SAN FRANCISCO — June 26, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the immediate availability of the Windows 8.1 Preview, the next update of the Windows operating system, at the company’s developer-focused Build conference. As part of the conference’s keynote speech, the company outlined the reach, design and economic opportunities for developers to build differentiated, touch-based apps for the Windows platform, including new developer tools and increased support. Company executives also highlighted new top apps coming to Windows, including Facebook, Flipboard and NFL — clear evidence of the steady app momentum for Windows, which is experiencing the fastest growth across any platform.

Microsoft CEO Steve Ballmer was joined on stage by Julie Larson-Green, corporate vice president of Windows, and other company executives to demo the Windows 8.1 Preview, focusing on key areas of personalization, search powered by Bing, increased functionality for businesses, new in-the-box apps and more.

“With Windows 8 we built a new Windows, reimagined from the chipset to the experience. It was an ambitious vision, and with Windows 8.1 we refine it,” Larson-Green said. “Windows 8.1 will support the widest range of tablets and PCs and demonstrates how responsive we can be for customers. The preview we are releasing today is an important step for partners around the world that are building the next generation of Windows devices and apps.”

Antoine Leblond, corporate vice president of Windows Program Management, also took the stage to outline how Windows 8.1 provides additional opportunity for developers to design, build and market their Windows Store apps. He reinforced the best-in-class economics — developers keep 80 percent of the revenue for the lifetime of the app once it crosses the $25,000 revenue threshold. He also highlighted new updates, including the following:

• Redesigned Windows Store. The Windows Store has been completely redesigned in Windows 8.1 to reach engaged customers and connect them more effectively and quickly to the apps they want. This includes increased merchandising opportunities for apps and better discoverability based on an individual’s preferences, as well as new search controls from Bing in the user interface. App listings have a new layout with refined navigation and more related content.

• More monetization opportunities. Windows 8.1 delivers new opportunities for developers to build and monetize apps and engage users. Leblond introduced Windows Store gift cards, an easy way for consumers to purchase apps, books, games and content. Customers will be able to load their Microsoft Account with stored value in their local currency and make purchases online from the Windows Store. For developers in China, the Windows Store will support Alipay, meaning local developers will have new options to generate additional revenue.

• Leading experiences. Windows 8.1 offers developers a canvas to present and develop compelling app designs. Windows 8.1 apps can work together to share data, share the screen and deliver richer customer experiences across a range of devices, including new 8-inch-and-below form factors.

Beyond Windows 8.1, Microsoft showcased how developers can take advantage of tools and resources across the company to build differentiated experiences for their customers across Microsoft devices and services, including the following:

• Bing as a platform. The new Bing platform builds upon the large investments Microsoft has made in the core technologies behind Bing.com to be embedded as intelligent services into Microsoft devices, Microsoft services and third-party apps that people use every day. In addition to providing the Search experience in Windows 8.1, Windows Phone, Xbox 360 and Microsoft Office, Bing Developer Services are now available that enable third-party developers to leverage Bing technology to create amazing experiences in their own services and Windows and Windows Phone applications. More information is available here.

• Releases of Visual Studio 2013 Preview and .NET 4.5.1 Preview. Timed to the next wave of Windows, Visual Studio 2013 offers the ideal toolset for building rich modern applications that run on Windows 8.1. With a range of new features, Visual Studio 2013 makes it easier and faster for developers to create applications and services using modern lifecycle practices that span mobile devices and the cloud. Microsoft also announced a preview of .NET 4.5.1, enabling developers to build next-generation applications for devices and services while innovating their existing core business applications. Visual Studio 2013 and .NET 4.5.1 previews are now available for download here. More on Visual Studio can be found here.

• Windows Phone developer opportunity. Microsoft today announced that shipments of Windows Phone grew six times faster than the rest of the smartphone market over the past year. Sprint also announced plans to add Windows Phone 8 to its 4G LTE network this summer with the HTC® 8XT and the Samsung ATIV S Neo™. With the release of Windows Phone 8, customers are now downloading more than 200 million apps per month and generating more than twice the daily app revenue. To help give developers the best return on their investments, the next release of Windows Phone will be designed to run the same apps that developers are building today and support the same familiar tools and skills. For a limited time, developers can register with Windows Phone Dev Center for only $19.

Courtesy of Microsoft and Intel Corp., attendees at Build received the first 8-inch Windows-based tablet, the Intel® AtomTM Z2760 processor-based Acer Iconia W3 and a Microsoft Surface Pro, with all the horsepower of the third-generation Intel® Core™ processor in a sleek tablet form factor. With new levels of  performance, battery life and versatile form factors enabled by Windows 8.1 and Intel Architecture, these devices offer developers the chance to quickly get started building Windows 8.1 apps that will scale across form factors of all sizes. Among other giveaways, attendees received 100 GB of extra SkyDrive storage for one year, making it easy to store and access their files from anywhere.

The Windows 8.1 Preview is available for download beginning today. More information is available at http://www.preview.windows.com.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

The information contained in this press release relates to a pre-release software product that may be substantially modified before its first commercial release. Accordingly, the information may not accurately describe or reflect the software product when first commercially released. The press release is provided for informational purposes only, and Microsoft makes no warranties, express or implied, with respect to the press release or the information contained in it.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — June 25, 2013 — CineTrailer, a pan-European app developed by DDM, an Italian digital media agency, has migrated its back-end technology to Windows Azure from Amazon Web Services (AWS) to help users choose and view movies via the Web, mobile devices or connected TVs. The company has also built its app for optimization on Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8. Since the migration to Windows Azure in 2012, the CineTrailer app has been downloaded more than 2.5 million times, and is available in 11 countries and in nine languages throughout Europe.

“Transitioning to Windows Azure has allowed us to change, evolve and scale rapidly to meet our customers’ needs,” said Marco Dufour, chief executive officer at DDM and head of development at CineTrailer. “It costs roughly half of what we were previously paying, and we don’t have the costs associated with preparing and maintaining a dedicated database server. With Windows Azure all we need is a few lines of code and we can deploy our app in a fully scalable environment.”

The CineTrailer application enables users to watch a movie trailer and then find the nearest theater at which movie is playing via GPS. Users can also bookmark their favorite theaters and put a calendar alert to be reminded of the moment a desired movie is available for viewing.

“Windows Phone was the original environment in which CineTrailer was born and we’re particularly enthusiastic about it,” said Camillo Morganti, chairman of the board of DDM. “Working with the platform turned out to be an easy task, thanks to the myriad of fantastic features the mobile OS offers, like Live Tiles and swipe interfaces. Windows 8, too, has been a natural evolution and a great way for us to seamlessly engage users on two environments at the same time: tablets and PCs.”

CineTrailer also decided to build its app for Windows 8 and Windows Phone because employees were already familiar with other Microsoft platforms before the deployment, having started their experience as professionals with Visual Studio, ASP and SQL Server and subsequently having transitioned to the .NET platform. This meant less time was needed for developers to get comfortable with the platforms and an increased focus could be placed on getting the product to market.

“We are experiencing good results from our Windows 8 and Windows Phone apps,” Dufour said. “We see Windows 8 as a market changer and we think that developers have just started to see its tremendous potential. As developers ourselves, we’ve been immersed in visual environments for 15 years, but found the Microsoft platforms truly support both developers and editors. Windows Azure, Windows 8 and Windows Phone are natural fits for us, and are helping us change the way in which users consume and enjoy content.”

More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available on the Microsoft Customer Spotlight newsroom.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — June 25, 2013 — Today marks one year since Microsoft Corp. announced its acquisition of Yammer, the leading provider of enterprise social networks. Since the acquisition, Microsoft’s enterprise social momentum has accelerated in all areas, including new users, paid customers, user engagement, innovation, and the ecosystem of partners selling and connecting to the Yammer platform.

Twelve-month growth highlights include the following:

• Registered users have grown by more than 55 percent to nearly 8 million.

• Paid networks increased more than 200 percent year over year.

• Yammer user activity (i.e., messages, groups and files) has approximately doubled year over year.

“The continued boom in Yammer’s growth is validation that enterprise social represents an important trend in the way people want to share, learn and connect at work, similar to how they’re interacting in their personal lives,” said David Sacks, Yammer co-founder and corporate vice president, Microsoft Office Division. “During the past year, Yammer has unlocked new opportunities to share the benefits of enterprise social through Microsoft’s global sales organization and product ties with key communication, collaboration and cloud productivity offerings, such as Microsoft Office 365 and Microsoft Dynamics CRM. We see nothing but continued potential in enterprise social as a cornerstone of the future of work.”

For more information about Sacks’ perspective on the successes of the past year, see his post today on the Official Microsoft blog.

Customers and partners bet on Yammer

Yammer Infographic June 24, 2013

Downloads: Web | Print

As more organizations embrace the benefits of enterprise social solutions, customers such as Manhattan Associates are seeing tangible return in areas like greater cross-functional collaboration and communication, improved customer response times, and increased business agility. Other customers, such as Electronic Arts, which is just getting started with Yammer, are excited for the opportunity to create more cross-functional collaboration and open communication within their organizations.

“Enterprise social has transformed how we work, breaking down organizational siloes, making us more open and collaborative, and enabling us to be more responsive to our customers,” said Dawn Gartin, collaboration manager, Manhattan Associates Inc. “As both a Microsoft SharePoint and Yammer customer, we’re excited about Microsoft’s vision and how the products are coming together to offer one uniform social experience, which, for us, is the key to getting work done.”

Partners also continue to invest in Yammer, connecting third-party applications to Yammer that add line-of-business capabilities and additional value for organizations using Yammer. The number of partners in Yammer’s App Directory has nearly doubled since its launch in October 2012, and the number of developers building on Yammer has increased more than 70 percent.

Yammer today announced integration with online influence tool Klout, which allows Yammer users to publish their public Klout scores and expertise directly on their Yammer profiles. In addition, Yammer administrators can elect to turn on a deeper integration with Klout to produce internal, Yammer-specific Klout scores for employees based on their activity within a company’s Yammer network.

More information on the growth of the Yammer partner ecosystem is available on today’s Yammer blog post.

Advancing the e nterprise s ocial r oad map

During the past year, Yammer has continued to make significant product updates, including message translation capabilities, improvements to file collaboration, platform updates such as embeddable feeds and the "Like" and "Follow" buttons, and continued development on various mobile platforms.

Yammer also continues to deliver on its outlined strategy to provide a social layer across Microsoft Office and third-party applications. Microsoft believes that, in order for social to become truly mainstream in the workplace, it needs to be a part of the applications people use every day. To deliver on that vision and past roadmap announcements, Microsoft is delivering interoperability with Office 365 with these newly released features:

• Yammer newsfeed for SharePoint Online and Office 365. Yammer now works even more deeply and seamlessly with Office 365 and SharePoint Online, allowing customers to replace the SharePoint newsfeed with Yammer.

• New Yammer application in Office Store. Available by the end of June in the Office Store, the Yammer application will allow customers to easily embed Yammer group feeds into SharePoint sites, creating a connection between groups and sites to deliver the best of Yammer and SharePoint.

In the coming months, Microsoft will release a number of Yammer, SharePoint and Office 365 updates to deepen connections between the services and enable greater collaboration. Although Microsoft has already talked about delivering an improved user experience and single sign-on, new planned features include advancements in search and email:

• Improved email interoperability. New capabilities will make it easier for users to follow and participate in conversations across Yammer and email.

• Expanded Yammer messaging and external communication. Expanded functionality helps meet everyday communications requirements, such as seamless external communication and enhancing real-time directed messaging.

• SharePoint search integration. Integrated search makes it easier to find information across Yammer and SharePoint quickly.

Microsoft will use its rapid development approach to provide ongoing enhancements to create connected experiences across Office 365 that combine social, collaboration, email, instant messaging, voice, video and line-of-business applications in innovative new ways. More details on the Office 365 and Yammer integration road map are provided in a blog post today from Jared Spataro.

About Yammer

Yammer (www.yammer.com) is a best-in-class Enterprise Social Network used by more than 200,000 organizations worldwide — including approximately 85 percent of the Fortune 500 — to foster team collaboration, empower employees, drive business agility and promote organizational connectedness. Yammer’s freemium business model lets customers see the value of Yammer before upgrading to the premium offering. Founded in 2008, Yammer is now part of the Microsoft Office Division.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

MADRID — June 25, 2013 — TechEd Europe 2013, Microsoft Corp.’s premier event for IT professionals and enterprise developers in Europe, kicked off today with Server & Tools Corporate Vice President Brad Anderson delivering a keynote speech to more than 4,800 attendees. Anderson announced the availability of preview software for Windows Server 2012 R2, System Center 2012 R2 and SQL Server 2014, part of the next wave of enterprise IT solutions that will enable businesses to break down boundaries across customer datacenters, service provider datacenters and the public cloud. Customers can download the preview software here.

Businesses around the world are betting on Microsoft solutions to embrace cloud computing, empower employees and create new applications. Enterprise customers Telefónica, DDM and ARM Holdings use Microsoft devices and services to reduce costs, improve mobility and fuel business growth.

Telefónica drives global business with hybrid cloud

Telefónica, a leading communications provider with operations in more than 24 countries, chose Microsoft as an alternate solution to VMware to run the virtual platform of its tier 4 datacenter, completed earlier this year in Madrid. Beginning in July 2013, Telefónica will begin deployment of Windows Server Hyper-V and SQL Server, with the goal to virtualize more than 80 percent of its IT services and design for expansion into the Windows Azure platform as needed. This deployment will improve Telefónica’s business agility and productivity while cutting down IT management and hardware costs.

Currently, it can take up to 20 weeks to get equipment into Telefónica’s on-premises datacenters. Adrian Steel, European production hub lead and global director at Telefónica, believes betting on Microsoft’s Cloud OS solution will improve the company’s competitiveness by reducing this timeframe to just one week, helping Telefónica remain a leader in the global market.

“We have a strong global reach, and our world-class datacenter in Spain has virtually no downtime, keeping us robust and credible,” Steel said. “A global company needs to work quickly, and virtual machines allow us to get services to market faster.”

The company believes it can attain up to 15 percent cost savings in the next three to five years through this deployment while supporting the company’s security and privacy requirements.

CineTrailer creates consistent user experience across platforms

When DDM, an Italian digital media agency, developed its movie-viewing application CineTrailer, it needed to use a platform that matched its corporate philosophy: “Be anywhere, any time, on any screen.” DDM’s customers expect to consume content through different device platforms, and the agency’s previous solution, Amazon Web Services (AWS), wasn’t as easily scalable to ensure all the services across PCs, mobile devices and connected TVs could be maintained, given the fast growth rate of the application.

Switching to Windows Azure saved DDM nearly half the cost it was previously paying for AWS and provided the company with flexibility to invest in an easy-to-scale solution, instead of one that had to be manually re-configured any time needs changed. Windows Azure allowed the development team to save time when setting things up, thus letting them focus more on creating a well-organized and visually appealing app, optimized for Windows 8 and Windows Phone 8.

“We have just started understanding the full potential of the Windows 8 platform, as it grants developers an unprecedented freedom,” said Camillo Morganti, partner at DDM. “The future is getting what you want, when you want it, in any given situation, so the freedom Windows Azure provides is intoxicating for both developers and users.”

The seamless developer experience that Microsoft delivers across PCs, tablets and smartphones allows DDM to creatively build versions of the app for other device platforms, including Android and iOS. This cross-platform mentality provides a consistent experience for global users that transcends devices and encourages content consumption, which has led to the app’s success. It is available in 11 countries and in nine languages throughout Europe.

ARM Holdings powers its mobile workforce

Employees of ARM Holdings, a leading provider of semiconductor IP based in Cambridge, England, often find themselves on the road, working with more than 1,000 partners worldwide. The team wanted a mobile computing experience that allowed them to be more productive outside the company’s 28 international offices. ARM Holdings decided that including Surface RT with Windows RT, which utilizes an ARM-based chip, would enhance efficiency and mobility. The ARM team already uses Microsoft Office for a variety of productivity solutions.

ARM has now deployed Surface RT devices to IT employees within IT, quality assurance, marketing and sales, allowing them to work more efficiently with features such as live tiles and notifications while being virtually always on and always connected.

More news from TechEd can be found at http://www.microsoft.com/en-us/news/events/teched. A video of Anderson’s keynote speech can be found here, and his related blog post is available on the Official Microsoft Blog.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. , and REDWOOD CITY, Calif. — June 24, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. and Oracle Corp. today announced a partnership that will enable customers to run Oracle software on Windows Server Hyper-V and in Windows Azure. Customers will be able to deploy Oracle software — including Java, Oracle Database and Oracle WebLogic Server — on Windows Server Hyper-V or in Windows Azure and receive full support from Oracle. Terms of the deal were not disclosed.

As part of this partnership, Oracle will certify and support Oracle software — including Java, Oracle Database and Oracle WebLogic Server — on Windows Server Hyper-V and in Windows Azure. Microsoft will also offer Java, Oracle Database and Oracle WebLogic Server to Windows Azure customers, and Oracle will make Oracle Linux available to Windows Azure customers.

Java developers, IT professionals and businesses will benefit from the flexibility to deploy fully supported Oracle software to Windows Server Hyper-V and Windows Azure.

“Microsoft is deeply committed to giving businesses what they need, and clearly that is the ability to run enterprise workloads in private clouds, public clouds and, increasingly, across both,” said Steve Ballmer, chief executive officer of Microsoft. “Now our customers will be able to take advantage of the flexibility our unique hybrid cloud solutions offer for their Oracle applications, middleware and databases, just like they have been able to do on Windows Server for years.”

“Our customers’ IT environments are changing rapidly to meet the dynamic nature of the world today,” said Oracle President Mark Hurd. “At Oracle, we are committed to providing greater choice and flexibility to customers by providing multiple deployment options for our software, including on-premises, as well as public, private, and hybrid clouds. This collaboration with Microsoft extends our partnership and is important for the benefit of our customers.”

Additional information about support and the licensing mobility changes that went into effect today is available on Oracle’s blog at https://blogs.oracle.com/cloud/entry/oracle_and_microsoft_join_forces.

About Oracle

Oracle engineers hardware and software to work together in the cloud and in your data center. For more information about Oracle (NASDAQ:ORCL), visit www.oracle.com.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Oracle and Java are registered trademarks of Oracle and/or its affiliates. Other names may be trademarks of their respective owners.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — June 24, 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced the release of third-party qualification guidelines for Microsoft’s cloud solutions Windows Azure and Microsoft Office 365, demonstrating that these platforms can address the necessary regulatory requirements for life sciences organizations to maintain compliance in the cloud. Microsoft is the only major combined infrastructure as a service (IaaS), platform as a service (PaaS) and software as a service (SaaS) public cloud provider to undergo an independent review of system documentation against GxP qualification requirements, the set of production and testing practices in FDA-regulated industries, demonstrating documentation against applicable regulations.

“As life sciences organizations move information to the cloud, they are required to leverage qualified cloud solutions that address necessary regulatory requirements,” said Andrea McGonigle, managing director, Life Sciences at Microsoft. “Microsoft is already a trusted data steward for healthcare organizations, and the ability to achieve GxP qualification for Windows Azure and Office 365 is a testament to our commitment to providing life sciences organizations with secured infrastructure and platforms in the cloud.”

Montrium, an organization specializing in quality assurance, regulatory GxP compliance and SaaS document collaboration and quality management solutions for the life sciences industry, conducted the qualification review of Microsoft’s Windows Azure and Office 365 solutions.

“When evaluating public, off-premises, cloud solutions, life sciences organizations must assess cloud service providers controls that help ensure confidentiality, integrity and availability of customer data,” said Paul Fenton, president and CEO, Montrium. “Microsoft has clearly demonstrated that these solutions have the necessary controls to provide a GxP-qualified cloud service. This coupled with the guidelines that Montrium has produced will enable life sciences organizations to deploy validated solutions on top of the Microsoft cloud platforms for processes like Regulated Document Management and Clinical Trials Management.”

Microsoft’s approach to providing qualified cloud platforms for life sciences organizations is to provide system documentation and certifications across a wide range of standards, such as ISO27001, SSAE16 SOC 1 and 2, HIPAA/HITECH and others, to enable customers and partners to qualify Microsoft’s cloud platforms. This qualification helps the customers or partners build and deploy validated applications that meet regulatory requirements, including FDA 21 CFR Part 11 Electronic Records, Electronic Signatures (21 CFR Part 11) and Eudralex Volume 4 - Annex 11 Computerised Systems (Annex 11).

More information on how Microsoft’s cloud solutions support qualified GxP applications is available via health@microsoft.com. More information about how organizations are turning to Microsoft technology is available in the Microsoft Customer Spotlight newsroom.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors: For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.

REDMOND, Wash. — June 24 , 2013 — Microsoft Corp. today announced a new collection of 34 K–12 schools and school districts that have signed on to use Windows 8 to inspire collaboration and creativity in the classroom, improve student learning outcomes, and better prepare students for the workforce ahead.

Microsoft’s rapidly growing community of Windows education adopters now includes the following: Albemarle County Schools (Virginia), Auburn City Schools (Alabama), Clear Creek Independent School District (Texas), Laredo Independent School District (Texas), Leon County Schools (Florida), Palmer Trinity School (Florida), San Diego Unified School District (California), Somers Central School District (New York), Springfield Public Schools (Massachusetts), and Walnut Valley Unified School District (Calif.), as well as 24 school districts within Maine’s Department of Education, including Scarborough School District, Brewer School Department, Maine School District #74, and Maine School District #60.

These schools and districts join some of the nation’s largest school districts, which also recently announced Windows 8 deployments, including Atlanta Public Schools (Georgia), Fresno Unified School District (California) and San Antonio Independent School District (Texas).

“Educators who experience the difference of a touch tablet running Windows 8 realize that with one device, they can have both a touch tablet and a laptop with no compromises,” said Margo Day, vice president of U.S. Education, Microsoft. “Teachers using Windows 8 tell us they are seeing a renewed excitement to learn among their students and that Windows and Office are the tools they need to prepare students to succeed in college and career.”

With its cloud foundation, Windows 8 lends a flexible, anywhere-anytime learning experience across a range of devices. Designed to help students and teachers consume and create content, Windows 8 devices are ready for the modern Office applications that customers choose to install, applications like Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook, and OneNote. Windows RT devices come with Office Home and Student 2013 RT, which includes Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote, already installed. Microsoft also recently announced that the Windows 8.1 update for Windows RT devices, due later this year, will include Outlook 2013 RT as well. Windows 8 devices drive further efficiency as they can connect to 450 million peripherals that schools already own, including printers, projectors and assistive technology.

“What I love about Windows 8 is that it flattens the learning environment for an improved, more interactive classroom dialogue between teachers and students,” said Chris White, director of technology at Somers Central School District in New York, which is deploying Dell Latitude 10 tablets with Windows 8 and Office 365 for Education for 1,675 teachers and students in grades 6–12.

“As just consumption devices, iPads could only take us so far — they weren’t great in front of the classroom,” White said. “Teaching with Windows 8 devices is more personalized and project-based to better reflect the college- and career-ready skills that will be required of students once they graduate.”

Microsoft extends special Windows 8 device offers to educators

Microsoft is also distributing free Surface RT tablets to the schools of up to 10,000 educators attending the ISTE 2013 Conference this week. As part of its Windows in the Classroom Surface Experience Project teachers will be able to see how Windows 8 can help create engaging teaching and learning opportunities for their students.

In addition, Microsoft is pleased to offer special pricing directly to schools and universities in 26 markets around the globe, including the U.S., for a limited time. Between June 17, 2013, and Aug. 31, 2013, K–12 and higher education institutions can purchase any amount of Surface RT (32 GB) devices for $199, with the Touch Cover for $249 and with the Type Cover for $289 while supplies last.

Representatives of interested schools and universities can contact their Microsoft Education Account Representative or visit their local Microsoft Store to place an order. More information on the program and on downloading an order form can be found at the Microsoft in Education blog.

Buck Lake Elementary School in Tallahassee, Fla., is piloting Surface Pro tablets for its pre-K–5 teachers, and they plan to take advantage of Microsoft’s special offer and will purchase Surface RT tablets for their students later this year.

“Our teachers need more versatile instructional technology that engages students and helps simplify their own everyday managerial tasks, and the Windows 8 Surface Pro tablets do just that,” said Eydie Tricquet, principal at Buck Lake Elementary School in Tallahassee, Fla.

About Microsoft in Education

At Microsoft, we are deeply committed to working with governments, communities, schools and educators to use the power of information technology to deliver technology, services and programs that provide anytime, anywhere learning for all. For more information: http://www.microsoft.com/education.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq “MSFT”) is the worldwide leader in software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realize their full potential.

Note to editors : For more information, news and perspectives from Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft News Center at http://www.microsoft.com/news. Web links, telephone numbers and titles were correct at time of publication, but may have changed. For additional assistance, journalists and analysts may contact Microsoft’s Rapid Response Team or other appropriate contacts listed at http://www.microsoft.com/news/contactpr.mspx.