Microsoft Corp. recently (20^th September 2012) announced a new global initiative that they choose to call the Microsoft YouthSpark. This is a program that aims to create opportunities in over 100 countries across the world for over 300 Million young people from 2012 to sometime in 2016.  This initiative is part of what Microsoft calls their citizenship programme.

It is basically a drive to empower youth with educational tools both in and out of the classroom as this ultimately helps them reach their full potential as leaders of tomorrow in the employment industry and more importantly in entrepreneurship. The main of YouthSpark will see Microsoft dedicate the majority of its cash contributions to nonprofits and not-for-profit organizations that serve the youth population around the world. Further, Microsoft YouthSpark plans to include Microsoft Office365 for education, free technology tools for all teachers and students to power learning and collaboration, and Skype (you will remember that Microsoft bought out Skype a few months ago) in the classroom, a free global community for teachers to connect their students with others around the world.  Read more »

Last week, Microsoft Corporation CEO Steve Ballmer did well to unveil a customer preview of the new Microsoft Office. This new release has some amazing features that include much-intuitive design features that work well with integrated touch, stylus, mouse or keyboard across new and existing Windows devices (including tablets). This new Office is highly social and does much to unlock modern scenarios in reading, note-taking, meetings and communications and will be delivered to subscribers through a cloud service that is always up to date. Looks like Microsoft took quite the cue from the Kindle, competitor tablets like the iPad, mobile phones and devices and cloud-reliant OS to package an all-in-one product and do better that the rest.

“We are taking bold steps at Microsoft. The new, modern Office will deliver unparalleled productivity and flexibility for both consumers and business customers. It is a cloud service and will fully light-up when paired with Windows 8.” Steve Ballmer said at the press conference in San Francisco. Read more »

On the 10^th of February, NOKIA CEO Stephen Elop hinted that he had a great announcement he had for us the following day.

Some knew what it was all about while others could only speculate. A number of techies believed that Meego was being kicked to the curb or that Nokia was joining up with another company to produce their own tablet.

Well, everyone was right… at least partly.

Stephen Elop from Nokia and Microsoft Corporation CEO Steve Ballmer today announced that they had agreed upon entering into a strategic partnership affecting the two big companies in a video released on Nokia’s Youtube channel yesterday evening. This comes amid rumors that Nokia were developing a way to combat the Apple iPad that has really rocked the market in the last two quarters. This could be their chance to do just that. Read more »