14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates unveiled today the Microsoft Student Innovation Suite which will cost only $3. According to Microsoft, the Student Innovation Suite will include Windows XP Starter Edition, Office Home and Student 2007, Math 3.0, Learning Essentials 2.0 for Office, and Windows Live Mail desktop.
The Student Innovation Suite "will be available at a nominal fee to governments purchasing bulk orders of computers for primary and secondary students. Through our Partners in Learning program, we will offer this suite for US$3, so we're really intending this to help transform education in underserved student groups worldwide. The cost of the media is not included in this price. Governments can purchase the software suite on various types of distribution media through Microsoft "Authorized Replicators" and OEM [original equipment manufacturer] partners," revealed Will Poole, corporate vice president of Microsoft Market Expansion Group.
The Microsoft's Government Leaders Forum (GLF) Asia conference was the stage where Bill Gates unveiled what the Redmond Company is referring to as the centerpiece of its strategy to develop educational opportunity around the world. The new Microsoft Student Innovation Suite will be at the forefront of Microsoft's Partners in Learning program and will address governments that deliver PCs directly to students.
Students from low income families and in disadvantaged communities will be able to benefit from access to the two pieces of software that are at this point ubiquitous in the educational process: Windows XP and Miclrosoft Office.
"We're acutely aware of the digital divide that puts many young people at a disadvantage in terms of acquiring critical 21st-century skills. We hear this same concern expressed by the governments and education communities of developing countries, from Guatemala to Namibia to Thailand to India and China. These nations know their young people will benefit greatly from having access to modern computers equipped with complete, educationally relevant software solutions that they can use in their schools and homes," explained Ayala, senior vice president of Microsoft's Emerging Segments Market Development Group.