Microsoft launches four-year, $80 Office 365 University subscription for students

DNP Microsoft launches $80 Office 365 University fouryear subscription for highereducation students

Microsoft's given Xbox love to PC-buying students recently, and it's just announced that it'll carry on that tradition with Office 365 University, by offering a special four-year, $80 subscription to higher-education students. For that sum, you'll get four years of Word, PowerPoint, Excel, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access if you're seeking a sheepskin scroll, which Redmond says works out to $1.67 per month. Also included are 60 Skype world minutes per month and 27GB of Premium SkyDrive storage, along with free upgrades and the ability to install on two separate computers, to boot. That should take some of the sting out of those scholarly expenses if you need a copy, so check the source to see how to grab it.

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Microsoft launches four-year, $80 Office 365 University subscription for students originally appeared on Engadget on Fri, 19 Oct 2012 10:01:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Next Web  |  sourceMicrosoft Office Blog  | Email this | Comments

Microsoft Office 2013 releases to manufacturing, reaches most of us early next year

Office 2013 OneNote

Break out the party streamers and balloons -- if only in an orderly fashion, because this is the day Office 2013 has been released to manufacturing. The completion swings Microsoft's attention towards a rollout staggered over the next few months. Wider availability will have to wait until the first quarter of 2013 -- such synchronicity with your branding, Microsoft -- but companies who've sprung for volume licensing will get access as early as mid-November to December 1st, depending on whether or not they're embracing a Software Assurance plan. In the meantime, Microsoft is offering an easy path for anxious workers by promising a free copy of Office 2013 to everyone who buys Office 2010 from October 19th onwards. The upgraded software might not be cheap for those who aren't already buying a Windows RT tablet, but it's likely to be an important piece of the puzzle for anyone hunting down a touchscreen Windows 8 PC.

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Microsoft Office 2013 releases to manufacturing, reaches most of us early next year originally appeared on Engadget on Thu, 11 Oct 2012 21:21:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Czech Microsoft manager claims Office 2013 will reach Android and iOS, rest of company is less certain (update: more direct denial)

Microsoft Office for iPad rumor

The story of Office for the iPad has been something of a rollercoaster. Depending on who you've talked to this year, the mobile app has been on, then off, then on again... if it was ever real to start with. Imagine our surprise, then, when IHNED says Microsoft Czech Republic product manager Petr Bobek "confirmed" native Android and iOS ports of Office 2013 during a press conference. The Office division higher-up reportedly outlined a strategy where the productivity suite would reach Windows for large businesses and individuals in December and February respectively, but would reach "other platforms" later on through more than just mobile-optimized web versions. It sounds promising, but we have reason for skepticism -- assuming the testimony is accurate, there's still a history of employees at Microsoft and other companies overstepping their boundaries without direct guidance from the corporate mothership. We reached out to Microsoft ourselves, and a spokesperson gave us a relatively conservative answer. While the company reiterated statements that "Office Mobile will work across Windows Phones, Android phones and iOS," it added that there was "nothing additional to announce" regarding Office's retail availability. As much of a glimmer of hope that might represent for some Android and iOS fans, it doesn't equate to a direct Office 2013 port with a release schedule.

[Image credit: The Daily]

Update: To underscore its point, Microsoft has issued a further statement that casts doubt on the very remarks in question. "The information shared by our Czech Republic subsidiary is not accurate," a spokesperson told us. "We have nothing further to share."

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Czech Microsoft manager claims Office 2013 will reach Android and iOS, rest of company is less certain (update: more direct denial) originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 10 Oct 2012 12:26:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

Permalink The Verge  |  sourceIHNED (translated)  | Email this | Comments

Microsoft announces Office 2013 and 365 pricing, nudges users towards annual subscriptions

Microsoft nudges households and small businesses towards subscriptions with Office 2013, 365 pricing

While we still don't know exactly when Microsoft will unleash Office 2013 and Office 365 upon the world, we do know how much they'll cost. While standalone versions, licensed for use on a single computer, will still be available, the new strategy makes it more affordable for many homes and business to opt for a subscription package instead. Office Home and Student 2013 (with Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote) will cost $139, while Home and Business adds Outlook for $219, and the top of the line Professional package includes all of those along with Access and Publisher for $399. Compare those to the two Office 365 packages, which promise customizations that follow their users around, expanded cloud storage, access to all of the apps and automatically receive any future updates that come out for them.

Office 365 Home Premium will cost $99 per year, with 20GB of SkyDrive storage and 60 minutes of Skype calling per month and access on five computers, along with the ability to change out the devices at any time, and use "full featured apps" temporarily on any PC. It's a single subscription for up to 5 users, and will have a 30 day free trial available. Alternatively, small businesses with 1-10 employees could opt for Office 365 Small Business Premium that also comes with all the apps, but lets each user install it on up to 5 different PCs or Macs, along with 25GB Outlook storage, an organization-wide 10GB cloud drive plus 500MB for each user, online meetings and even website hosting. That also has a free trial, but costs $149 per user, per year. If you can't wait, buying Office 2010 or Office 2011 for Mac as of October 19th entitles users to a free upgrade to Office 2013 or one year of Office 365 free.

Clearly, Microsoft would prefer it if users took advantage of the new pay-per-year offerings, but what do you think? Check out all the details from Microsoft's blog and check list linked below (or our preview) as well as a few of their examples after the break, and let us know if you'll be upgrading or switching over to an alternative like Open Office.

Continue reading Microsoft announces Office 2013 and 365 pricing, nudges users towards annual subscriptions

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Microsoft announces Office 2013 and 365 pricing, nudges users towards annual subscriptions originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 17 Sep 2012 22:47:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft reportedly starting Office 2013 upgrade program mid-October

As Microsoft ramps up for its next big Office release, the company is apparently getting ready to offer up a program to help cushion the blow for those who pick up the current version of the suite. ZDNET is reporting that Redmond will begin its Office 2013 upgrade program on October 19th, keeping with its policy for past Office and Windows releases, ensuring that those who pick up the software between that date and the end of April get the upgrade. The word comes from some anonymous sources, so there's no guarantee here -- there's also no info on whether the upgrade will be fully free or will have a small fee attached. We're still not quite sure when Office will officially be hitting the market, but the site's sources put it at around February.

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Microsoft reportedly starting Office 2013 upgrade program mid-October originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 12 Sep 2012 18:49:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft’s Office Store now open for business, productivity-boosting apps just a click away

Microsoft's Office Store now open for business

You've known it was coming, and today the doors to Microsoft's Office Store were flung wide open. In short, it's a newfangled portal that enables avid Office and SharePoint users to search for, discover and install apps. Users will need a Microsoft account and the preview version of Office, SharePoint or Exchange in order to start diving in. Naturally, Microsoft has built a pretty stout control system for administrators, and it has also crafted an internal distribution mechanism in SharePoint called the App Catalog -- a tool that "allows enterprises to build in-house apps or source them from partners and distribute them to employees within the organization." Looking to see what it's all around? Head over to the Store and click entirely too many of those "Try It" buttons.

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Microsoft's Office Store now open for business, productivity-boosting apps just a click away originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 06 Aug 2012 13:23:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft responds to critics, defends touch UI in Office 2013

Microsoft responds to critics, defends touch UI in Office 2013

If you read our preview of Office 2013, you know we liked it. A lot. But if we had one reservation it's that Office still isn't that finger-friendly, even with the addition of a touch mode that widens the spacing between onscreen objects and flattens the menus so that you don't have to tap quite as much. As if in response to critics like us (and readers too!) Microsoft has published a lengthy blog post detailing the thinking that went into the design of Office's new touch-enabled features. Which is to say, it's a more detailed recap of how the company's engineers tweaked the desktop interface for touch, and designed some standalone apps that better match the Metro experience of Windows 8. At the very least, it's a handy primer for folks who missed Steve Ballmer's keynote and haven't yet read up on radial menus or the Metro-styled OneNote MX app. Even if you have, though, it's worth a read: Microsoft offers some interesting insight into the various scenarios where it imagined each touch-enabled app being used, and what kind of posture the user is likely to have, even. Whether that's enough to prompt a change of heart is up to you, but it's interesting nonetheless to get a little more color on how it all came together.

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Microsoft responds to critics, defends touch UI in Office 2013 originally appeared on Engadget on Wed, 18 Jul 2012 15:45:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft gives a tease of Office for Windows Phone 8, talks up Office 2013 integration

Microsoft gives a tease of Office of Windows Phone 8, talks up Office 2013 integration

Microsoft may have told us a lot about Windows Phone 8 in June, but it left out much of what the Office component's update would entail. Thankfully, Partner Group program lead John Jendrezak has voluntered to let us peek under the hood, including our first real glimpse of the new Office Hub. The app's connection to Office 2013 is more than the skin deep looks you see here: Office documents will sync more seamlessly from desktop to phone, and it's implied that the reading position sync from the desktop version will extend to the mobile realm as well. Many mysteries still remain as to what's exactly different in the more pocketable version of Office. There's more about the new work suite's communion with the cloud at the source link, however, so dig in if an offline Office feels like a prison.

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Microsoft gives a tease of Office for Windows Phone 8, talks up Office 2013 integration originally appeared on Engadget on Tue, 17 Jul 2012 16:07:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 to be bundled on all Windows RT tablets

Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 to be bundled on all Windows RT tablets

The playing field in the world of Windows tablets became a bit more level today, as Microsoft has announced that Office Home and Student 2013 will be bundled for free with all Windows RT computers. Perhaps the move shouldn't come as a complete surprise, as the company had previously revealed the inclusion of Office on its own ARM-based Surface tablet. For those who'd feared that Microsoft wouldn't play fairly with its hardware partners, however, it seems that at least some of those concerns can be put aside. Naturally, everything you've come to expect in the Home and Student edition will be there, which includes Microsoft Word, Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint. If you're unsure of what to expect, be sure to check out our recent preview of the productivity suite.

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Microsoft Office Home and Student 2013 to be bundled on all Windows RT tablets originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 17:55:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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Microsoft Office 2013 preview: details, screenshots and impressions

It's been about three years since Microsoft unveiled a new version of Office, and particularly with Windows 8 just months away from dropping, the software has been well overdue for an upgrade. Today, Redmond unveiled the latest edition -- Office 2013 (aka Office 15) -- which the company will be showing in a preview stage until the final version goes on sale (hit up the source link if you want to download it for yourself).

Perhaps the biggest news isn't any single feature Microsoft's added to Word (hello, easy YouTube embeds!), but how and where you'll access your files. With this version, the company is moving to a subscription-based model wherein your Office files are tied to your Microsoft ID. Once you sign up, you can download the various desktop apps to a certain number of devices and, as with Windows 8, your settings, SkyDrive files and even the place where you left off in a document will follow you from device to device. (It's telling, we think, that files now save to the cloud by default.) As you'd expect, too, this version is also more tablet-friendly than editions past, with a touch mode that widens the spacing between onscreen objects and flattens menus. In Word and PowerPoint, you'll also find a read-only mode that turns documents into full-screen editions, whose pages you can swipe through as you would an e-book or digital magazine.

Of course, Microsoft included plenty of granular updates like PDF editing and a behind-the-scenes Presenter View in PowerPoint. Fortunately for you, curious power users, we've been spending the better part of a week testing the software on a Samsung Series 7 Slate loaded up with Windows 8. So join us past the break where we'll give you a detailed breakdown of what's new, along with screenshots and detailed first impressions.

Continue reading Microsoft Office 2013 preview: details, screenshots and impressions

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Microsoft Office 2013 preview: details, screenshots and impressions originally appeared on Engadget on Mon, 16 Jul 2012 15:00:00 EDT. Please see our terms for use of feeds.

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