Microsoft unleashes new office suite in PHL

So who says Microsoft is fast becoming a tech dinosaur, or has become obsolete because of failure to adapt to changing circumstances? The software giant on Tuesday released a new version of its Office productivity suite that taps the power of the cloud. "The new Office is a cloud service designed for the modern day users whose devices used for work and play have merged.  It provides the latest and most complete set of Office applications such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint, and Excel among others," it said. It also said its Office 365 Home Premium comes with extra capacity on SkyDrive, Microsoft’s free online cloud-based storage, and 60 minutes of free Skype minutes. Office 365 Home Premium is available via one-year subscription for P3,499. The subscription allows customers to install Office in up to 10 devices – five PCs and five tablets. Accessible anywhere Karrie Ilagan, managing director of Microsoft Philippines, said this is the "next big step in Microsoft’s transformation to devices and services." “This is Office re-imagined as a cloud service with all the full-featured Office applications people know and love, together with impressive new cloud and social benefits built for the modern day consumer,” she added. Microsoft also said it will now deliver many new features and services to the cloud, with new features and services streaming to subscribers. Meanwhile, Microsoft also announced the availability of the Office 365 cloud services for the enterprise and education in the middle of 2013. "This means that organizations are now able to take full advantage of multiple options when deciding where to deploy their productivity technologies. Whether accessing services from within their own data center or off-premise through Hosting Partners or Microsoft Office 365, organizations will see Microsoft deliver its promise of providing cloud services on the customers’ terms," it said. Also, it said this is parallel with the free social and productivity services already available to Filipinos today with email on Outlook.com, storage on SkyDrive and voice and video calls through Skype. Transforming work Tovia Va’aelua, Microsoft Office Division Lead, Microsoft Philippines, said the new Microsoft Office allows you to get things done at home, school and work through any device, anytime and anywhere. “Before, Office used to belong to your machine now it belongs to you and works across all your devices,” Va'aelua said. Meanwhile, users will have more control on how they deploy this to their companies. Microsoft Student Ambassador Gabriel Villanueva from Treston International College narrated how Office helps him with long documents and even on his thesis. “The new Office Word application has helped me a lot as both a student and a young blogger. The new Word enables me to focus on the right section of the document so that I can go to the desired chapter or outline of my thesis without navigating through all the pages. In effect, reading long documents has become an even more enjoyable and hassle-free experience with the new Office,” he said. For her part, Janice Villanueva, Microsoft Office and Windows 8 Ambassador and founder of Mommymundo.com and Mercato, said the new Office allows her to "work around my kids’ schedules so I can coordinate errands while at their school functions and still hit my deadlines at work. The new Office has transformed the way I live.” Available in 21 languages Microsoft said Office 365 Home Premium is available in 162 markets in 21 languages and includes the following: