Kurt Shintaku's Blog

I can’t bite my tongue on this topic any more. 

Yesterday, I read an discussion thread on Ars Technica, that pretty much personified what’s wrong with things like "Browser Relgiion":  http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20050906-5278.html. Apparently, the FEMA Online Registration web site is Internet Explorer-opnly. 

In an amazing act of self-serving indignance, the bungie-hacks on Ars Technica have managed to change the discussion focus from "bringing aid to those in need" to a religous argument for "why isn’t Firefox & non-Microsoft browsers supported", regardless of their technically lousy support for Javascript.  They apparently call it a "tragedy" that the FEMA site is "reserved" for only the 90% of the users worldwide that use Internet Explorer.  They’re actually recommending the creation of "Linux distribution CDROMs" to alleviate the issue.

My god.  First of all, I’m offended by the liberal use of the word, "tragedy" when we have a real tragedy to deal with in New Orleans.  It just reeks of insensitivity and one-track mindedness.

Uh… and here’s a couple ideas just off the top of my head on how to resolve this IE only issue:

1. Find a Windows based machine with IE6.0 on it.  Being that IE owns 90% marketshare, I’m sure there’s a PC with it lying around somewhere.
2. Call the phone number they put on the web site as an alternative (800) 621-FEMA, to register.
3. If you have Windows, try using Internet Explorer – it’s built in.  It’s not like you could have received it without IE, nor could you have removed it – unless you were <ahem> fanatically religious about the issue and hacked your machine to hell.

At the heart of the issue however is the irrational underlying accusation that Microsoft is using the tragedy to "further dominate the computer world". 

Let’s set the record straight:  We’re donating cash & time.  Got it?  CASH & TIME.  Are we giving product as well?  Of course $5M worth – people need computers to coordinate efforts.  And being that I haven’t seen any company that I’ve worked for in the past 20 years contribute nearly as much as we have to a national tragedy like this, I’m exceptionally proud of my company’s generousity and willingness to help the relief effort for Hurricane Katrina.  Nearly everyone I work with has made a matched contribution to some agency in the name of Katrina, and our company CEO, Steve Ballmer/Ron Markezich issued the following memo internally:

Microsoft’s Commitment to Help

Every one of us at Microsoft is deeply saddened by the destruction of property and personal lives in the wake of Hurricane Katrina, and our hearts go out to the hundreds of thousands of people who have been affected by the storm and its aftermath.Microsoft has pledged $1 Million in cash to relief organizations including the Red Cross and will match employee donations to eligible non-profits, dollar for dollar, up to $12,000 per employee, per year. Community Affairs has been in contact with several of the leading nonprofit organizations including the American Red Cross to evaluate what assistance we can provide to individuals who are in need. As the dimensions of this catastrophe continue to unfold, the nonprofit community needs cash donations to cover the cost of transporting supplies and teams of people into the affected area to help clean up and rebuild lives.

To raise broad awareness of donation and volunteer opportunities, we have also posted the Red Cross donation link on Microsoft.com, MSN and other web properties, which includes a listing of other agencies that are currently accepting donations.

Funding

• To date $250,000 has been raised by our employees and that will be matched by the company. Approximately, $5 million of technology assistance and support is being contributed to relief organizations, governments and educational institutions.
• To date, Microsoft has donated $1,000,000 including: $500,000 to the American Red Cross, $250,000 total to Governor’s Funds in the 3 affected states, and $250,000 total to local organizations the affected area.
• Microsoft.com, MSN and other web properties are helping to raise millions of dollars by providing dedicated space on their websites for posting list of agencies accepting donations raising millions.
• Microsoft will match employee donations to nonprofits engaged in relief efforts. (Our employees donated over $1.8 million for the Tsunami and the company matched it)

Technology Assistance

• Premier support and other consultants are on site at Red Cross headquarters providing technical infrastructure support.
• Microsoft’s CIO has put his technology teams at the disposal of organizations managing the disaster response to develop technology solutions to be used to speed relief assistance and coordinate among the various nonprofit and government agencies responding to this crisis.
• Three senior Microsoft technologists have been deployed to the Red Cross operation in Washington, DC to work in partnership with Intel, Cisco, SBC to support a technology plan to aid in the relief operation. This plan will help to support the 240 relief centers. The have enabled the Red Cross Family Link in English, French and Spanish.
• MSN has developed and is hosting a donation processing site for the Red Cross (http://donate.msn.com/) that has the capability to process 40,000 donation requests per hour. Our MSN team has built an improved back end to handle the unprecedented volume the site is experiencing including spikes during celebrity events and concerts.
• Microsoft is providing servers, laptops, tablet PCs and Smartphones to relief agencies.
• Groove is being used heavily by the Red Cross and Corps of Engineers for collaboration.
• Groove has employees helping on site at the Red Cross.
• Three of Microsoft’s Across America buses that are fully equipped with satellite communications systems are being made available to be used at Red Cross relief operation centers in Baton Rouge and Mississippi.

Local Assistance

• Jennifer Heard and her team are very active across the Gulf States working directly with the officials and CIOs in the region to provide needed assistance to business (energy and oil), community and government partners.
• Microsoft has established a Command Center in Austin, Texas with a support line to handle Katrina-related customer calls (24×7).
• Microsoft has launched employee information and donation sites to provide support to the victims of Hurricane Katrina. For information on Hurricane Relief efforts, employee donation information, and additional links to volunteer opportunities visit <internal URL>
• Microsoft is in contact with local and state governments, businesses and educational institutions to understand the impact the hurricane had on their operations and how best to provide assistance.
• Microsoft business teams are working with local and state governments, businesses (energy and oil companies) and educational institutions to help them become operational with their IT systems as quickly as possible.
• Our employees are responding as volunteers in Red Cross relief Centers in Dallas and other locations.

How You can Help

• The nonprofit community continues to need cash donations to cover the cost of purchasing and transporting supplies and teams of people into the affected area to help clean up and rebuild lives. Most agencies underestimated the amount of money needed to respond to this crisis.
• If you are interested in making a donation, Microsoft will match your donation dollar-for-dollar up to $12,000 per year per employee. We will have a payroll deduction available for employees.
• Over the next several weeks, many employees might be interested in making donations during a series of benefit concerts and events supporting hurricane relief efforts.
• Donations made during these events or donations made previously to qualified nonprofit organization WILL BE matched by Microsoft by using the tool at <internal URL>. Payout to agencies will be made weekly.
• On <internal URL> we have added information for you to use in evaluating a nonprofit organization before you give. Also, Microsoft has released tips on how to spot and avoid online scams. http://www.microsoft.com/athome/security/email/donations.mspx