Microsoft Introduces New Microsoft 365 Personal and Family Subscriptions

Microsoft announced the refresh of Office 365 to Microsoft 365, a subscription that will better help people make the most of their time, connect and protect the ones they love, as well as develop and grow. This refresh will be fully rolled out by 21 April 2020.

An evolution of Office 365, Microsoft 365 builds on the foundation of Office 365, infusing new artificial intelligence (AI), rich content and templates, and cloud-powered experiences to empower people to become better writers, presenters, designers and finance managers, as well as deepen people connections. These experiences start rolling out immediately and will reach over 38 million Office 365 subscribers over the next few months.

“Now more than ever, as many of us work and learn remotely, we are acutely aware of all the different ways life can interrupt work and work can interrupt life. It’s never been more important to stay connected and on top of the things that matter. Today, we offer a powerful set of free applications and services that help users create, share, connect, and collaborate with their friends and family across the web and on Windows, macOS, iOS, and Android devices. Used by more than a half billion people, free Office, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Skype, Outlook, OneNote, and OneDrive apps enables people to co-author, video chat, organize, and come together. We are committed to improving and innovating on these experiences every day,” said Yusuf Mehdi, Corporate Vice President, Windows and Devices Group.

In addition, Microsoft unveiled two new Microsoft 365 experiences that will be available for preview in the coming months. Firstly, a new Microsoft Family Safety app designed to keep families safe across the digital and physical worlds. Next, to provide one application to help manage work and life and deepen connections with those who matter most, Microsoft also previewed new features coming to Microsoft Teams for users’ personal life. With these new features, users can connect, stay organized, and collaborate with family and friends. They will be able to connect in group chats, make video calls, collaborate over shared to-do lists, assign tasks to specific people and coordinate schedules, as well as share photos and videos all in one place.

The new Microsoft Edge browser also takes a step forward with new features to protect users on the web with Password Monitor, and to simplify research with Collections. You can learn more about all the new Edge features here, as well as the entire suite of new features available with Microsoft 365 below.

• AI-Powered Microsoft Editor:
  
  To help people put their best foot forward at home and at work, Microsoft Editor – an AI-powered service available in more than 20 languages – is now accessible across Word and Outlook.com, and as a standalone browser extension for Microsoft Edge and Google Chrome. Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscribers have access to advanced grammar and style refinements such as rewrite suggestions and additional style critiques to allow greater clarity and conciseness.
  
  


• Presenter Coach Features in PowerPoint:
  
  An AI-powered Presenter that helps correct monotone pitch and refine speeches. This will be available as a free preview, and then eventually only to Microsoft 365 subscribers.
  
  


• PowerPoint Designer: This feature effectively boosts creativity, such as transforming text into a beautiful timeline, or even auto-generated slide layouts. Microsoft is providing Microsoft 365 subscribers with exclusive access to over 8,000 beautiful images and 175 looping videos from Getty Images, plus 300 new fonts, 2,800 new icons and 200+ new premium templates to create high-impact and visually appealing documents.
  
  


• Managing Finances Seamlessly with Money in Excel: A new solution for Microsoft 365 subscribers that help users seamlessly manage, track and analyze their money and spending all in one place through a secure and simple process that connects to the user’s bank and credit card accounts, including major retail banks and community credit unions.
  
  


• New Data Types and Smart Templates in Excel: This presents a different and less time-consuming way to interact with data, providing deeper meaning for over 100 topics. Microsoft 365 subscribers have exclusive access to the over 100 new data types powered by Wolfram Alpha.
  
  


• Organizing Time Across Work and Life with Outlook:
  New features in Outlook on the web help users manage all commitments, across work and life, in one place. With these new features, they can link their personal calendar to their work calendar to show their real availability, while still maintaining their privacy.
  
  


• Deepen Connections with Family and Friends with Skype and Microsoft Teams:
  
  Skype has seen an increase in usage with 40 million people using it daily, up 70% month over month and, we are seeing a 220% increase in Skype to Skype calling minutes month over month. To help people get connected even faster, Microsoft recently introduced a new feature in Skype called Meet Now, that allows users to easily create video meetings in as little as three clicks for free, with no sign ups or downloads required. 

• Protecting Families in the Physical and Digital Worlds with Microsoft Family Safety:
  
  This application empowers families to help protect their loved ones by giving them the tools and insights to discuss healthier habits online and in the real world. The new Microsoft Family Safety app is the only app that manages screen time across Windows PCs, Android, and Xbox while providing parents a peace of mind when the kids are not home.

The new Office features start rolling out to current Office 365 customers immediately. Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions will be available worldwide on April 21st. These include premium desktop Office apps, 1 TB of OneDrive cloud storage per person, 60 Skype minutes for calling mobile phones and landlines, advanced security features to protect users from malware and phishing attacks, ongoing technical support, plus all the new features and benefits just announced. Microsoft 365 Personal costs ₹4199 a year. For the best value, a family of up to six people can use Microsoft 365 Family for ₹5299 a year. 

Read about the full suite of new Office features and access more press information here. To learn more about Microsoft 365 Personal and Family subscriptions as well as the market and language availability of these new features, visit this page. For more information on Microsoft 365 business and Microsoft 365 Apps for Enterprise plans, visit this page here.

Microsoft to Encrypt and Digitally Distribute CBSE Exam Papers; May Use Aadhaar Authentication

In March this year, national level board of education in India, Central Board of Secondary Education (CBSE), came under severe attack from students across the country when the economics paper of the Class XII and math paper of Class X were leaked in March and a re-examination was ordered.

Back then, a seven-member committee was formed who then recommended a number of measures to prevent paper leaks and the human resource development (HRD) ministry of India studied the suggestions. CBSE also announced that it is contemplating to stop printing question papers at their end and instead send paper CDs to the exam centres, just an hour before the exam.

Now, in an outcome above series of events, CBSE has partnered with Microsoft India to digitally encrypt question papers for Class X and XII examinations to enhance security and seamless distribution of the papers. The entire process can be digitally monitored using a software solution that’s built on Windows 10 and Office 365.

CBSE will use Office 365 to add two-layered security to question papers and digitally distribute them across examination centers. Office 365 is a line of subscription services offered by Microsoft, as part of the Microsoft Office product line in its Windows operating system.

Interestingly, Aadhaar identification system, which itself is in continuous doubts and scrutiny from security experts across the globe, can be used for authentification of students, told Anil Bhansali, Managing Director, Microsoft India (R&D) and Corporate Vice President, Cloud and Enterprise, to news agency IANS in a telephonic interaction.

However, Bhansali also added, "The system allows various authentification process. For example, it can be OTP (one-time password) based or biometric based. It is up to the clients what two authentification process they want to choose,"

Also Read - Digital Transformation To Add $154 Billion To India's GDP By 2021 - Microsoft

Notably, the exam encryption and distribution solution to be implemented was successfully tested as a pilot project in the recently held Class X compartmental examinations, across 487 examination centers with approximately 4,000 students.

The Controller of Examination can track the entire process using a software solution built on Windows 10 and Office 365. The overall process was automated to be highly secure with encryption, two-factor authentication and access to download the exam papers at the examination center only 30 minutes prior to start time.

The solution leverages features in Office 365 to encrypt and watermark the papers. The watermark has the individual center’s code imprinted on it which allows for localization and traceability in the eventuality of a paper leak. A CBSE administrator initiates the distribution of exam papers, which results in the generation of emails to the respective centers with a link to OneDrive, a file-hosting service operated by Microsoft, where an exam paper specific to the exam center can be downloaded. This digitization process saves significant time and cost for exam administrators due to online paper generation, automated delivery process and reduction in approval cycles.

Commenting on the partnership Anil Bhansali, Corporate Vice President, Cloud & Enterprise, Managing Director, Microsoft India (R&D) Private Limited said, “A strong education ecosystem is key to our nation’s development and Microsoft and CBSE are deeply committed to digitally transform the sector. Innovative implementation of technology has the potential to solve some of the most pressing issues faced by the sector. The success of this partnership with CBSE is proof of that potential. I am confident we are well on the way towards a digitally empowered education ecosystem.”

For the pilot test, multiple mock trials were conducted before the Class X compartmental examination date, with the entire CBSE team including various exam centers along with Microsoft experts to ensure seamless adoption and familiarity with the process. The solution was deployed by CBSE without a security breach.

Widespread adoption of this solution can transform the education sector and essentially change the way students in India take their exams.

Microsoft is working closely with public and private institutions to help modernize education, impart ICT skills training and provide low or no cost technology that helps students with immersive learning, educators with engaging teaching methods, and administrators with efficient management tools.

Source - Microsoft News Center India | References - Gadgets360

[Top Image - 7cNews.in]

Microsoft to Set Up Cloud Data Centre in India

If all goes as planned, Microsoft will soon offer Azure and Office 365 - its commercial and cloud services from three new local data centres in India. Microsoft is planning to make these services available by the end of next year. This step by the tech giant will make it the first technology company to ever set up cloud data centres in India. According to experts, this move by Microsoft will have the US based company compete better in the local market.

“When we think about the cloud opportunity in India itself, it is going to be a $2 trillion opportunity,” said, Satya Nadella, Chief Executive, Microsoft in New Delhi on Tuesday. Nadella also added that this move by Microsoft will benefit and help entrepreneurs, Indian companies and government. Nadella did not disclose the investment amount involved in setting up the data centres but said they will have ‘sizeable’ capacity.

This announcement by Microsoft is quite important given the ruling party, BJP’s views about bringing local data centres to the country in order to maintain the data sovereignty. Besides this, a lot of Indian enterprises have long been hesitant and worried about hosting their data on public cloud because none of the major data players like Google, Microsoft or Amazon Web Service have their data centres in the country.

“I think in two or three years, when the servers come to India, the public cloud market will become more interesting because now there are some territorial issues in holding the data in the country,” said, Jagdish Belwal, CIO at Tata Motors in a recent interview given to Economic Times. Tata Motors makes use of Amazon Web Services.

According to Vishal Tripathi’s statement to Economic Times, Microsoft’s move to set up a local data centre will give the company “more muscle” to compete in the cloud services market and “Office 365 could see higher adoption”. Vishal Tripathi is a Principal research analyst at Gartner.

With players such as IBM spending millions on advertising its Softlayer cloud and Oracle trying hard in the Indian market by announcing several more new offerings, the competition in the cloud market has increased like never before.

Microsoft to Set Up Cloud Data Centre in India

If all goes as planned, Microsoft will soon offer Azure and Office 365 - its commercial and cloud services from three new local data centres in India. Microsoft is planning to make these services available by the end of next year. This step by the tech giant will make it the first technology company to ever set up cloud data centres in India. According to experts, this move by Microsoft will have the US based company compete better in the local market.

“When we think about the cloud opportunity in India itself, it is going to be a $2 trillion opportunity,” said, Satya Nadella, Chief Executive, Microsoft in New Delhi on Tuesday. Nadella also added that this move by Microsoft will benefit and help entrepreneurs, Indian companies and government. Nadella did not disclose the investment amount involved in setting up the data centres but said they will have ‘sizeable’ capacity.

This announcement by Microsoft is quite important given the ruling party, BJP’s views about bringing local data centres to the country in order to maintain the data sovereignty. Besides this, a lot of Indian enterprises have long been hesitant and worried about hosting their data on public cloud because none of the major data players like Google, Microsoft or Amazon Web Service have their data centres in the country.

“I think in two or three years, when the servers come to India, the public cloud market will become more interesting because now there are some territorial issues in holding the data in the country,” said, Jagdish Belwal, CIO at Tata Motors in a recent interview given to Economic Times. Tata Motors makes use of Amazon Web Services.

According to Vishal Tripathi’s statement to Economic Times, Microsoft’s move to set up a local data centre will give the company “more muscle” to compete in the cloud services market and “Office 365 could see higher adoption”. Vishal Tripathi is a Principal research analyst at Gartner.

With players such as IBM spending millions on advertising its Softlayer cloud and Oracle trying hard in the Indian market by announcing several more new offerings, the competition in the cloud market has increased like never before.