Microsoft to Receive First U.S. Sustainable Events Management Certification

Published February 17, 2009

Tags: Business Operations, Marketing, More... Business Operations, Marketing, Marketing & Communication, Meetings

Say what you will about Microsoft's products; the company can at least claim a commitment to sustainable marketing practices.

Microsoft's 2009 Convergence event, scheduled for March 10-13 in New Orleans, will hopefully be able to achieve BS 8901:2007 status.

BS 8901 is a British sustainability standard developed specifically for the events industry. The standard encompasses a wide range of environmental requirements, and applies to everything from large festivals to business meetings.

Last year's Convergence event used an internal sustainability benchmark. Microsoft's corporate team will test and validate its past practices with the help of BS 8901.

Ariel Schwartz is a blogger for GreenBiz.com and the editor of Cleantechnica.com. A graduate of Vassar College, she has previously worked in marketing, organic farming, and newspaper journalism.

Microsoft = green: too funny

Anonymous, March 5, 2009 - 21:25

Microsoft typically ships "bloat ware" that takes a toll on the environment.

Many computer users are forced to throw away perfectly good computers and buy more power hungry models in order to run Microsoft's porky upgrades.

Many users are moving to open source ("Ubuntu" comes to mind), which allows a user to "recover" their old computer and use it quite successfully for normal desk tasks like word processing, email and browsing the web.

When will Microsoft ever announce an operating system that actually requires less power to run than it's predecessor?

This reminds me of the automotive industry, always trying to get us to buy more sheet metal, heavier, more horsepower cars, trucks and SUV's.

Instead, Microsoft seduces us into buying their new operating systems with all sorts of fancy features bundled in - except the ability to keep viruses away.

Can't wait for Microsoft 7 - sounds like a Cadillac with fins.

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