Announcing Student Advantage

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Frank Chiappone is a Senior Marketing Manager for Office 365 Education. 

Office 365 Education provides students with cloud based productivity tools that help them to communicate and collaborate more efficiently, access assignments in shared workspaces, have their notes synchronized in OneNote and the ability to use familiar applications such as Word, PowerPoint and Excel anywhere, anytime and across virtually any device. With 110 million users worldwide, we're thrilled Office 365 Education is helping students to get the most out of their education while gaining valuable skills that will help them enter the future workforce.

As part of our ongoing commitment to education, today we announced Student Advantage, a new offer which will make it easy for students to use the latest and best version of Office at their education institution and at home.

Beginning December 1, 2013, education institutions worldwide that license Office 365 ProPlus or Office Professional Plus for staff and faculty can provide access to Office 365 ProPlus for students at no additional cost.  More than 35,000 institutions are automatically eligible to deliver the Student Advantage benefit to their students. 

Nearly 98 percent of students using productivity software currently use Office. Student Advantage enables students to access the familiar experience of Office in an always up-to-date cloud service.

At Microsoft, we believe technology can play an important role in preparing students for future success and being proficient with Microsoft Office is an important part of that.   

New research from IDC shows the nation's top jobs require well-rounded skillsets. While a number of positions require technical skills, even more require knowledge and cognitive skills gained from use of personal productivity applications and services.

IDC found proficiency with Microsoft Office ranks high at number three of the top 20 in-demand skills highly valued by employers. Specifically, PowerPoint and Word ranked 11th and 13th. Results found Office was the most frequently required software skill, explicitly required in 15 percent of top jobs - 5x that of competitive technologies.

As more and more students begin using Office 365, we've been incredibly fortunate to hear some of their stories firsthand.  When asked about his experience using Office 365, Auburn University MBA student, Mark Stevenson noted:

Office 365 plays a fundamental role in my college career. Outlook helps me combine personal and school calendars, email, and contacts in one place. Word, PowerPoint, and Excel are essential tools for homework. With a growing emphasis on teamwork in college, SkyDrive helps me share documents with fellow students and collaborate in new ways online with Office Web Apps. But my favorite part of Office 365 is OneNote. I have completely replaced pen and paper with OneNote and my Windows 8 tablet for note taking and project planning in all of my courses. It's easy and convenient, and my classmates think it's pretty cool!

To learn more about today's news and study findings, please read the press release.

--Frank Chiappone

View the original article here

Announcing the 2012 ADAA Judges!

We’ve had the privilege of working with the best of the best when it comes to judging entries to the Adobe Design Achievement Awards (ADAA). Our judging panel for 2012 is no exception!

The ADAA program partnered with Icograda (International Council of Graphic Design Associations) to identify design luminaries from all around the globe and invited them to lend their expertise to the ADAA judging panel.

ADAA judges for 2012 include:

Daniel Biasatti, Design Director, Martha Stewart Living OmnimediaGregoire Cliquet, Professor and Department Head of Experimental Applied Researches in interaction Design (READi), L’Ecole de design Nantes AtlantiqueNancy Juliber, Strategic Creative Media Marketing ExecutiveMikael Kanfi, Partner and Chief Product Officer, Twist ImageRichard Loveless, President, Global Connections: Art and Technology Consulting Services; Visiting Professor, Nanyang Technological University, SingaporeSusan Metros, Professor of Visual Design, The University of Southern CaliforniaTetsuya Mizuguchi, Game Design, Interactive Media, Synesthesia, Q EntertainmentRavi Naidoo, Founder and Managing Director, Interactive Africa / Design IndabaHephzibah Pathak, President, Ogilvy & Mather Advertising Mumbai, IndiaFernanda Saboia, Creative Director, Tatil DesignTina Shaw, Video Production Manager / Creative Director, NBCUniversal Digital Entertainment and Liquid Filmworks

ADAA 2012 judges’ biographies can be viewed at:  www.adobeawards.com/us/about/judges/.

This summer, our esteemed judges will review thousands of innovative award submissions by students and faculty from higher education institutions around the world. Work will be judged across 13 student media categories and 3 faculty categories, and three finalists and honorable mention recipients will be named in each category. Judges will ultimately select one winner in each category. Winners will be announced at the ADAA Awards Ceremony at Adobe MAX in Los Angeles, this October.

Tina Shaw, one of this year’s judges, shared with me how energizing it is for her to join design peers from around the world and be inspired by the work of future creative leaders in traditional and experimental media.  She added, “I take great honor in supporting the students and educators that rise to the challenges of their projects with remarkable/innovative/keen visual solutions.”

The ADAA is accepting entries until 5:00pm Pacific Time on June 22, 2012. Participants may enter each category three times.  Recent student graduates are also eligible if their entry was created after May 1, 2011, and they were a student at that time. Finalists and winners will receive Adobe software and travel to Adobe MAX. In addition, winners in each category will receive $3000US cash. For more information on Adobe Design Achievement Awards and the various categories visit: http://www.adobeawards.com/us/. Stay informed and inspired by fellow designers by connecting to our ADAA Facebook and Twitter channels.

View the original article here

Announcing Office 365 for Government: A US Government Community Cloud

AppId is over the quota
AppId is over the quota

Today, I'm pleased to announce some great news for government customers in the United States.

First, we're introducing Office 365 for Government.  Office 365 for Government is a new multi-tenant service that stores US government data in a segregated community cloud. Like other Office 365 offerings, it includes productivity and collaboration services including Exchange Online, Lync Online, SharePoint Online, and Office Professional Plus.  Customers can contact their Microsoft representative for details and to explore the service.

We also know that security and privacy play a big role in any decision to move to the cloud.  Today, Office 365 supports the most rigorous global and regional standards such as ISO 27001, SAS70 Type II, EU Safe Harbor, EU Model Clauses, the US Health Insurance Portability and Accountability Act (HIPAA), the US Family Educational Rights and Privacy Act (FERPA), and the US Federal Information Security Management Act (FISMA).  To meet evolving needs, we also plan to support IPv6 in Office 365 for Government by September of this year, and we're taking steps to soon support Criminal Justice Information Security (CJIS) policies. 

We look forward to working with our government customers on these initiatives in the coming months.

Kirk Koenigsbauer 

Corporate Vice President

Microsoft Office Division

View the original article here

Announcing the Windows 8 Editions

Today I would like to share information with you on the editions that will be available for "Windows 8" when it is released to market. We have talked about Windows 8 as Windows reimagined, from the chipset to the user experience. This also applies to the editions available – we have worked to make it easier for customers to know what edition will work best for them when they purchase a new Windows 8 PC or upgrade their existing PC.

Windows 8 has the flexibility you need - whether you’re on an x86/64 or a WOA PC. You can use a touch screen or a keyboard and mouse – and switch anytime. It’s beautiful, fast, and fluid design is perfect for a wide range of hardware. And you’ll love browsing through the Windows Store and downloading all the apps you want. And those apps can work together too so you can share photos, maps, contacts, links and whatever else you want faster and easier. All editions of Windows 8 offer a no-compromise experience.

First, Windows 8 is the official product name for the next x86/64 editions of Windows.

For PCs and tablets powered by x86 processors (both 32 and 64 bit), we will have two editions: Windows 8 and Windows 8 Pro. For many consumers, Windows 8 will be the right choice. It will include all the features above plus an updated Windows Explorer, Task Manager, better multi-monitor support and the ability to switch languages on the fly (more details on this feature can be found in this blog post),which was previously only available in Enterprise/Ultimate editions of Windows. For China and a small set of select emerging markets, we will offer a local language-only edition of Windows 8.

Windows 8 Pro is designed to help tech enthusiasts and business/technical professionals obtain a broader set of Windows 8 technologies. It includes all the features in Windows 8 plus features for encryption, virtualization, PC management and domain connectivity. Windows Media Center will be available as an economical “media pack” add-on to Windows 8 Pro. If you are an enthusiast or you want to use your PC in a business environment, you will want Windows 8 Pro.

Windows RT is the newest member of the Windows family – also known as Windows on ARM or WOA, as we’ve referred to it previously. This single edition will only be available pre-installed on PCs and tablets powered by ARM processors and will help enable new thin and lightweight form factors with impressive battery life. Windows RT will include touch-optimized desktop versions of the new Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, and OneNote. For new apps, the focus for Windows RT is development on the new Windows runtime, or WinRT, which we unveiled in September and forms the foundation of a new generation of cloud-enabled, touch-enabled, web-connected apps of all kinds.  For more details on WOA, we suggest reading this blog post which shares more detail on how we have been building Windows 8 to run on the ARM architecture.

The below chart breaks down key features by edition (this list should not be considered an exhaustive list of features):

Upgrades from Windows 7 Starter, Home Basic, Home Premium

Upgrades from Windows 7 Professional, Ultimate

Start screen, Semantic Zoom, Live Tiles

Apps (Mail, Calendar, People, Messaging, Photos, SkyDrive, Reader, Music, Video)

Microsoft Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote)

Installation of x86/64 and desktop software

Switch languages on the fly (Language Packs)

Better multiple monitor support

In the coming months, we plan to share much more information about Windows 8, including details on pricing and limited-time programs and promotions that we will make available to customers. Today, you can check out a preview of Windows 8 for yourself (if you haven’t already done so!).

NOTE: As with previous versions of Windows, we will also have an edition of Windows 8 specifically for those enterprise customers with Software Assurance agreements. Windows 8 Enterprise includes all the features of Windows 8 Pro plus features for IT organization that enable PC management and deployment, advanced security, virtualization, new mobility scenarios, and much more. 

View the original article here

Announcing the Explorer Touch Mouse

Today, Microsoft Hardware has announced the Explorer Touch Mouse. With the Explorer Touch Mouse, the folks at Microsoft Hardware have expanded on the touch strip technology seen on the Arc Touch Mouse by providing vertical and horizontal navigation, allowing you to swipe your mouse in any direction. They also added the ability to change the speed of scrolling from slow, to medium and then “hyperfast” for speeding through lengthy documents. And you can feel and hear how quickly you are scrolling via the haptic technology built in to the mouse. It also uses BlueTrack Technology so it can be used on a variety of surfaces beyond just your desk.

Oh and one other thing: the Explorer Touch Mouse is Microsoft’s first mouse to offer up to 18 months of battery life. How cool is that?

 

The Explorer Touch Mouse will be available in September for $49.95. But stay tuned, I’ll be talking more about this mouse in a few weeks.

View the original article here

Announcing Availability of Windows 7 and Windows Server 2008 R2 SP1

Brandon:

This article gives a good explanation of how to enable additional options for Disk Cleanup:

social.answers.microsoft.com/.../ed58c580-278b-48f7-949f-5f42be3c8f6e

HOWEVER - the Remove System Files option is not one of them  I followed the articles instructions and enabled just about everything but the size of my WINSXS folder did not change.  

There are several other articles that talk about the Remove System Files option, but for the life of me I can't find a way to make this option visible. (My system is WIn7-64 Home Premium.)  I'd really like to know hot to do this this since the size of WINSXS is a major issue for everyone who uses an SSD boot drive.

Thanks for whatever help you can provide on this.

PS: adding an SSD boot drive was the single biggest performance booster I've ever done.  I highly recommend making that upgrade for anyone who wants noticeably better overall system response time.

View the original article here