Gates to Donate Tech to Japanese Nonprofits

On Friday, Microsoft Chief Software Architect Bill Gates told a group of reporters in Tokyo that the company will offer various technologies free of charge to Japanese nonprofits to help them improve relationships with potential donors and boost their public awareness, the Associated Press reports via the New York Post.

Officials from Microsoft, which has been doing business in the Japanese market for two decades, will tour a number of regions in Japan to meet with various nonprofits, according to the AP.

“Software empowerment can be used here as well,” Gates said, according to the AP, in reference to the ability to use software and its associated technologies to improve quality of life.

Though Microsoft software dominates the Japanese market, as it does throughout much of the rest of the world, the country is home to its fair share of critics who are quick to lash out at the company for its alleged proprietary business methods.

Microsoft also maintains partnership in Japan with major electronics and video-game firms, the AP reports.

Digital technologies like music players and photo editors are boosting business opportunities in the Land of the Rising Sun because they mean users must employ systems other than personal computers, Gates said, according to the AP.

“The key message we have today is that we have more optimism today about the importance of those partnerships and our willingness to invest in those,” Gates said, according to the AP.

The Redmond, Wash.-based software giant will collect feedback from the various nonprofits and design software based on that information, some of which will be available for free via the Internet, the AP reports.

For related news coverage, read Gates Sees a Tablet PC for Every Student and Bill Gates Blasts MIT’s $100 Laptop.

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