Microsoft launches cloud-based Office

CEBU, Philippines - As Microsoft announced the end of support for Windows XP and Office 2003 by next year, the Bill Gates-led technology solutions company introduced new Office, a reinvention of its flagship Office product line for its enterprise customers in Cebu.

The new Office is a cloud service designed for the modern-day users whose devices for work and play are merged.

In an interview with Microsoft Office division head Tovia Va’aelua, he said that the market has moved on in terms of demand, and Microsoft is in its constant move to help its customers trail blaze with technology while supporting businesses to stay competitive in a technology-driven market.

By April 7, 2014, all 3.6 million desktop users of XP will lose their support from Microsoft, thus the company has also launched the “Get to Modern Campaign.”

“We can help them move. Security challenges today are so different, so malicious. We cannot stop people from attacking XP users,” he said, adding that a lot of today’s hardware does not run on Windows XP anymore.

The new Office also provides the latest and complete set of Office applications such as Microsoft Word, PowerPoint and Excel, among others.

“With the launch of the new Office, we marked the next big step in Microsoft’s transformation to devices and services, as we introduce and take users to modern Office—an Office that goes beyond the four corners of a room, an Office that is accessible anywhere,” said Karrie Ilagan, Microsoft Philippines director.

“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 and business,” added Ilagan.

Microsoft also announced that it will now deliver many new features and services to the cloud, transforming the company’s traditional three-year release cycle. Now, new features and services stream to subscribers as soon as they are ready, keeping subscribers, always up-to-date while eliminating the hassles of upgrading.

Moreover, 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.

According to Va’aelua, the new Microsoft Office allows users to do things at home, school or work through any device, anytime, anywhere.

“Before Office used to belong to your machine; now it belongs to you and works across all your devices,” he added.

Likewise, the new Office is built for the dynamics of the enterprise, where users will have more control on how they deploy this to their companies. The new Office builds on its prior successes of security, control and management. /JMD (FREEMAN)