Microsoft has yet again announced an initiative for the common good. Microsoft Philanthropies will be donating $1 Billion in cloud computing resources over the across 3 years in order to help 70,000 non-profits and NGO’s worldwide.
Microsoft Philanthropies to donate $1 Billion
Governments are searching for a coherent, pro-cloud policy framework. I believe there are four elements – infrastructure, next generation skills development, trusted computing and leadership. This framework would encourage more pervasive use of the public cloud for public good, feels Microsoft.
This endeavour is aimed at making the NGOs and the Government services to use the public cloud for the public good, an issue that comes with a multitude of challenges. The Public clouds is essentially massive privacy protected data and storage services which are deployed over the network for public use. This brings to the table a predictive and analytical power which is a result of processing tons of data for insights.
The public cloud computing also aligns with the 17 sustainable goals adopted by the world leaders at the UN to tackle some of the toughest problems on the earth. The public cloud can assume a central role thus helping out with the analysis and action.
Now the most obvious question is, what if only the powerful and the wealthy have access to the data, intelligence, analytics and insights that come from the power of the mobile and cloud computing.
Governments are already formulating a framework which will prevent such things from happening and while they are at that it is the common man who is currently the benefactor of public cloud. Take for instance the LV Prasad Eye Institute in India which has treated 20 Million patients with cataracts and further through the digitization of the medical records and other related data, doctors are now able to pinpoint the exact procedures required to treat and prevent such conditions.
