Happy anniversary, Office 365! Just 12 months ago, Microsoft’s CEO Steve Ballmer introduced Office 365. Now one year later the flexibility and number of options are endless, and with more than 50 new capabilities added in the past year (average of one update a week!), Office 365 continues to grow and flourish.

In just one year, some of the biggest global brands have flocked to Office 365 to share information and connect with customers and partners. Brands such as Campbell Soup, Patagonia, Burger King, Hallmark Cards and Lowe’s have implanted Office 365 to unify their communication experience and under a secure, trusted platform.

The benefits of Office 365 are not exclusive to businesses, however, as it has become a free offering to students, teachers and faculty with the launch of Office 365 for education. Leading universities such as Dartmouth, Cornell and Gonzaga are taking advantage of the seamless capabilities equipped with the familiarity of Office (Outlook, Word, Excel, PowerPoint and OneNote), as well as Microsoft Lync, SharePoint and Exchange.

Both in the workplace and the school environment, flexibility and connectivity is essential to stay in touch, easily share resources and communicate in ways that work for them. Office 365 frees users to focus on productivity and completing the task at hand from virtually anywhere.

To mark the anniversary of Office 365, we are expanding to 46 new markets and adding support for 11 new languages. With this, Office 365 is now offered in 88 markets and 32 languages and reaches more than 4 billion people around the globe. Happy one year anniversary, indeed!

For more information on Office 365, visit http://www.office365.com

People doubted them, said it couldn’t be done. But when Santiago Canyon College students Gary Kelley, Jr., Hayden Donze, Dale Laizure, and Bill Vetter decided to enter the Microsoft Imagine Cup student technology competition – they committed themselves to the project whole-heartedly.  Starting today, the Southern California community college team, Syntax Errors, will be representing the United States in the worldwide final round of the competition for the Embedded Development category against teams from 19 other countries, including China, Germany, India, Japan, Pakistan, Russia, Taiwan and the United Kingdom.

The team is competing for more than international recognition and $25,000 in cash prizes – each team member has something to prove.  The team is the only community college in this year’s competition, with group member ages ranging from 20 to 50 plus, and whose collective average higher education is an associate’s degree, this is a chance to show the world technology has no limits.

Team Syntax Error’s proposal is a turnkey solution that enhances communication and logistics for first responders in disaster relief efforts. Their innovative idea was born out of the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina; the group collectively envisioned a self-contained workstation that could catalog, manage, and track resources in real time using wireless local area network (LAN) and radio frequency identification (RFID) technologies. From this idea, F.R.E.D. (first responders embedded device), was born.  The technology consists of a battery-powered asset manager with GPS capability providing the user’s exact location. Its database driven system will allow responders to track key resources – water, food, medical personnel, supplies and equipment – tagged with a Radio Frequency Identification (RFID) tag and within proximity of the reader.

The team has been receiving tremendous amounts of media attention due to their unique and inspiring story. Recently, the Orange County Register featured them in a story titled “O.C. underdogs take on global Microsoft content,” highlighting their struggle, drive and passion to have made it this far in the competition.

Opening ceremonies for the Imagine Cup Worldwide finals begin tonight in New York City and closing ceremonies will take place on Wednesday, July 13. During their time there, the finalists will attend special training sessions, meet peers from around the world, and participate in volunteer and cultural activities in the city.

Last week, Microsoft announced that a new Microsoft retail store will be coming soon to South Coast Plaza in Costa Mesa. Costa Mesa joins Mission Viejo as Orange County's second Microsoft Store and one of only eight stores in the world.

Microsoft opened its first-ever retail store on Oct. 22, 2009, in Scottsdale, Ariz., to give shoppers a chance to experience the best of Microsoft and its partners, engage more directly with customers and improve the experience of purchasing and using technology. The Mission Viejo store opened its doors on Oct. 29, 2009.

Additional Microsoft Store locations include San Diego, Calif.; Oak Brook, Ill.; Lone Tree, Colo.; and Bloomington, Minn. and Bellevue, Wash.

Microsoft Stores offer hundreds of products, including PCs running Windows 7, computing accessories, Xbox consoles and accessories, Windows Phones, Zunes and first-and third-party software titles. Customers also can learn new technology skills in the store's theater space and work with employees for personalized PC setup and training. For more information, visit www.MicrosoftStore.com. You can visit the Microsoft Store Facebook page or Microsoft Store Twitter page for the latest Microsoft Store updates.

On Tuesday, February 15, more than 180 children from the Boys & Girls Club of Los Angeles and the Brotherhood Crusade attended a Safer Internet Day event in Los Angeles. Hosted by Microsoft at the Hollywood Roosevelt Hotel, the event was a part of the worldwide Safer Internet Day initiative, dedicated to promoting responsible use of the Internet and mobile technology, particularly among children.

Actress Wendy Raquel Robinson, Boys & Girls Clubs of America Executive Director David Walker and Microsoft Director of Online Safety Doug Park, kicked off the night by sharing online safety tips with the children.

While playing popular games on Kinect for Xbox 360, children learned about the responsible use of the Internet and mobile technology.

In addition to the Los Angeles event, Microsoft hosted Safer Internet Day game nights in Atlanta and Chicago with local Boys & Girls Clubs, to provide nationwide guidance to parents and children.

Parents can learn more through online resources as the Microsoft Safety & Security Center, which provides age-based guidance for Internet use; the European Commission Safer Internet Programme; and IKeepSafe, a coalition working with the community for the health and safety of youth online. 

Who doesn’t like to get an award? Microsoft was recently named number one in Corporate Social Responsibility by the Reputation Institute for our philanthropy efforts.

While this award is a wonderful validation, there is something much more important than recognition:  the people and communities who benefit from the employees who take their time to give back through meaningful programs and individual efforts.  Microsoft’s philanthropy campaigns this year included YouthSpark and the 30th Employee Giving Campaign. Why are these important? YouthSpark connects hundreds of millions of youth with opportunities for continued education, employment and entrepreneurship. In October, Microsoft celebrated its 30^th Employee Giving Campaign, which reached its milestone achievement of $1 billion in employee contributions since the 1983.

In fact, Dan Bross, Microsoft’s senior director of citizenship and public affairs, was recently quoted in Forbes saying, “It’s a tremendous honor and one that we’re very proud to receive. Our citizenship mission is to serve the needs of communities around the world and to fulfill our responsibilities to the public. This has been part of our DNA for the past 30-plus years.” For the full article, visit Forbes here.

These initiatives illustrate our commitment to positively influence local communities and to provide today’s youth with the technology needed to create a better tomorrow. We look forward to continuing our efforts into the New Year and beyond, and encourage you to seek ways to make a direct impact on the issues you are passionate about.

For more information on social responsibility initiatives, please visit the Microsoft Corporate Citizenship page here.