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* Microsoft helps victims of Hurricane Katrina *
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Hurricane Katrina ripped apart large swaths of the south (as hurricanes in this country often do). Of course there are Microsoft people in that part of world and just about every other part of the world come to think of it. What has Microsoft done to help?
Steve Ballmer is giving $1 million to relief efforts and putting Microsoft teams at the disposal of the relief efforts to provide technology for logistics, communications, and the like. Steve has also asked that employees give generously in response to the disaster and will match all contributions 100%.
Here's a neat email thread that just came in my corporate email box:
--------------------------------------------------------------------------------
From: __edited out__
Sent: Wed 8/31/2005 5:38 PM
To: __edited out__
Subject: Hotmail needs for Red Cross at hurricane sheltersI'm sending this via OWA in a Red Cross shelter in LA with poor connectivity. Can someone please forward the below message to the right folks in MSN?
>>>>>>>
I'm a consultant with MCS that lives in south Louisiana. I'm volunteering with the Red Cross helping setup the needed IT facilities for dealing with the thousands of refugees in or moving into the shelters. I'm setting up a basic messaging system that volunteers are using to send messages from survivors to loved ones they've been seperated from. All we have at this point is IP connectivity (Exchange, SharePoint and the like aren't options), so I'm using a single Hotmail address (__editedout__@hotmail.com) that all volunteers are sharing. The workflow is that survivors fill out a brief paper form with their name and the missing person's email and cell phone number. The volunteers then take this and send a short, pre-formed message to the seperated person's email and cell phone (via a web based SMTP/SMS gateway service) letting them know that the sender is alive and at the shelter.
What we need at this point is to have the mailbox size limit for the account increased immediately (rather than after 30 days) since we're sending (and hopefully receiving) thousands of messages. If we could also get integration with Outlook Live, that would be great too, as it would make it easier for staff to manage the messages that are being sent and received. Also, unless you really have something revolutionary to suggest, please keep in mind the type of situation we're in. We can't put up a server or domain or expect anything but very basic computer knowledge from the volunteers.
I and the thousands of people currently suffering in LA and MS appreciate the help.
John
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I sent this at 538. By 558 we were taken care of. For this and other things the people at this company have done today, I'm really proud to work at Microsoft.
I am in awe of not only our technical prowess, but our unwavering ability to help others in times of need. At the end of the day, Microsoft isn't just a big tech company...it's 55,000 people who care not only about technology, but about the welfare of each and every human being.
Help Now. If you'd like to pass your contribution along through me so Microsoft will double it, please email me by clicking on "Tommy" below.
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