Office 365 is basically a subscription-based system that offers a set of Office Applications to the subscribers. As a consumer of this service, you can use Microsoft Office Applications on Windows as well as OS X. Once you have activated a specific plan, you can begin to use the following Microsoft Office Applications:
- Word
- Excel
- PowerPoint
- Outlook
- Publisher
- Access
- OneNote
There are so many other services such as Cloud Storage, File Transfer Facilities, Hosted e-mail, free calls on Skype, and many more. Office 365 also allows you to access files on virtually all types of gadgets, including computer, mobile phone, tablet, and even a web browser.
In order to use Office 365, you need to activate your subscription plans and pay on a monthly or yearly basis. This service totally depends upon the Internet, since most of its services and applications are Internet-enabled.
The real advantage to Office 365 is its Cloud-Based Features. All highly significant features such as Online Storage with One Drive and Virtual Conferencing require an Internet connection.
Regular Microsoft Office, on the other hand, is a desktop -software package providing you with commonly used applications such Word, Excel, Outlook, PowerPoint, Access, OneNote, InfoPath, and Publisher. Since it is a traditional software package, it doesn’t always require you to have an Internet connection.
Till now, it has been used for offline office work or personal tasks. You only need to have an Internet connection when to update certain features and services.
So, Microsoft Office and Office 365 are two completely different things, despite of the fact that they are both Microsoft’s products and people often confuse them with each other!
Why Office 365?
Office 365, with its productivity tools based on the Cloud, is a highly helpful platform for collaborating. Using it, businesses can communicate more efficiently, have notes synchronized, and use shared workspaces to access important assignments. Another obvious advantage is the ability to use frequently required applications such as Word, Exceland PowerPoint at any point of time, with any device.
Office 365 has over 110 million users around the world. Most importantly, it is playing a pivotal role in the area of Education, helping students get the best out of their education. Above all, it helps them gain essential skills that will apply at work in the future.
Students are now able to download, install and run Office on their computer and mobile devices, including Mac, Android, and iPhone. So many versions for offline users are also available.
Other benefits of Office 365 for Students are:
- Keeps them Connected: Students can connect with a unified contact card in minutes, bringing together Facebook, LinkedIn, and SharePoint updates. It also lets them make calls and have video chats with just a click.
- Online Document Storage: Provides online storage to all students within an institution. They can access Skydive Pro for storage and keeping documents in the Cloud, as well as share them with others.
- Hold Multi-Party Meetings: With conferencing, students can work together anywhere and perform a variety of tasks including note taking, advanced sharing, and annotations.
- Optimal Data Protection: The best thing that Office 365 has for students is optimal uptime. With a 99.9% uptime, they get strong, reliable disaster recovery capabilities and uninterrupted data backups.
Why is Microsoft Bringing Changes?
Microsoft wants to make the entire teaching-learning process simpler for educators and students. Their aim is to make the latest version of Office available for them, enabling the upcoming generations to access and use technology without having to put much effort. And then our young minds won’t be able to use their full potential to become tech pros and business leaders without the best productivity tools.
Microsoft is about to announce Student Advantage in order to make it simpler to obtain the latest Office for students. This offer, Microsoft believes, will help educational centers in improving their teaching-learning outcomes. The best thing about this program is that students won’t be charged any additional costs for Microsoft’s latest productivity solutions
How Can I Download and Install Office 365?
The entire downloading and installation process is explained at the start of a tutorial. And all Unitec students who are enrolled in classes, but haven’t taken any short courses are eligible for Office 365 licensing. However, those whose schools are offering the Student Advantage benefits and have recently bought Office 365 University won’t get any credit or compensation. It is a simple consumer offering, but students can make the most of the Skydive storage space of 20GB, as well as 60 minutes of Skype Premium per month.
Where to Get Support?
You can seek support from Office 365 Community online forums since this is an offer by Microsoft. The Unitec IMS Help Desk is not offering any direct support for Office 365.
What Happens after My Graduation?
Once you have graduated, your Office 365 subscription ends. However, you may enroll for other available offers, consumer or commercial.
Are the Changes Introduced in the Existing Student Options also?
No changes have been made to the Office offerings under the paid Student Option. Student Option will continue to be there and even those institutions that lack full faculty will be able to leverage it.
Students with more questions about Office 365 can put out their queries in the comments sections below. We will try and answer them in the shortest possible time.