One year ago today, Microsoft officially announced Office 365, its cloud-based productivity software suite of tools, designed in part to compete against Google Docs. Today, Microsoft announced in a press release that a version of Office 365 is now available for K-12 and college students and faculty members. It will allow students and teachers to access Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Lync Online and Office Web Apps on Office 365 for free.
Microsoft has also announced that a number of higher education schools have already signed up for the free education version of Office 365, including Dartmouth College, Cornell University and Gonzaga University. Microsoft said that in total, over 12.5 million students worldwide can now access Office 365.
Microsoft also announced that a number of major businesses have signed up to use Office 365, including Lowe’s, Hallmark Cards, Japan Airlines, Burger King and Renner. Microsoft did not offer any info on exactly how many business users Office 365 now has. However, it did say that starting today it has added 46 new countries that can access Office 365, along with 11 new languages. The company said that Office 365 is now available in 88 markets and in 32 languages.
Source: Microsoft press release