Microsoft’s CSR Accelerator Summit - A blog by David Connor

It’s easy to forget just how pervasive Microsoft’s reach is from Xbox to Office or their effect on everybody’s lives over the past 35 years.

Ok, they may have lost market value top dog status to Apple, market share in the internet browser sector or have harbingers of doom awaiting the monster to fall as the Cloud approaches, but with competition such as Google acting like a righteous teenager, Facebook playing like a petulant child and Apple’s aspirations heading toward megalomania with their use of applications to control content, Microsoft could be said to be enjoying a somewhat more mature appearance by comparison of late, and that might just be their hidden weapon.

I had to admit to a sudden realisation of a lack of my own awareness of Microsoft’s CSR activity. Not ideal for someone who depends on such knowledge for a living. I assumed I knew they were ticking boxes I suppose. On questioning those in my networks I quickly found nobody else did either, which did make me feel slightly more comfortable. Most people could list their products, usually accompanied by the predictable individual gripes, but very little about the formal responsibility side of the fence.

Last Thursday, at the sprawling campus home of Microsoft in Redmond,  serviced by their own fleet of 48 ‘Connector’ buses and Prius cars (reportedly saving 18 million road miles in two years) myself and an intimate group of traditional press, tech bloggers and academics were offered a glimpse into their Corporate Citizenship efforts. I had no real expectations. I hadn’t had time to formulate any to be completely honest but I knew it had to be worth the trip including the carbon splurge.

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