Microsoft’s Outlook from 2020; The Media Company of the Future?

A headline caught my attention the other week and as someone long a fan of the strategic moves Microsoft makes somewhat behind the spotlight, the news fired up an interest in sharing some thoughts about the company for all of our friends in Media.

“This could be Microsoft’s most important product in 2020. If it works”

That, from CNET’s Alfred Ng, should get anyone’s attention but it’s the climate of the U.S. economy, society, and pending election that makes the headline even more meaningful.

2020 is an election year in the United States and yes, that [too] is where Microsoft is working.

ElectionGuard is very early stage work by Microsoft to explore voting machines not that can’t be hacked but rather makes hacking pointless.

That notion caught my attention as in media, we’re constantly exploring the same notions particularly related to national security, privacy, and data control — in social media, online, how might we protect ourselves from inevitabilities that come along with being online?

“If you can’t stop the hack, the second-best thing is to know that you’ve been hacked,” R.C. Carter, Microsoft Director of Strategic Projects. “This is exactly what this does.”