Office 2016 releases worldwide, Chinese President Xi Jinping visits Microsoft – Weekend Reading: Sept. 25 edition

| Athima Chansanchai

Welcome back to another edition of Weekend Reading! This week, we saw the global launch of Office 2016, a tour of the Microsoft campus by Chinese President Xi Jinping and how Microsoft Showcase Schools create innovative learning environments.

On Tuesday, Office 2016 arrived, marking a milestone in delivering new value for Office 365 subscribers with a focus on teamwork. It has lightning-fast search for your inbox and Office 365 Groups for seamless collaboration. With Office 365 Groups, you can create public or private teams with a shared inbox, calendar, notebook and cloud storage. The pairing of Office 365 and Windows 10 provides a complete solution for getting things done, including Windows Hello’s password-free login. The new Office has security features important for businesses and is a new model for delivery, with more frequent updates, new features and improvements for subscribers. As Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella writes, “How people work has changed dramatically. But one constant is that everyone wants to get more out of every moment of their life — after all, our time is the scarcest commodity. That’s why Microsoft has set a bold ambition to reinvent productivity and business process in this mobile-first, cloud-first world.”

Pictured left to right: Chinese President Xi Jinping, his translator and Microsoft CEO Satya Nadella at Microsoft’s Redmond campus on Sept. 23, 2015. Photo by Brian Smale.

On Wednesday, Microsoft hosted Chinese President Xi Jinping, First Lady Peng Liyuan and a high-level Chinese delegation at its Redmond campus, where the company highlighted new technology and the role technology can play in advancing health, education and business. During his tour, Xi met with senior executives and board members, watched technology demos and reviewed innovative new devices. Earlier in the day, Xi met with CEOs of technology companies who attended a meeting of the U.S.-China Internet Industry Forum. He also had a private meeting with Bill and Melinda Gates. Read the full story by Vanessa Ho to find out more about Xi’s visit.

Microsoft also announced three agreements to advance availability of the company’s products and services in China. When added to previous announcements, Microsoft finalized seven new agreements with Chinese companies and government institutions this week.

YouTube Video

Educators can submit their schools as candidates for the Microsoft Showcase Schools program until Oct. 30. If chosen, they’ll join 150 Microsoft Showcase Schools around the world. These schools use technology to ensure 21st century skills are integrated into most activities, creating innovative learning environments enabled by technology.

"Running Shadow"
“Running Shadow”

Games and music continue to infuse the Windows Store with fresh content. Parkour and fantasy role playing combine for non-stop action in the App of the Week, “Running Shadow.” Fans of Lana Del Rey can also find her latest album, “Honeymoon,” in the Windows Store. “The Last Door: Collector’s Edition” is low-res with 8-bit graphics, but high on suspense through an otherworldly mystery set in Victorian England and inspired by horror master H.P. Lovecraft.

That’s it for this edition! See you next week for another installment of Weekend Reading.

Posted by Athima Chansanchai
Microsoft News Center Staff

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