RSSMicrosoft seeks to Elevate the nation's tech skills
By Angela Gunn | Published February 23, 2009, 5:13 AM
At the National Governors Association conference in Washington, D.C. on Sunday, Microsoft announced a program to teach basic and intermediate computer skills to, potentially, millions of Americans. The three-year Elevate America program will include one million vouchers for Microsoft eLearning courses as well as for select certification exams.
The vouchers will be distributed through state and local governments' workforce development programs. Microsoft originally planned to launch the initiative in three states -- Washington, New York and Florida -- but by the end of the day Sunday California, Colorado, Delaware, Minnesota and Virginia had climbed aboard too.
Microsoft says it expects to reach approximately 2 million citizens with Elevate America over the next three years.
Interested parties can also get online, if they are able to get themselves online, and check out a new Microsoft mini-site with information on basic computer skills (e.g., sending email or creating a resume) and resources for picking those skills up. The Elevate America site also has information for students and -- perhaps more to the taste of Betanews readers -- information on various intermediate-level certification programs, including the Second Shot do-over option.
That site is online now. The rest of the program will begin in the various states over the next few months.
Washington governor Christine Gregoire, taking an opportunity to cheer on the home team, praised Microsoft for stepping up during tough times as what the company is describing (without releasing specific numbers) as "significant cost."
"Elevate America is a great example of Microsoft's leadership on education and workforce development -- issues that bring us a step closer to recovery by helping us provide critically important help to our citizens," said Gregoire. "Washington state is pleased to be one of the first states to partner with Microsoft to provide Elevate America to our residents."
Microsoft will post updates on Elevate America -- including news of the addition of more states to the program -- to its Twitter account.
well, microsoft already contributed 1,400 unemployed people that won't need any technical training.
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|Wow, yeah! This is a great way to make people more dependent on Microsoft software! That really benefits Microsoft during these tough times! Instead of learning free, open source software, we can get the economy rolling by stimulating purchases of Microsoft software. ... Wait, what? This is ridiculous! How is this even news? This is an Elevate Microsoft plan at a time when they acknowledged in their last quarterly guidance that netbooks running linux or old Microsoft software cost them $465M for the quarter. That's $465M that can be spent on food and shelter. That's $465M that represents the problem of an unregulated monopoly whose stranglehold is starting to loosen. Now they want government to help them tighten up and crush the free alternatives.
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|Elevate America appears to be a nice gesture by Microsoft, but if it really wants to give a great boost to the American working class, it should immediatly terminate its uncounsciable H1B visa program, where it imports immigrants to work at its U.S. facilities for much less than it pays its legal domestic employees. How many of the foreign imports were included in Microsofts recent layoffs, or better still, how many H1B foreigners are still employed? Also, Microsoft should stop outsourcing valuable IT jobs overseas!
As for me, my Microsoft protest is now complete-my computerware is fully APPLELIZED!
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|Yet another attempt to indoctrinate the people in the windows mindset. If they truly wanted to be charitable and truly teach people they would give away copies of Linux...Just another way to keep people using the software that they are "familiar" with.
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|RedHat had been giving away copies of Linux for decades. How much has that done to educate users?
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|More than you can imagine. Red Hat knowledge is very useful in the IT world, if you know Red Hat well enough to become certified, you can get yourself into a good field. Linux allows you to get as deep into it as you want to learn how it works. Linux lets you setup users who have adequate control of the system, but cannot harm it by deleting things they shouldn't. Soemthing M$ is just now trying but with very little success with their UAC. Giving Linux to users allows them to learn in a more "Hands-on" Approach without worrying about ruining things or getting activex controlls that hose their system with viruses, spyware, scareware and rootkits.
My Point is, The ONLY reason M$ is doing this is to get people who don't know how to use PC's used to using windows. That way if they ever DO try using Linux they will think it is inferior just because they can't find the .exe files they "need" when the program they are looking for or the similar equivalent program is in the Repository list, they don't know why they have the freedom to choose which desktop to use (KDE) (GNOME) (ENLIGHTENMENT), or why they can't install AIM, YAHOO IM, or Myspace IM and then they will falsely blame the OS for the conditions of the software market imposed by M$!
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|You missed my point.
Anyone who wants Linux can already get it for free. (duh?) Windows educational tools, however, are usually not. Microsoft is offering them now for free.
....but of course, it's a Bad Thing™. Because it's Microsoft. If Canonical or Red Hat gave away Windows Educational tools, it'd be a whole different story.
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|Why would canonical ever want to give away windows educational tools? M$ giving away educational tools is not teaching PC use, it is teaching M$ Windows use! That is the only reason they give anything away and that is why they deserve to be vilified for doing so. Linux is given away for free, as in Free Speech, Microsoft giving away Free educational tools is Free as in Free beer, they want to get you addicted to it so that when you get a job the company feels obligated to use Windows because that's what its employees are demanding, and when they start charging them to use it at home they feel like they "Need" it because that's the only thing they know how to use!
Giving away Linux is teaching them how to fish, giving away windows is just giving them a fish.
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|@supernatendo: "My Point is, The ONLY reason M$ is doing this is to get people who don't know how to use PC's used to using windows."
Instead of presenting your opinions as fact, why don't you present them as opinions? Unless Microsoft admits that they are only doing this to get people hooked on Windows or you can present overwhelming evidence, you are only presenting an opinion and trying to present it as fact isn't going to work. Like you, I doubt Microsoft is only doing this to help people out. However, I don't know all that went into the decision and neither do you.
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|"M$ giving away educational tools is not teaching PC use, it is teaching M$ Windows use!"
Look at the market share.
What OS do most entry level businesses use?
Now try and tell me that teaching people to use Windows isn't going to help anyone....
*sigh*
Didn't realize you were trolling. Sorry, I'll leave you to it.
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|I love this. Microsoft does *anything*...even giving away free computer courses, and they are vilified and slammed by the posters here.
Wow, you guys are all class.
Carmy, when those H1-B foreigners become less educated than their US counterparts, I'll be all for it. Until then, just like Microsoft, I'll hire as many of them as I possibly can.
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|How nice.
Is this so that IT people can have a job for awhile, and then train their Indian replacements and become unemployed again?
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|If Microsoft is so concerned about the computer skills of Americans maybe they should stop hiring H1-B Visa foreigners. Why would any US citizen take the time to learn computer skills when all the computer jobs are being given to people from other countries?
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|Microsoft's wants to improve the computer skills of America??? Gosh, I guess that means they won't have any more 'Wizards' to do this and that in Windows 7. Since they feel its better American's learn the importance of the underlying technology, I would have to assume they are migrating their core to UNIX. That audience has a proven track record of above average computer skills.
You might guess I'm more than a little skeptical of this program. Its hard to trust the motives of ANY company offering a 'community service' where their own product is central to its cause.
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