Microsoft Corp today announced worldwide availability of Office 365 Home Premium, a reinvention of the company’s flagship Office product line for consumers.

Office 365 Home Premium is a cloud service designed for busy households and people juggling ever-increasing work and family responsibilities. The new offering includes the latest and most complete set of Office applications; works across up to five devices, including Windows tablets, PCs and Macs; and comes with extra SkyDrive storage and Skype calling.

“Today’s launch of Office 365 Home Premium marks the next big step in Microsoft’s transformation to a devices and services business,” said Tareq Hijazi, regional country manager for Microsoft Bahrain and Oman.

“This is so much more than just another release of Office. This is Office reinvented as a consumer cloud service with all the full-featured Office applications people know and love, together with impressive new cloud and social benefits.”

Microsoft also announced it will now deliver many new features and services to the cloud first, transforming the company’s traditional three-year release cycle. Now, new features and services stream to subscribers as soon as they are ready, keeping subscribers always up to date while eliminating the hassles of upgrading.

“This is a major leap forward,” said Kurt DelBene, president of the Microsoft Office Division. “People’s needs change rapidly, and Office 365 Home Premium will change with them.”

Simultaneously, Microsoft today released Office 365 University for college or university students, faculty and staff at a price of $79.99 for a four-year subscription.

Globally, the company also released updated versions of the traditional Office suite: Office Home and Student 2013, Office Home and Business 2013 and Office Professional 2013. Office 365 for businesses will be released globally with new capabilities on Feb. 27.

In a recent global survey, nearly 60 per cent of people said they don’t have the time to do the things they want to do, and more than 80 per cent said they could save one or more hours a day if they were better organized. Office 365 Home Premium is designed to help people be more productive from virtually anywhere and find the flexibility to do the things they want.

“Between kids and career, I’m never completely at home or completely at work — and thanks to technology, that suits me just fine,” said Jen Singer, an author, blogger and mom of two teen boys.

“With Office 365 Home Premium, I can work around my kids’ schedules, so I can drive the soccer carpool, coordinate errands while at a doctor’s office and still hit my deadlines at work. And, with one subscription for everyone in my family, it’s an absolute steal.”

To help people find more time to do the things they want, Microsoft is introducing Time to 365, a new crowd-sourced website where people can find and share tips, tricks, ideas and inspiration from around the world.

Contributors include experts such as “techorating” pro Janna Robinson and everyday working parents who have found ways to simplify their lives.

Tips on the site include, for example, an idea for organising your grocery list with OneNote on your phone, a pointer on how to pick the right-sized TV for your living room, and ways to use Office applications to help plan a child’s birthday party. – TradeArabia News Service