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“Computers in the future may weigh no more than 1.5 tons.”  That was the news flash reported by Popular Mechanics in 1949. Twenty-eight years later, on the brink of the PC revolution, Ken Olson, president, chairman and founder of Digital Equipment Corp. (DEC), a company that manufactured big mainframe computers for business, had another prediction: “There is no reason anyone would want a computer in their home.”

Trying to predict the future is always tricky. Things change. And when it comes to technology, they often change rapidly. (When Popular Mechanics made its now laughable forecast about the future of computing, neither the transistor nor the microchip had been invented and the march toward miniaturization had not begun.) The new products, services and capabilities those changes bring may, in turn, change the world and just about everything we now take for granted.

We’re right at the beginning of cloud computing, and cloud services like Office 365 and OneDrive are already transforming how people work and companies do business. Our cloud services are also enabling governments like Montgomery County, PA, to provide better service to their citizens. And schools like Cary Academy in North Carolina and those in the Pasadena Independent School District in Texas are choosing Office 365, OneNote and other Microsoft products to empower teachers and help students learn. To help things along, we recently announced that we’re adding a full terabyte of OneDrive cloud storage to every Office 365 subscription.

No one can say for sure what tomorrow will bring, but you don’t need a crystal ball to see that the cloud will continue to play an important role in our lives for the foreseeable future. Of course, some people are more visionary than others.

Back in 1903, the president of the Michigan Savings Bank advised Horace Rackham, Henry Ford’s attorney, not to invest in the Ford Motor Co. “The horse is here to stay,he said, “but the automobile is only a novelty – a fad.” Don’t count on it.

Below is a round-up of some key news items from the last couple of weeks. Enjoy!

Julia White: Standing out from the crowd – Read this in-depth profile of Office GM Julia White to learn how her life experiences have shaped her views on technology.

Microsoft Office subscriptions just got a lot more tempting – Learn how Microsoft’s new offering of 1 TB of OneDrive storage with every Office 365 subscription makes O365 the best buy on the market.

Power BI: Office 365 just got more intelligent – Find out how Power BI for Office 365 can make you and your business more successful.

Mining for digital gold – Discover the man behind Power BI for Office 365 in this profile of Microsoft Technical Fellow Amir Netz.

Innovating in the world’s “cloudiest” city – Learn how Microsoft and Seattle have long been leaders in cloud computing—beginning with Microsoft’s work on distributed computing in the 1990s.

Source: http://blogs.office.com/2014/07/03/office-365-news-round-up-28/

Category: News; Office 365
Published: 7/4/2014 19:06
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