A key to helping the victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami will be the provision of appropriate aid fast - before disease and lack of clean food and water delivers more devastation. It has to be a global initiative and will require citizens and governments alike to contribute. For the first time in a long time I am proud of the Australian government and its efforts to help with money and resources. Australia is rising to a new challenge of being a major supporter and benefactor to our Asian neighbours. Australian citizens are also rising to the challenge with record donations to major charities. More is undoubtedly needed.
It's very encouraging to see the web home pages of Amazon, Yahoo, Apple and Google contributing to raising the awareness of this humanitarian crisis and encouraging donations. I am not aware if these companies have donated any other resources but it's good to see they are doing their bit to remind global citizens of the magnitude of this crisis and showing simple ways people can help - send money to internationally recognised aid agencies.
My net surfing was not extensive but I note these companies make no mention of the crisis on their web home pages - IBM, HP, Microsoft, Oracle. A special brickbat for Sun who still have a media release on their front page which says "Rogue Wave Supports Solaris 10" - though I hasten to add that 'Rogue Wave' is an unfortunately named software company (link).
C'mon guys - what will it cost you to dedicate some space on your home page for a week? Apple are really showing the way here - apple.com, apple.com.au, apple.com/uk for example.
From the Microsoft perspective, according to the Seattle Post the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation has pledged $3 million and Microsoft is encouraging employee donations for which the company makes a matching contribution. Good work but almost as important is some space on your home page to heighten worldwide awareness of this disaster. Apart from a mention from Microsoft Geek Blogger - Robert Scoble - there doesn't seem to be any efforts from Microsoft to contribute to maintaining awareness of this disaster.
Update 31-Dec: Microsoft now have a link on their home page providing links to aid agencies. (Tipped off by a posting from Microsoft Geek Blogger - Robert Scoble ).