REDMOND, Washington, March 4 /PRNewswire/ --

- Customers get immediate access to the new service that extends 
Microsoft Office, provides anywhere access to documents and enables sharing
functionality.

Microsoft Corp today announced the public availability of Microsoft
Office Live Workspace beta (http://workspace.officelive.com), the new
web-based extension of Microsoft Office that lets people access their
documents online and share their work with others. Office Live Workspace was
among the first entries in the new wave of online services in Microsoft's
software plus services vision previewed last fall.

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Office Live Workspace is now available worldwide in English. People can
sign up for free at http://workspace.officelive.com and will be granted
immediate access to the service. Microsoft is also unveiling a number of new
Office Live Workspace features, such as an activity panel, notifications,
direct links and multifile upload.

"Today's announcement moves us further down the path of bringing a
software plus services experience to people at home, work and school," said
Stephen Elop, president of the Microsoft Business Division. "By combining the
rich client experience of Microsoft Office with flexible, intuitive service
offerings, we're providing seamless computing experiences for our 500 million
Office users worldwide."

Access Anywhere, Share and Extend the Microsoft Office Experience

Office Live Workspace lets people organise documents and projects online
and work on them from almost any computer. People can save more than 1,000
Microsoft Office documents to one place online,(i) and access and share them
via the web. They can view and comment on documents in the browser as well as
create simple web lists and web notes, and share documents in real time
through integration with Microsoft SharedView.

Microsoft has also added several new features to Office Live Workspace,
based in part on feedback from early beta participants:

-- Activity panel. A new activity panel shows all the activity in a
       workspace at a glance.
    -- Notifications. People can now receive e-mail notifications about
       changes made to their workspaces or documents.
    -- Direct links. People can now bookmark their workspace or a workspace
       item via a unique URL in a browser window.
    -- Multi-file upload. People can now upload several files simultaneously
       by simply dragging and dropping from their desktop.
    -- Improved sharing. New sharing functionality includes an easier user
       interface and auto-completion of e-mail addresses.



Hundreds of Thousands Registered for Office Live Workspace

Since the unveiling of the private beta last October, hundreds of
thousands of people have signed up for the beta, and thousands from the
pre-registration have been invited to provide feedback on the service.
The Office team has also been working with a number of US colleges and
universities, including Florida Community College at Jacksonville, University
of Pennsylvania, the University of Washington, the University of
Wisconsin-Parkside and Vanderbilt University, where it is being used by
participating students, faculty members and administrators to enhance sharing
and collaboration within the classroom and among student team and
extracurricular projects.

"Both in the classroom and in our IT operations, we have tried various
forms of collaboration," said Matthew Jett Hall, assistant vice chancellor,
information technology services and associate chief information architect,
enterprise infrastructure at Vanderbilt University. "Microsoft Office Live
Workspace combines all the amazing ease of use that you expect from Microsoft
Office with the convenience and security of web-based storage. The best of
both worlds allows you to collaborate, edit and share in ways that previously
never existed. This is a great execution of a wonderful concept."

Jason Liu, a senior biomedical engineering student at Duke University,
uses Office Live Workspace. "Office Live Workspace is a lifesaver. It has not
only helped me get organised but also had tremendous impact on how I access
and share my documents," Liu said. "With this service, keeping control of
document versions as I work on my engineering research project from different
computers is so much easier. I no longer have to worry about carrying a thumb
drive or e-mailing files to myself, and the integration with Microsoft Office
just lets me open and save files directly from and to my workspace, so there
was hardly a learning curve. Access to my documents from anywhere and the
ability to easily share information using Office Live Workspace -- whether in
the lab, at my office on campus or at my apartment -- is truly improving my
computing experience."

Office Live Workspace also represents a critical collaboration component
of the Microsoft Live@edu initiative. In addition to Office Live Workspace,
the Live@edu programme offers students and alumni 5 GB e-mail inboxes, 5 GB
of password-protected online storage space, shared calendars, blogging tools,
and access to these services on a mobile phone, all at no costs to the
schools or students. The collaboration opportunity afforded by Office Live
Workspace is important to allowing students and faculty to work together
online. Today, the University of Wisconsin-Parkside is rolling out Office
Live Workspace campuswide to its 16,000 active, continuing education and
incoming students, plus alumni and more than 700 faculty members and
administrators, as part of a broader Live@edu initiative. Since Microsoft
Live@edu launched in March 2005, more than 600 schools in 40 countries have
chosen the Live@edu suite. More information about Microsoft Live@edu can be
found at http://get.live.com/edu.

Office Live Workspace Sweepstakes

Today Microsoft is also launching a US$100,000 sweepstakes for US-based
Office Live Workspace users. The sweepstakes will award more than 30,000
prizes, including $100,000 that the winner could use to fund a college
education, a new business or favourite charity -- the choice is up to the
individual. The sweepstakes will run through May 11, 2008, and the winner
will be selected around May 15, 2008. Microsoft will award a grand prize of
$100,000 and an assortment of more than 30,000 daily and weekly prizes to
include Xbox 360 Elite Video Game Systems, Samsung Blackjack II Smartphone
devices, 30GB Zune players, Expedia hotel and package coupons and Microsoft
Office Professional 2007. Participants may enter for a chance to win by
registering for Office Live Workspace. Participants can also earn up to two
bonus entries to increase their chances of winning when they upload their
first document to their Office Live Workspace account and the first time they
share a document or workspace with others. More information about the
sweepstakes can be found at http://www.officelive.com/workspace/sweepstakes.

Beta Pricing and Availability

Microsoft Office Live Workspace is being offered free of charge.
Microsoft plans to offer the beta programme later this year in various
languages for international markets. The company expects to release the final
public version of Office Live Workspace later in the year.

About Microsoft

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (Nasdaq: MSFT) is the worldwide leader in
software, services and solutions that help people and businesses realise
their full potential.

About Microsoft EMEA (Europe, Middle East and Africa)

Microsoft has operated in EMEA since 1982. In the region Microsoft
employs more than 16,000 people in over 64 subsidiaries, delivering products
and services in more than 139 countries and territories.

This material is for informational purposes only. Microsoft Corp
disclaims all warranties and conditions with regard to use of the material
for other purposes. Microsoft Corp shall not, at any time, be liable for any
special, direct, indirect or consequential damages, whether in an action of
contract, negligence or other action arising out of or in connection with the
use or performance of the material. Nothing herein should be construed as
constituting any kind of warranty.

(i) Based on average file size and use of Word, Excel and PowerPoint
        documents by students and work and home users.

    Web site: http://www.microsoft.com
              http://workspace.officelive.com