sector in Scotland." {{ref|60}}

However, this arguement may be redundant if sharing the services was not delegated by open competition. The Shared Services strategy was set up with the involvement of many big businesses such as [[Microsoft]], [[Cap Gemini]] and [[Logica]]. [[David Amos]] met with these companies to discuss the executive’s proposals for the planned [[Holyrood Consultations]] research to determine the best way forward for Shared Services. This meeting was followed up with Amos and Microsoft on the 8th November 2006 to discuss their response to the consultation.

Microsoft representatives [[Caroline Findlay]] and [[Marcus Henderson]] also met with the head of Shared Services [[Jonathan Moore]] for an informal discussion on developing the shared services strategy. And further meetings between Microsoft and the Permanent secretary [[John Elvidge]] took place on the following dates 23/01/06, 17/03/06, 03/07/06, 08/08/06, 06/09/06, and 05/10/06. Thus, Microsoft have been greatly involved in the development of shared services and there is little doubt that their input has been strongly related to their own interests of gaining a stronger hold on Scottish public services.

=== Microsoft Government Leaders Forum ===

On the 30th January 2007 Microsoft held their fourth annual European Government leaders forum in the Scottish Parliament. The forum is a gathering of leaders including Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and policy advisers from across Europe. The event aims to discuss issues relating to the government, the role of technology in education and employability issues.

The announcement of Microsoft partnership with the Scottish Executive was fitting in this context. Bill gates accompanied Jack Mc Connell in a press statement highlighting the philanthropic work both the Microsoft Corporation and the Scottish Executive will undertake in helping young Scots achieve. The signed agreement aims to train 100,000 Scots in computer skills. {{ref|25}} The project is aimed at those not in education, employment or training (NEET. this is not a new market for Microsoft as they are already involved with [[Learn Direct Scotland]]Microsoft envisages supporting NEET through the use of the Microsoft brand, seconding a senior person for 2/3 days per week, facilitating access to the Microsoft Partner network (1500 SMEs), all of which aim to deliver ICT solutions customers, connecting to Microsoft's existing skills and education programmes and helping ensure new programmes are practical and offering IT and software development expertise. {{ref|50}}

The Executive identified seven local authorities 'where NEET is a particular challenge and where reducing NEET locally would make an impact nationally." {{ref|49}}These included Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee.

Four high profile recruits have agreed to support the work of the NEET Programme Board in improving access to opportunities for those identified as NEET, estimated to be around 20,000.

Four recruits helping in the NEET project

[[Mark Adams]] from Microsoft

[[David Watt]] from [[KPMG]]

[[Euan Davidson]], formerly CEO of the [[Princes Trust]]

[[Ray Perman]] from the [[Hunter Foundation]]

However, Bill Gates did not come to Scotland solely for the purpose of the forum. Gates was awarded an honorary degree by Edinburgh University. A further coincidence was that the forum was undertaken at the same time as Microsoft’s new operating systems launch, Vista. The company has invested £3 billion and expects a healthy return on those investments as Vista is expected to be used in 100 million computers by 2008.

== Microsoft's Partner Companies ==

[[Charteris plc]]

== Affiliations ==

[[Business Software Association]]

[[European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association]]

[[Computing Technology Industry Association]]

[[Institute for Software Choice]]

===PR Firms===

[[Edelman]]

[[APCO]]

[[G Plus]]

===Media===

[[MSNBC]]

[[Slate Magazine]]

[[Tech Central Station]]

==People==
=== Microsoft Board of Directors ===

*[[Bill Gates]]

*[[Steven A. Ballmer]]

*[[James I. Cash Jr.]] Ph.D.

*[[Dina Dublon]]

*[[Raymond V. Gilmartin]]

*[[David F. Marquardt]]

*[[Charles H. Noski]]

*[[Jon A. Shirley]]

=== Microsoft In Europe ===

[[Gordon McKenzie]]

=== UK Executives ===

[[Gordon Frazer]]

[[Neil Thompson]]

[[Nick Barley]]

[[Sharon Baylay]]

[[Steve Dunn]]

[[Scott Dodds]]

[[Andy Watson]]

[[Matthew Bishop]]

[[Tery Smith]]

[[Chris Parker]]

[[Alison Dodd]]

[[Bronwyn Kunhardt]]

[[David Gartenberg]]

== Notes ==
{{note|1}} Bowker J. (2006) ''Stewart facing tug-o-war over double chair'', Scotsman, January 10 [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=40122006]

#{{note|25}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{note|23}} Scottish Executive Website [http://http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2006/05/05110720 Scottish executive Website Shared Services Strategy]accessed 28/01/07
#{{note|26}} Lettice, J (2004) '''One Standard, One Microsoft - How the NHS Sold its Choice''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/nhs_ms_deal_analysis/ The Register]8th Novemeber accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|5}} NHS Scotland pre Microsoft [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1465512004 Microsoft Criticisms] accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|35}} Microsoft signs for NHS Wales [http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/02/01/microsoft_nhs_wales_procrement_deal.html NHS Wales] (accessed 28/03/07)
#{{note|38}} Corporate Watch (2004) '''Microsoft: A Corporate Profile'''[http://archive.corporatewatch.org/profiles/microsoft/microsoft4.htm Corporate Watch]accessed 05/04/07
#{{note|90}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{ref|101}}Microsoft Website [[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/aug05/08-11CSPPR.mspx Police IT System]] accessed 22/03/07
#{{ref|60}}
#{{ref|50}}
#{{ref|49}}

Microsoft

2007-04-19T18:48:46Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

== History of Microsoft ==

The company was founded by [[Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]] in 1975 and generated profits of $16,000. In the 1980s microsoft flourished as it provided the operating system DOS for IBM’s PC.

Today Microsoft is an international company present in 102 different countries, employing 76,000 people and generalting a profit of $44.28 billion per year.

Microsoft takes up 18.3 million square feet of office building space and is ranked 15th in the world's top 500 companies. Microsoft's has driven 93% of the world's desktop computers since 1991 and its office software dominates 90% of the market and earns the company $9 billion a year. In 1990 Microsoft became the first software company to reach $1 billion in revenue. In 2003 Microsoft's revenue increased by $3.82 billion to $32.19 billion with a net income of $9993 billion. Although Microsoft have been accused of fraudulent accounting in order to show profit.{{ref|38}}

The company headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA.
Microsoft have ownership of MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.

The company has faced much controversy over the years as many have attributed their success to their illegal monopoly over operating systems which effectively pushes competition out of the market. The company has faced legal proceedings aroung the world and have been found guilty on the charges of holding an unfair monopoly. However, as microsoft are an extrmely rich company, the finacial penalties they face are insignificant and they often pay their way out of any legal obligations to rectify this monopoly.

== Microsoft’s Philanthropy ==

Bill Gates likes to consider himself above all as a philanthropic man. At the Government Leaders Forum he quoted Carnegie: ‘he who dies rich dies disgraced.’ Although Gates found the funny side to this, saying that he was still working on it, his charity has been described as the ‘Microsoft of charities’. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was launched by a donation from Bill Gates of £54 million in 2000. Gates has a very philanthropic public image and has joined Bono on the cover of Time magazine as Humanitarian of the year and was voted 8th in the list of “Heros of our Time” by the New Statesman.

However, the ‘Microsoft of charities’ may hold alternative meanings as it has been criticised for disinvestments. In January the Los Angeles Times exposed the foundation for investing over £254 million in oil companies including [[Royal Dutch Shell]], [[Exxon Mobil]], [[Chevron]] and [[Total]] who were being accused of causing health problems in Nigeria which, ironically, is another area of funding for the trust.{{ref|90}}

== International Conflicts ==

Microsoft have faced criticism and legal action around the world. The main accusation are that they constitute a monopoly and effectively push competitors out of the market. The court cases in the US and Europe give some indication of how they conduct their business and political activities.

'''[[Microsoft: US Conflicts]]'''

'''[[Microsoft: European Conflicts]]'''

== Microsoft's Involvement with UK Public Services ==

'''NHS UK'''

The UK's National Health Service has a nine-year licensing deal with Microsoft, claiming that it will amount to savings of £330 million.
The discount come from the licensing fee but is suspicious, as the NHS was not paying this fee in the first place.

The December announcement was followed by a [[Bill Gates]] summit with [[Richard Granger]], the IT director general for the NHS and Secretary of State for Health [[John Reid]]. This meeting was followed by discussions between Granger and Microsoft CEO [[Steven A. Ballmer]] which ultimately lead to the deal.

The contract, in effect, ties the NHS into a single supplier for desktops, and in that sense flies in the face of advice from the Office of Government Commerce in its OSS report to :"determine whether current technologies and IT policies inhibit future choice; and if so consider what steps may be necessary to prevent future 'lock in'". The OGC has been evaluating open source precisely because it needs government departments to have an alternative to Microsoft.

This standardisation is effectively eliminating smaller suppliers, for example [[EMIS]] who claim that although they produced the most widely-used GP system they have been unable to gain contracts with any of the five English Local Service Providers (LSPs) for the NPfIT, claiming that

:"The conditions that would have been imposed on it were "untenable." In a letter stating its position the company claims the "NPfIT is intent on standardising NHS I.T not by encouraging innovation and competition but by monopolising the market place..." {{ref|26}}

'''NHS Wales'''

In 2006 the Welsh NHS made a deal with Microsoft for desktop and mobile computing software claiming that it would lead to savings of £8.5 million. The deal includes 35,000 desktop software licences and incorporates all local health boards and trusts in Wales for three years.

Health workers will receive IT vouchers and "home -use" scheme will allow staff to purchase cheaper software licences for their home computers.

The Health Minister at the Welsh Assembly Dr [[Brian Gibbons]], the director of IM&T [[Mike Lugg]] and the head of IT in Bro Morgannwg
[[Carol Mustad]] have all commented positively on the new deal. {{ref|35}}

== Microsoft Scotland ==

Microsoft Edinburgh 127 George Street Edinburgh EH2 4JN

08706010100

=== Microsoft Workers ===

[[Raymond O'Hare]]

Microsoft Scotland have a work force of 40 people mostly working in sales and technical support

=== Scottish Company Investors===

[[Scottish Widows Investment Partnership]]

[[Aegon]] UK

[[Scottish Equitable]]

[[Aberdeen Asset Management]]

=== Microsoft's Involvement with Scotland's Public Services ===

Microsoft has fiercely lobbied the Scottish Executive to have access to Scotland’s public services. The Scottish Executive and Microsoft are both clients of the lobbying agency [[2Collaborate]], which may account for Microsoft’s success in gaining public service contracts.

====Police Force====

On the 11th August 2005 Central Scotland Police announced that Microsoft Windows would replace some open source technologies and [[Charteris plc]], a Microsoft partner, is providing training and consultancy.

:“Central Scotland Police is basing its IT system on the Microsoft platform because its internal study shows that it offers the best value in total cost of ownership, ease of use, interoperability, reliability and support,” said [[Nick McGrath]], head of Platform Strategy for Microsoft Ltd. “Central Scotland Police estimates that it could save 30 percent on IT maintenance costs and 25 percent of IT staff’s time by using Microsoft technology.”{{ref|101}}

====NHS Scotland====

NHS Scotland has signed a national deal with Microsoft to supply office software and desktop operating systems at a discounted rate, saving an estimated £8m. Software will be provided to NHS Scotland through an appointed reseller, [[Trustmarque Solutions]].

The recent deal between Microsoft and NHS Scotland followed public criticism by Microsoft that NHS Scotland was wasting billions on IT

Microsoft’s former director for Scotland, [[Gordon McKenzie]] publicly criticised NHS Scotland for it's inefficiency and claiming that the NHS in Scotland pays four times more than the English health service for its IT systems.

:"But NHS Scotland is still operating in a piecemeal way," said McKenzie. "Royal Bank of Scotland has 100,000 employees and one IT system. The NHS in Scotland is about the same size, but there are 14 NHS trusts and even within each trust there may be four different systems. They even have different e-mail systems."

McKenzie said there was "no plan for convergence" in the NHS and that the public services, including local government, could be heavily streamlined so there was one system for HR, one for payroll, and even one council tax across Scotland, but he said Microsoft was "making more money out of the mess". {{ref|5}}

=== Shared Services ===

Shared Services was born in the 1980s when large corporations adopted the strategy to improve efficiency. Since then the American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and UK governments have adopted shared services.

According to the Scottish Executives publication ‘A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services’ shared services will be the best method for increasing the efficiency of Scottish Public Services. They set out five main aims including

1. To be user focused and personalised, organised around users and citizen needs and aspirations, not convenience of the service provider
2. Drive up quality and encourage innovation
3. Continue to improve efficiency and productivity
4. Be joined up and minimise separation
5. Ensure strong accountability

The Executive have created supportive work streams such as the [[Efficient Government Initiative]], The [[McClelland Review of Public Procurement in Scotland]], [[The integrated Services and Governance Modelling Project]], [[Review of Local Government Finance]] [[Best Value Framework]] [[Modernising Government]].

The shared services strategy has been developed with the Efficient Government Initiative which was launched in Novemeber 2004 but has ties with the other initiative mentioned above. The Shared Services Strategy has the following objectives

1 Identify and realise opportunities for efficiency savings and service improvements to be gained through the adoption of shared service initiatives
2. Promote the development of shred services, processes and systems that are resilient to changes in service delivery structures and boundaries and better able to meet the needs of joined up public services.
3. Build on the standards and infrastructure being put in place through the modernising Government Customer First and e-card initiatives and ideas developed through the Efficient Government Fund.

Opportunities for the shared services fall into two categories

1. Support functions such as Accounting, Payroll, Procurement, Human Resources, Facilities, Information and Communication Technology
2. Common Operational processes and systems that underpin front line services and which are duplicated across multiple organisations.

The Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform [[Tom McCabe]] estimated savings of between £250 million and £750 million a year across the whole of the Scottish public sector.

:"The Executive is committed to spending taxpayers' money as efficiently and effectively as possible. This new shared services strategy on which we are seeking views is a central plank of our Efficient Government initiative which aims to tackle bureaucracy and duplication in the public sector." {{ref|23}}

In formation Technology is second in the top six most popular areas for shared services. Institutions such as [[Scottish Enterprise]] and [[NHS Scotland]] have implemented national shared support services and smaller organisations such as [[Glasgow City Council]], [[the city of Edinburgh Council]] and the [[Scottish Executive]] have implemented internal shared support. This can be a very efficient way of opertaing public services. Tom McCabe backs the efficiency of shred services convincingly:

:"Take Shared Services for example. It is a waste to have the same function replicated in each and every public body. This can be effectively tackled by sharing support services, like finance, human resources, facilities and estates and IT across the whole public sector in Scotland." {{ref|60}}

However, this arguement may be redundant if sharing the services was not delegated by open competition. The Shared Services strategy was set up with the involvement of many big businesses such as [[Microsoft]], [[Cap Gemini]] and [[Logica]]. [[David Amos]] met with these companies to discuss the executive’s proposals for the planned [[Holyrood Consultations]] research to determine the best way forward for Shared Services. This meeting was followed up with Amos and Microsoft on the 8th November 2006 to discuss their response to the consultation.

Microsoft representatives [[Caroline Findlay]] and [[Marcus Henderson]] also met with the head of Shared Services [[Jonathan Moore]] for an informal discussion on developing the shared services strategy. And further meetings between Microsoft and the Permanent secretary [[John Elvidge]] took place on the following dates 23/01/06, 17/03/06, 03/07/06, 08/08/06, 06/09/06, and 05/10/06. Thus, Microsoft have been greatly involved in the development of shared services and there is little doubt that their input has been strongly related to their own interests of gaining a stronger hold on Scottish public services.

=== Microsoft Government Leaders Forum ===

On the 30th January 2007 Microsoft held their fourth annual European Government leaders forum in the Scottish Parliament. The forum is a gathering of leaders including Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and policy advisers from across Europe. The event aims to discuss issues relating to the government, the role of technology in education and employability issues.

The announcement of Microsoft partnership with the Scottish Executive was fitting in this context. Bill gates accompanied Jack Mc Connell in a press statement highlighting the philanthropic work both the Microsoft Corporation and the Scottish Executive will undertake in helping young Scots achieve. The signed agreement aims to train 100,000 Scots in computer skills. {{ref|25}} The project is aimed at those not in education, employment or training (NEET. this is not a new market for Microsoft as they are already involved with [[Learn Direct Scotland]]Microsoft envisages supporting NEET through the use of the Microsoft brand, seconding a senior person for 2/3 days per week, facilitating access to the Microsoft Partner network (1500 SMEs), all of which aim to deliver ICT solutions customers, connecting to Microsoft's existing skills and education programmes and helping ensure new programmes are practical and offering IT and software development expertise. {{ref|50}}

The Executive identified seven local authorities 'where NEET is a particular challenge and where reducing NEET locally would make an impact nationally." {{ref|49}}These included Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee.

Four high profile recruits have agreed to support the work of the NEET Programme Board in improving access to opportunities for those identified as NEET, estimated to be around 20,000.

Four recruits helping in the NEET project

[[Mark Adams]] from Microsoft

[[David Watt]] from [[KPMG]]

[[Euan Davidson]], formerly CEO of the [[Princes Trust]]

[[Ray Perman]] from the [[Hunter Foundation]]

However, Bill Gates did not come to Scotland solely for the purpose of the forum. Gates was awarded an honorary degree by Edinburgh University. A further coincidence was that the forum was undertaken at the same time as Microsoft’s new operating systems launch, Vista. The company has invested £3 billion and expects a healthy return on those investments as Vista is expected to be used in 100 million computers by 2008.

== Microsoft's Partner Companies ==

[[Charteris plc]]

== Affiliations ==

[[Business Software Association]]

[[European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association]]

[[Computing Technology Industry Association]]

[[Institute for Software Choice]]

===PR Firms===

[[Edelman]]

[[APCO]]

[[G Plus]]

===Media===

[[MSNBC]]

[[Slate Magazine]]

[[Tech Central Station]]

==People==
=== Microsoft Board of Directors ===

*[[Bill Gates]]

*[[Steven A. Ballmer]]

*[[James I. Cash Jr.]] Ph.D.

*[[Dina Dublon]]

*[[Raymond V. Gilmartin]]

*[[David F. Marquardt]]

*[[Charles H. Noski]]

*[[Jon A. Shirley]]

=== Microsoft In Europe ===

[[Gordon McKenzie]]

=== UK Executives ===

[[Gordon Frazer]]

[[Neil Thompson]]

[[Nick Barley]]

[[Sharon Baylay]]

[[Steve Dunn]]

[[Scott Dodds]]

[[Andy Watson]]

[[Matthew Bishop]]

[[Tery Smith]]

[[Chris Parker]]

[[Alison Dodd]]

[[Bronwyn Kunhardt]]

[[David Gartenberg]]

== Notes ==
{{note|1}} Bowker J. (2006) ''Stewart facing tug-o-war over double chair'', Scotsman, January 10 [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=40122006]

#{{note|25}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{note|23}} Scottish Executive Website [http://http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2006/05/05110720 Scottish executive Website Shared Services Strategy]accessed 28/01/07
#{{note|26}} Lettice, J (2004) '''One Standard, One Microsoft - How the NHS Sold its Choice''' [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/nhs_ms_deal_analysis/ The Register]8th Novemeber accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|5}} NHS Scotland pre Microsoft [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1465512004 Microsoft Criticisms] accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|35}} Microsoft signs for NHS Wales [http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/02/01/microsoft_nhs_wales_procrement_deal.html NHS Wales] accessed 28/03/07
#{{note|38}} Corporate Watch (2004) '''Microsoft: A Corporate Profile'''[http://archive.corporatewatch.org/profiles/microsoft/microsoft4.htm Corporate Watch]accessed 05/04/07
#{{note|90}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{ref|101}}Microsoft Website [[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/aug05/08-11CSPPR.mspx Police IT System]] accessed 22/03/07
#{{ref|60}}
#{{ref|50}}
#{{ref|49}}

Microsoft

2007-04-19T18:46:06Z

Fiona Campbell: /* Notes */

== History of Microsoft ==

The company was founded by [[Bill Gates]] and [[Paul Allen]] in 1975 and generated profits of $16,000. In the 1980s microsoft flourished as it provided the operating system DOS for IBM’s PC.

Today Microsoft is an international company present in 102 different countries, employing 76,000 people and generalting a profit of $44.28 billion per year.

Microsoft takes up 18.3 million square feet of office building space and is ranked 15th in the world's top 500 companies. Microsoft's has driven 93% of the world's desktop computers since 1991 and its office software dominates 90% of the market and earns the company $9 billion a year. In 1990 Microsoft became the first software company to reach $1 billion in revenue. In 2003 Microsoft's revenue increased by $3.82 billion to $32.19 billion with a net income of $9993 billion. Although Microsoft have been accused of fraudulent accounting in order to show profit.{{ref|38}}

The company headquarters are in Redmond, Washington, USA.
Microsoft have ownership of MSNBC cable television network, the MSN Internet portal, and the Microsoft Encarta multimedia encyclopedia.

The company has faced much controversy over the years as many have attributed their success to their illegal monopoly over operating systems which effectively pushes competition out of the market. The company has faced legal proceedings aroung the world and have been found guilty on the charges of holding an unfair monopoly. However, as microsoft are an extrmely rich company, the finacial penalties they face are insignificant and they often pay their way out of any legal obligations to rectify this monopoly.

== Microsoft’s Philanthropy ==

Bill Gates likes to consider himself above all as a philanthropic man. At the Government Leaders Forum he quoted Carnegie: ‘he who dies rich dies disgraced.’ Although Gates found the funny side to this, saying that he was still working on it, his charity has been described as the ‘Microsoft of charities’. The Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation was launched by a donation from Bill Gates of £54 million in 2000. Gates has a very philanthropic public image and has joined Bono on the cover of Time magazine as Humanitarian of the year and was voted 8th in the list of “Heros of our Time” by the New Statesman.

However, the ‘Microsoft of charities’ may hold alternative meanings as it has been criticised for disinvestments. In January the Los Angeles Times exposed the foundation for investing over £254 million in oil companies including [[Royal Dutch Shell]], [[Exxon Mobil]], [[Chevron]] and [[Total]] who were being accused of causing health problems in Nigeria which, ironically, is another area of funding for the trust.{{ref|90}}

== International Conflicts ==

Microsoft have faced criticism and legal action around the world. The main accusation are that they constitute a monopoly and effectively push competitors out of the market. The court cases in the US and Europe give some indication of how they conduct their business and political activities.

'''[[Microsoft: US Conflicts]]'''

'''[[Microsoft: European Conflicts]]'''

== Microsoft's Involvement with UK Public Services ==

'''NHS UK'''

The UK's National Health Service has a nine-year licensing deal with Microsoft, claiming that it will amount to savings of £330 million.
The discount come from the licensing fee but is suspicious, as the NHS was not paying this fee in the first place.

The December announcement was followed by a [[Bill Gates]] summit with [[Richard Granger]], the IT director general for the NHS and Secretary of State for Health [[John Reid]]. This meeting was followed by discussions between Granger and Microsoft CEO [[Steven A. Ballmer]] which ultimately lead to the deal.

The contract, in effect, ties the NHS into a single supplier for desktops, and in that sense flies in the face of advice from the Office of Government Commerce in its OSS report to :"determine whether current technologies and IT policies inhibit future choice; and if so consider what steps may be necessary to prevent future 'lock in'". The OGC has been evaluating open source precisely because it needs government departments to have an alternative to Microsoft.

This standardisation is effectively eliminating smaller suppliers, for example [[EMIS]] who claim that although they produced the most widely-used GP system they have been unable to gain contracts with any of the five English Local Service Providers (LSPs) for the NPfIT, claiming that

:"The conditions that would have been imposed on it were "untenable." In a letter stating its position the company claims the "NPfIT is intent on standardising NHS I.T not by encouraging innovation and competition but by monopolising the market place..." {{ref|26}}

'''NHS Wales'''

In 2006 the Welsh NHS made a deal with Microsoft for desktop and mobile computing software claiming that it would lead to savings of £8.5 million. The deal includes 35,000 desktop software licences and incorporates all local health boards and trusts in Wales for three years.

Health workers will receive IT vouchers and "home -use" scheme will allow staff to purchase cheaper software licences for their home computers.

The Health Minister at the Welsh Assembly Dr [[Brian Gibbons]], the director of IM&T [[Mike Lugg]] and the head of IT in Bro Morgannwg
[[Carol Mustad]] have all commented positively on the new deal. {{ref|35}}

== Microsoft Scotland ==

Microsoft Edinburgh 127 George Street Edinburgh EH2 4JN

08706010100

=== Microsoft Workers ===

[[Raymond O'Hare]]

Microsoft Scotland have a work force of 40 people mostly working in sales and technical support

=== Scottish Company Investors===

[[Scottish Widows Investment Partnership]]

[[Aegon]] UK

[[Scottish Equitable]]

[[Aberdeen Asset Management]]

=== Microsoft's Involvement with Scotland's Public Services ===

Microsoft has fiercely lobbied the Scottish Executive to have access to Scotland’s public services. The Scottish Executive and Microsoft are both clients of the lobbying agency [[2Collaborate]], which may account for Microsoft’s success in gaining public service contracts.

====Police Force====

On the 11th August 2005 Central Scotland Police announced that Microsoft Windows would replace some open source technologies and [[Charteris plc]], a Microsoft partner, is providing training and consultancy.

:“Central Scotland Police is basing its IT system on the Microsoft platform because its internal study shows that it offers the best value in total cost of ownership, ease of use, interoperability, reliability and support,” said [[Nick McGrath]], head of Platform Strategy for Microsoft Ltd. “Central Scotland Police estimates that it could save 30 percent on IT maintenance costs and 25 percent of IT staff’s time by using Microsoft technology.”{{ref|101}}

====NHS Scotland====

NHS Scotland has signed a national deal with Microsoft to supply office software and desktop operating systems at a discounted rate, saving an estimated £8m. Software will be provided to NHS Scotland through an appointed reseller, [[Trustmarque Solutions]].

The recent deal between Microsoft and NHS Scotland followed public criticism by Microsoft that NHS Scotland was wasting billions on IT

Microsoft’s former director for Scotland, [[Gordon McKenzie]] publicly criticised NHS Scotland for it's inefficiency and claiming that the NHS in Scotland pays four times more than the English health service for its IT systems.

:"But NHS Scotland is still operating in a piecemeal way," said McKenzie. "Royal Bank of Scotland has 100,000 employees and one IT system. The NHS in Scotland is about the same size, but there are 14 NHS trusts and even within each trust there may be four different systems. They even have different e-mail systems."

McKenzie said there was "no plan for convergence" in the NHS and that the public services, including local government, could be heavily streamlined so there was one system for HR, one for payroll, and even one council tax across Scotland, but he said Microsoft was "making more money out of the mess". {{ref|5}}

=== Shared Services ===

Shared Services was born in the 1980s when large corporations adopted the strategy to improve efficiency. Since then the American, Canadian, Australian, New Zealand and UK governments have adopted shared services.

According to the Scottish Executives publication ‘A Shared Approach to Building a Better Scotland: A Consultation Paper on a National Strategy for Shared Services’ shared services will be the best method for increasing the efficiency of Scottish Public Services. They set out five main aims including

1. To be user focused and personalised, organised around users and citizen needs and aspirations, not convenience of the service provider
2. Drive up quality and encourage innovation
3. Continue to improve efficiency and productivity
4. Be joined up and minimise separation
5. Ensure strong accountability

The Executive have created supportive work streams such as the [[Efficient Government Initiative]], The [[McClelland Review of Public Procurement in Scotland]], [[The integrated Services and Governance Modelling Project]], [[Review of Local Government Finance]] [[Best Value Framework]] [[Modernising Government]].

The shared services strategy has been developed with the Efficient Government Initiative which was launched in Novemeber 2004 but has ties with the other initiative mentioned above. The Shared Services Strategy has the following objectives

1 Identify and realise opportunities for efficiency savings and service improvements to be gained through the adoption of shared service initiatives
2. Promote the development of shred services, processes and systems that are resilient to changes in service delivery structures and boundaries and better able to meet the needs of joined up public services.
3. Build on the standards and infrastructure being put in place through the modernising Government Customer First and e-card initiatives and ideas developed through the Efficient Government Fund.

Opportunities for the shared services fall into two categories

1. Support functions such as Accounting, Payroll, Procurement, Human Resources, Facilities, Information and Communication Technology
2. Common Operational processes and systems that underpin front line services and which are duplicated across multiple organisations.

The Minister for Finance and Public Service Reform [[Tom McCabe]] estimated savings of between £250 million and £750 million a year across the whole of the Scottish public sector.

:"The Executive is committed to spending taxpayers' money as efficiently and effectively as possible. This new shared services strategy on which we are seeking views is a central plank of our Efficient Government initiative which aims to tackle bureaucracy and duplication in the public sector." {{ref|23}}

In formation Technology is second in the top six most popular areas for shared services. Institutions such as [[Scottish Enterprise]] and [[NHS Scotland]] have implemented national shared support services and smaller organisations such as [[Glasgow City Council]], [[the city of Edinburgh Council]] and the [[Scottish Executive]] have implemented internal shared support. This can be a very efficient way of opertaing public services. Tom McCabe backs the efficiency of shred services convincingly:

:"Take Shared Services for example. It is a waste to have the same function replicated in each and every public body. This can be effectively tackled by sharing support services, like finance, human resources, facilities and estates and IT across the whole public sector in Scotland." {{ref|60}}

However, this arguement may be redundant if sharing the services was not delegated by open competition. The Shared Services strategy was set up with the involvement of many big businesses such as [[Microsoft]], [[Cap Gemini]] and [[Logica]]. [[David Amos]] met with these companies to discuss the executive’s proposals for the planned [[Holyrood Consultations]] research to determine the best way forward for Shared Services. This meeting was followed up with Amos and Microsoft on the 8th November 2006 to discuss their response to the consultation.

Microsoft representatives [[Caroline Findlay]] and [[Marcus Henderson]] also met with the head of Shared Services [[Jonathan Moore]] for an informal discussion on developing the shared services strategy. And further meetings between Microsoft and the Permanent secretary [[John Elvidge]] took place on the following dates 23/01/06, 17/03/06, 03/07/06, 08/08/06, 06/09/06, and 05/10/06. Thus, Microsoft have been greatly involved in the development of shared services and there is little doubt that their input has been strongly related to their own interests of gaining a stronger hold on Scottish public services.

=== Microsoft Government Leaders Forum ===

On the 30th January 2007 Microsoft held their fourth annual European Government leaders forum in the Scottish Parliament. The forum is a gathering of leaders including Prime Ministers, Ministers, EU Commissioners and policy advisers from across Europe. The event aims to discuss issues relating to the government, the role of technology in education and employability issues.

The announcement of Microsoft partnership with the Scottish Executive was fitting in this context. Bill gates accompanied Jack Mc Connell in a press statement highlighting the philanthropic work both the Microsoft Corporation and the Scottish Executive will undertake in helping young Scots achieve. The signed agreement aims to train 100,000 Scots in computer skills. {{ref|25}} The project is aimed at those not in education, employment or training (NEET. this is not a new market for Microsoft as they are already involved with [[Learn Direct Scotland]]Microsoft envisages supporting NEET through the use of the Microsoft brand, seconding a senior person for 2/3 days per week, facilitating access to the Microsoft Partner network (1500 SMEs), all of which aim to deliver ICT solutions customers, connecting to Microsoft's existing skills and education programmes and helping ensure new programmes are practical and offering IT and software development expertise. {{ref|50}}

The Executive identified seven local authorities 'where NEET is a particular challenge and where reducing NEET locally would make an impact nationally." {{ref|49}}These included Glasgow, West Dunbartonshire, North Ayrshire, East Ayrshire, Clackmannanshire, Inverclyde and Dundee.

Four high profile recruits have agreed to support the work of the NEET Programme Board in improving access to opportunities for those identified as NEET, estimated to be around 20,000.

Four recruits helping in the NEET project

[[Mark Adams]] from Microsoft

[[David Watt]] from [[KPMG]]

[[Euan Davidson]], formerly CEO of the [[Princes Trust]]

[[Ray Perman]] from the [[Hunter Foundation]]

However, Bill Gates did not come to Scotland solely for the purpose of the forum. Gates was awarded an honorary degree by Edinburgh University. A further coincidence was that the forum was undertaken at the same time as Microsoft’s new operating systems launch, Vista. The company has invested £3 billion and expects a healthy return on those investments as Vista is expected to be used in 100 million computers by 2008.

== Microsoft's Partner Companies ==

[[Charteris plc]]

== Affiliations ==

[[Business Software Association]]

[[European Information & Communications Technology Industry Association]]

[[Computing Technology Industry Association]]

[[Institute for Software Choice]]

===PR Firms===

[[Edelman]]

[[APCO]]

[[G Plus]]

===Media===

[[MSNBC]]

[[Slate Magazine]]

[[Tech Central Station]]

==People==
=== Microsoft Board of Directors ===

*[[Bill Gates]]

*[[Steven A. Ballmer]]

*[[James I. Cash Jr.]] Ph.D.

*[[Dina Dublon]]

*[[Raymond V. Gilmartin]]

*[[David F. Marquardt]]

*[[Charles H. Noski]]

*[[Jon A. Shirley]]

=== Microsoft In Europe ===

[[Gordon McKenzie]]

=== UK Executives ===

[[Gordon Frazer]]

[[Neil Thompson]]

[[Nick Barley]]

[[Sharon Baylay]]

[[Steve Dunn]]

[[Scott Dodds]]

[[Andy Watson]]

[[Matthew Bishop]]

[[Tery Smith]]

[[Chris Parker]]

[[Alison Dodd]]

[[Bronwyn Kunhardt]]

[[David Gartenberg]]

== Notes ==
{{note|1}} Bowker J. (2006) ''Stewart facing tug-o-war over double chair'', Scotsman, January 10 [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=40122006]

#{{note|25}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{note|23}} Scottish Executive Website [http://http://www.scotland.gov.uk/News/Releases/2006/05/05110720 Scottish executive Website Shared Services Strategy]accessed 28/01/07
#{{note|26}} The Register [http://www.theregister.co.uk/2004/11/08/nhs_ms_deal_analysis/ NHS Contract with Microsoft] accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|5}} NHS Scotland pre Microsoft [http://scotlandonsunday.scotsman.com/business.cfm?id=1465512004 Microsoft Criticisms] accessed 22/03/07
#{{note|35}} Microsoft signs for NHS Wales [http://www.channelregister.co.uk/2006/02/01/microsoft_nhs_wales_procrement_deal.html NHS Wales] accessed 28/03/07
#{{note|38}} Corporate Watch (2004) '''Microsoft: A Corporate Profile'''[http://archive.corporatewatch.org/profiles/microsoft/microsoft4.htm Corporate Watch]accessed 05/04/07
#{{note|90}} MChinty, S (2007) '''Billionaire, benefactor...but is Bill Gates a force for good?''' [http://thescotsman.scotsman.com.index.cfm?id=161002007 The Scotsman] 31st January (accessed 28/02/07)
#{{ref|101}}Microsoft Website [[http://www.microsoft.com/presspass/press/2005/aug05/08-11CSPPR.mspx Police IT System]] accessed 22/03/07
#{{ref|60}}
#{{ref|50}}
#{{ref|49}}