SXSWEdu: Gates Foundation vs. Microsoft Education: What’s the difference?
On my first day in Austin I had a terrific hourlong conversation with Cameron Evans, Chief Technology Officer for Microsoft Education. He had a lot of candid observations and great lines: “The vast amount of data in our education system can be used for good, and also for bad actors and bad reasons,” and on the need for professional development and parent education around new learning technologies: “You don’t want to be in a situation where you give people a library card but they can’t read.”
op-art by simosx on Flickr
Toward the end I took the chance to ask him about a controversial point. It is an article of faith among manyconcerned about education that the extensive philanthropic influence of the Gates Foundation, headed by Microsoft founder Bill Gates, is deployed directly in service of the business interests of the Microsoft Corporation. When it comes to schools, where do the interests of one end and the other one begin?
Evans greeted my question with a broad smile. It’s one that he fields fairly often.
“Bill and Melinda Gates have gone out of their way to make sure that the foundation’s work and the work of Microsoft have nothing to do with each other,” he starts, noting that the Gates Foundation often uses open-source technologies.
However, he allows, “There are times we do see eye to eye.”
Not for nothing, Evans agrees that the Gates Foundation and Microsoft share a single mission. As the foundation puts it, “Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation works to help all people lead healthy, productive lives.” ”We share that core mission: everybody should be able to participate fully in life without constraint or impediment.”
The true common ground between the company and the foundation, Evans tells me, has to do with