Continuing their seemingly endless announcements of software donations Microsoft have today announced that they are to give server and desktop software to two well-known charities.
In a show of good will the Redmond giants have donated $4.5m worth of software to Save the Children and $739k to Mercy Corps. These donations are part of the International Technology Leadership Grants and they are to "encourages nonprofit organizations to use innovative technology solutions to improve their efficiency and effectiveness".
With Save the Children the software is being used to help develop their standardisation plan which will help reduce support and allow people working great distances apart to use the same programs. Mercy Corps hope to deploy the software to improve efficiency and Microsoft are already working with them, helping develop a system called FACTS (the Food and Commodity Trading System) which allows resources gained by themselves and other charities to be tracked.
Due to the worldwide nature of charities getting software to more remote areas is hard, this gift is one step towards solving the problems faced by such organisations.