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Microsoft, Russia, UN help refugees

Posted by Mr magoo on 02 June 2004 - 11:50 · 12 comments & 1233 views

Good old Microsoft.

Hundreds of refugees and asylum seekers here are flocking to a local community center where they can develop IT skills and obtain information to help improve their lives. In April, the International Red Cross and the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), in partnership with Microsoft, opened the first Community Technology Learning Center (CTLC) focused on the special needs of refugees.

The St. Petersburg center is expected to serve an estimated 4,000 refugees from Afghanistan and Africa, along with hundreds of Russian residents with disabilities. The center offers IT skills development, hardware and software training, and other guidance to help participants learn how to use technology.

Support for the St. Petersburg center comes from Microsoft Unlimited Potential, a worldwide initiative designed to aid global work-force development by providing technology-skills training through Community Technology Learning Centers. The St. Petersburg center is one of more than 300 such facilities across Europe, the Middle East, and Africa that are supported by Microsoft.

"Access to education is critical in helping underserved individuals and communities participate fully in society and realize their goals," says Teresa Davis, regional Community Affairs lead for Microsoft's Eastern European headquarters. "The CTLC supports the efforts carried out by local authorities, immigration services, and the [St. Petersburg] Labor and Social Security Committee, all of whom encouraged the initiative to promote digital inclusion, tolerance, and human-rights themes."

View: Press Release

What's New in This Release:

· [+] Mail Chat (Tools|Mail Chat)
· [+] Chat Virtual folders for watching conversation threads or waiting for replies to specific messages
· [+] "Utilities|Create a Quick Template" menu command in the message editor to quickly create a QT based on the selected text
· [+] (#0001869) New Window Split Mode - Full-width Message List
· [+] Automatic filtering on IMAP
· [+] Customizable hotkeys for next/prev folder tab (Edit shortcuts/MainMenu/Specials)
· [+] It is now possible to re-filter only selected messages
· [+] Message Editor (using MicroEd) has new status - AutoFormat, AutoWrap, JustifyOnWrap, AutoSpell
· [+] Possibility to insert a line divider in HTML editor
· [+] URLs of incoming messages are added to the log
· [+] Possibility to open URLs by double click from the account's log viewer
· [+] Smartpad.ini: [Options] Taskbar = 1 - shows smartpad in taskbar
· [+] Support of ImagesPDSF.MSL file for translating smileys (see the Beta distribution file)
· [+] VF message DblClk - opens VF folder view; Ctrl+DblClk - Follows message; Shift+DblClk - opens folder view
· [+] Viewing account's log window is no longer modal
·

(#0001307) Tab order in the Folder Maintenance Centre is now working more correctly
· [ * ] (#0002992) UTF-7/8 decoding is now much faster
· [ * ] It is now possible to log manual refiltering
· [ * ] Search options in the Accont Log View pop-up menu
· [ * ] The current folder was removed from the Unread tab when new mail was received
· [-] (#0001633) Character set detection bug in PGP/MIME messages
· [-] (#0001742) Unread messages were loaded and treated as read during refiltering process
· [-] (#0002259) Embedded image files were multiplicated at each [auto] save
· [-] (#0002653) Account tree nodes' states were not stored correctly
· [-] (#0002673) Selected shortcuts for Send/Queue in the message editor weren't remembered
· [-] (#0002716) Access Violation error while search in a deleted folder
· [-] (#0002764) The "l" LDAP attribute was not processed
· [-] (#0002922) Deleted messages counters were not updated in the Folder Maintenance Centre
· [-] (#0002951) Access Violation error when selecting folders for search in message reminder
· [-] (#0002955) Generic view mode setting is not saved, previous setting is used after restart
· [-] (#0002972) Account tree expand, when you open the account properties
· [-] (#0002997) Split mode - full width msg list - msg preview toggle one way
· [-] (#0003005) Virtual Folders think they're Normal Folders is VF name and Directory are not the same
· [-] (#0003026) Option "Edit | Select all" doesn't work in HTML editor, Ctrl+A works
· [-] (#0003027) MessageFinder does not "Follow"
· [-] (#0003038) Using "IMAP Folder management" deletes account level VFs
· [-] IMAP folder management could fail to see some folders on some IMAP servers
· [-] No duplicates of message in chat folders
· [-] Some other minor fixes

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(4 replies) #1 Posted by theLANDofSMEG on 02 Jun 2004 - 12:10: sorry for seeming naive, but it sounds like they want to train them up, and then use them as cheap labour, not exploiting them, but seeing them as Human Capital to tap into later down the track when they need people with skills in IT that don't expect much pay.

(3 replies) #2 Posted by forster on 02 Jun 2004 - 12:20: Take them, train them, just keep em out of the UK.

(2 replies) #3 Posted by SkaterAustin on 02 Jun 2004 - 12:38: alright heres what i think they should of done. In service pack rc2 or rtm they should put this wmp 10 in it and try to push the final version out. Then they also should throw the new msn messenger 6.2 into it and all the other updates. I dont know to me that sounds like a great idea.

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