Microsoft has joined with Communities In Schools (CIS) to get Microsoft Office into the hands of a million students and CIS staff across the USA.
It’s a three year arrangement between Microsoft, ‘technology partner’ COMPAREX and CIS which applies to students in 25 US states plus Washington D.C.
The students will get Office 365 Pro Plus suite with Word, PowerPoint, Excel, Outlook, OneNote, Publisher, Access and even Lync. OneDrive access comes with it, naturally. Training and certifications from Microsoft’s IT Academy will also be available.
The cynical will say this is just a way for Microsoft to ‘lock in’ students to a life with Microsoft Office. That’s true of all educational software/hardware initiatives from Microsoft, Apple and others.
Communities In Schools aim is to keep kids in school and not dropout. Anything that succeeds in helping kids, well, succeed is fine by us, so kudos to Microsoft and COMPAREX for their support.
