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The Green Initiative That Quietly Died. 💔 What We Can Learn From Microsoft's "E-tree" Failure. Remember Microsoft's E-tree program? The promise was simple and beautiful: as you used Microsoft Edge or MSN Weather, you'd earn points to grow a virtual tree. Once grown, Microsoft would plant a real tree on your behalf. 🌳 It was a brilliant, low-effort way for users to contribute to reforestation. But if you check the FAQ page now, you'll see this notice: "E-tree will be retired starting on July 4th, 2025." Their official reason? "Limited user engagement." Let's be honest and call this what it is. It's a corporate R.I.P. for a great idea, and the reasoning feels like a convenient excuse. This isn't just about one program. It highlights a bigger, more cynical problem: When "Doing Good" Doesn NOT Drive "Good Numbers," Corporations Often Quit. Was engagement truly low, or did the program just not contribute enough to Microsoft's bottom line? Was it a genuine failure of users to care, or a failure of Microsoft to properly promote and integrate a feature that had a real-world cost attached? Initiatives like these are fantastic for PR. They make users feel good about using a product. But when the initial excitement fades and it comes down to a line item on a budget sheet, these "nice-to-have" social responsibility projects are often the first to go. This is a lesson for all of us. Corporate promises to help the planet are only as strong as their commitment during the next budget review. Real change requires more than JUST gamified tree-planting. It requires genuine, long-term corporate conviction, even when users aren't clicking a button every day. What do you think? Is "limited user engagement" a fair reason to stop planting trees, or is it a corporate cop-out?