Not Boring by Packy McCormick
Mar 8
If you aren’t subscribed, join 37,892 smart, curious folks by subscribing here:
Subscribe
This week’s Not Boring is brought to you by … Michael Bolton
(Okay, not actually Michael Bolton. But he does star in this sponsor’s latest ad campaign, so . close enough.)
Public.com before, so you know the deal. One part investing app, one part community where you can discuss business trends and companies you believe in.
Some of you might be looking for a new brokerage these days, so you should know that Public is making the process of transferring your portfolio over ridiculously easy. They’re even covering the transfer fees from your old brokerage.
This former Microsoft engineering exec is now working to fix bugs in the U.S. political system
February 19, 2021 at 1:45 pm
Underwritten by
GeekWire’s civic coverage examines tech policy, urban development, transportation, housing, the environment, regulation, and other issues impacting the innovation economy.
Jon DeVaan, former Microsoft engineering leader and board member of Represent Us.
Jon DeVaan, a former Microsoft Windows engineering leader, knows a thing or two about addressing flaws in complex systems.
“When there was a bug or a class of bugs, you didn’t just go and fix them,” he says, describing the “systems perspective” that he and his former colleagues used. “You actually asked, how did this bug happen? What were the underlying conditions? How could we have structured the engineering process differently so that this bug wouldn’t have happened?”
Microsoft: PAC won’t donate in 2022 cycle to politicians who sought to overturn election
February 5, 2021 at 11:03 am
Microsoft President Brad Smith. (GeekWire File Photo)
Microsoft says its Political Action Committee (PAC) will suspend contributions for the 2022 election cycle to all members of Congress who voted against certifying results of the U.S. presidential election, and to all “state officials and organizations who supported such objections or suggested the election should be overturned.”
The company says it will also create a new initiative called Democracy Forward to allow employees, shareholders and others who would otherwise contribute to the PAC to instead put their money toward groups that work in the interest of preserving democracy. Microsoft also pledged to work with other businesses in the interest of strengthening democracy.
Dustup over Microsoft PAC’s contributions brings calls for company to lead political reform
January 25, 2021 at 1:14 pm
Microsoft President Brad Smith speaking at Seattle’s Town Hall in September 2019. (GeekWire File Photo / Kevin Lisota)
[Editor’s Note: Microsoft underwrites GeekWire’s independent coverage of civic issues. Read more about underwriting on GeekWire here.]
Advocates urged Microsoft to take bolder action on U.S. political reform, and to permanently stop giving money to legislators who sought to overturn the presidential election, after the leak of a partial transcript of internal comments in which Microsoft President Brad Smith spoke candidly about the company’s use of campaign contributions to build beneficial relationships with politicians.