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Microsoft presents Office 365 Home Premium, a reinvention of the company’s flagship Office suite of productivity essentials. Office 365 Home Premium is a cloud service designed for busy households and people juggling ever-increasing work and family responsibilities. The new offering includes the latest and most complete set of Office applications; works across up to five devices, including Windows tablets, PCs and Macs; and comes with extra SkyDrive storage and Skype calling — all for US$99.99 for an annual subscription, the equivalent of US$8.34 per month.

Imagine adding more time and flexibility to ease your busy week

Jen Singer, an author, blogger and mom of two teen boys says “Between kids and career, I’m never completely at home or completely at work — and thanks to technology, that suits me just fine. With Office 365 Home Premium, I can work around my kids’ schedules, so I can drive the soccer carpool, coordinate errands while at a doctor’s office and still hit my deadlines at work. And, with one subscription for everyone in my family, it’s an absolute steal.”

To help people find more time to do the things they want, Microsoft is introducing Time to 365 (http://www.office.com/timeto365), a new website where people can find and share tips, tricks, ideas and inspiration from around the world. Contributors include experts such as “techorating” pro Janna Robinson (http://www.jannarobinson.com) and everyday working parents who have found ways to simplify their lives. Tips on the site include, for example, an idea for organizing your grocery list with OneNote on your phone, a pointer on how to pick the right-sized TV for your living room, and ways to use Office applications to help plan a child’s birthday party.

If Jen’s daily life sounds familiar, and your eyes light up discussing getting organized and time-saving tips, here’s why: In a recent global survey,* nearly 60 percent of people said they don’t have the time to do the things they want to do, and more than 80 percent said they could save one or more hours a day if they were better organized. Ah, yes, I can relate. Add up those hours and we’re talking more than 365 extra hours a year to enjoy your life! Microsoft, the undisputed master of essential office software, knows being organized is the foundation to that, so Office 365 Home Premium is designed to help us be more productive from virtually anywhere, resulting in the flexibility to do the things we want. Here’s another time-saver: Microsoft also announced it will now deliver many new features and services to the cloud first, transforming the company’s traditional three-year release cycle. Now, new features and services stream to subscribers as soon as they’re ready, keeping subscribers always up to date while eliminating the hassles of upgrading!

“This is a major leap forward,” said Kurt DelBene, president of the Microsoft Office Division. “People’s needs change rapidly, and Office 365 Home Premium will change with them.”

Microsoft on the same day released Office 365 University for college or university students, faculty and staff at a price of just US$79.99 for a four-year subscription — the equivalent of US$1.67 per month. Globally, the company also released updated versions of the traditional Office suite: Office Home and Student 2013, Office Home and Business 2013 and Office Professional 2013. Office 365 for businesses will be released globally with new capabilities on Feb. 27, 2013. Steve Ballmer, CEO of Microsoft says Office 365 Home Premium marks the next big step in Microsoft’s transformation to a devices and services business. “This is so much more than just another release of Office. This is Office reinvented as a consumer cloud service with all the full-featured Office applications people know and love, together with impressive new cloud and social benefits.”

About Office 365 Home Premium

Office 365 Home Premium is available in 162 markets in 21 languages and includes the following:

• The latest and most complete set of Office applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Publisher and Access

• One license for the entire household to use Office on up to five devices, including Windows tablets, PCs or Macs, and Office on Demand available from any Internet-connected PC**

• An additional 20 GB of SkyDrive cloud storage, nearly three times the amount available with a free SkyDrive account

• 60 free Skype world calling minutes per month to call mobile phones, landlines or PCs around the world***

• Future upgrades, so you always use the latest time-saving technology

Anyone can learn more about Office 365 and even try it free for 30 days at http://www.office.com

* Microsoft surveyed more than 10,000 people in over 20 countries.
** App availability varies by operating system, device and language.
*** Skype world minutes not available in all countries. Calls to select countries. Disclaimer re: compensation received: None. Gift received AFTER the fact on brand’s own accord; In other words, not pre-arranged and NOT given quid pro quo.