Microsoft’s Green Initiatives – When Technology’s Top Players Go Green What Does it Mean?
Once consigned to reading tech magazines, green entrepreneurs in the tech space now are drifting to business sites - as it should be. More and more tech sites are covering business issues and more importantly, business sites, particularly those focused on green business are delving into the technology, particularly computer technology, fields.
Green entrepreneurs of every stripe face similar business challenges.
How to write a marketing plan.
How to handle inventory.
And in a tighter money era, how to find financing.
Fortunately for green tech entrepreneurs, leaders in the field seem willing to provide assistance (as well as competition). As reported in Information Week:
Microsoft plans to work more closely with independent software developers to help them build applications that don’t draw CPU cycles unnecessarily.
Microsoft, has been on a tear this year rolling out green initiatives. From providing bus service to its headquarters from downtown Seattle to building a new processing center in Quincy, Washington, “because it was three power poles away from a hydroelectric dam,” eco considerations have been, if not front and canter at least a big part of their business planning. Cornerstone to their eco considerations is the (semi) new Vista operating system.
On the tech front, the company’s Windows Vista operating system includes energy management features that are superior to those found in the older Windows XP, according to Bernard. Among them: a feature that, after a set period, puts Vista to sleep instead of activating an energy-consuming screen saver.
All told, Microsoft introduced 35 new energy management features in Vista, according to Rob Bernard, Microsoft’s chief environmental strategist.
Microsoft’s commitment to green can mean big changes in the technology green space. As in any industry, when the big players enter or increase their presence, the game changes in both positive and negative ways.
How do you see this changing your business strategy? Do you see this as a positive or negative for your green technology business?
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Microsoft software has a power hug since the get go. Look at vista you need 1 gb of ram just to run it so as far as I’m concerned it about time they switch over to producing software that uses less cpu cycles. It’s important to note though that less cpu cycles does not necessary mean less energy.