Microsoft has made Office 365 suite free for all students regardless of whether their schools have signed up for the program or not.
Microsoft, the world's largest software developing company, started an initiative to help education institutes grant its students free access to Office 365 suite. Now, the Redmond based software giant has decided to open its program to all the students, making it easier for school and university goers to get direct free access to the software . With this, students will get the latest versions of Microsoft Word, Excel, PowerPoint, OneNote, Outlook, Access and Publisher.
Microsoft announced the new student benefits in an official Office Blog on Monday. In addition to opening access to Office 365, the software giant is also giving 1TB of free OneDrive cloud storage. Students will get five licenses with the Office 365, letting them install the software on five PCs or Macs and Office apps on mobile devices such as Windows tablets and iPads.
Previously, students were only eligible for Office 365 access when the institute's IT department signed up on their behalf.
"The new self-service model removes all of that unnecessary friction and delay by simply allowing eligible students to sign up for the service themselves, while maintaining the same level of control, flexibility and security institutions have come to expect from Office 365," Microsoft noted in the blog.
Some of the basic requirements to avail the service include a valid email address provided by the school, which students aged 13 and above can use to sign up here. The offer is currently limited to the students in the U.S. and will be available in other countries around the world later this year.
There are certain limitations to the use of Office 365 for students in the U.S. According to the company, students must attend a school that has purchased Office for all faculty and staff using Microsoft Volume Licensing program. Through this, the faculty and staff can also access Office 365 ProPlus at no extra cost, starting next month. A similar access to teachers around the world will be given by the end of this year, the company said.
