As students we’re often faced with many daunting challenges which sometimes seem insurmountable. As a result, student life inevitably becomes a delicate balancing act between work, school, and an attempt to maintain some semblance of a social life. Within the larger “pain points” of student life exist many smaller issues that contribute to the overall problem(s). At Microsoft we’re constantly working to design software, tools and information to make students lives a little bit easier through the power of technology. When we think about empowering students through technology, we see three primary areas where we can simplify students’ lives and amplify their impact on their campuses.

Studies – Making the grade

Sometimes it’s difficult for students to truly grasp the opportunities technology affords them. That’s why we’ve created resources like Channel8 and the Microsoft Student Experience which are designed to be central “landing” points for students interested in learning about Microsoft technologies and networking with like minded peers. Another pain point we’ve noted is ever increasing information overload and a need to organize that information, that’s where products like Microsoft Office OneNote and Office Live Workspace come in.

Microsoft Office OneNote is best described as the “Swiss-Army knife of Microsoft Office”. That’s to say that OneNote allows you to “organize your way” while providing features like: full tablet-PC support, audio and video recording, seamless Microsoft Office Outlook integration and the ability to kick off a live sharing session with a colleague, that allows you to begin sharing the same digital notebook, in mere seconds. True value is found in Microsoft Office OneNote (or any other piece of the Microsoft Office suite) when paired with a solution like Microsoft Office Live Workspace. Microsoft Office Live Workspace is designed to function as a central repository for all of your documents and other important data while adding support for things like: live document editing in a web browser, anywhere editing and simple collaboration, whether it be across town or across the country.

With Microsoft Office Live Workspace you’ll never lose another important document or be without a means of editing a document anywhere your travels may take you!

The final pain point we observed in relation to students studies is that often times students pursuing technical majors need professional-level software that can sometimes be very, very expensive, sometimes prohibitively so. That’s why we’ve developed Microsoft DreamSpark. DreamSpark is designed to give college and university students access to professional level software from Microsoft at NO COST! How’s that for incentivizing students to follow their dreams and create the next great software titles or make the next great technological breakthroughs!?

Life –“Work hard. Play Hard.”

Believe it or not, a life does exist outside of exam schedules and mountains of homework and when students are provided the seemingly forgotten luxury of free time Microsoft is there to provide the toys and web services needed to fully enjoy the brief respite. Some of our core offerings in this space include Windows Live (including Windows Live Hotmail, Windows Live Spaces, Windows Live Photo Gallery and others), Zune, Windows Mobile, Windows Media Center and Xbox 360.

Windows Live is an all inclusive offering that provides services like Email, a hosted Blog, photo sharing and even PC protection found in Windows Live OneCare. While leveraging some or all of the aforementioned “cloud-based” services is all well and good one major caveat exists, the very nature of most use cases. Most students use more than one computing device (Desktop, Laptop, Netbook, SmartPhone, etc..) which can present a problem when thinking about accessing cloud-based services when connectivity cannot be gaurenteed, enter Windows Mobile. 9 out of 10 students carry a cell phone of some sort today* and more and more are beginning to carry SmartPhones like those based on the Windows Mobile platform which is specifically designed to seamlessly integrate with services like Office Live Workspace, Windows Live Mesh and the Windows Live services.

With Windows Mobile, you’re never far from the data and people you care about!

When it comes to digital media on the go, many companies have various offerings, but none compare the the combination of the Zune device and Zune Social which, together, form a music sharing/discovery ecosystem. The Zune Social contains over 4 million songs priced at $.99 per song with the option of purchasing a Zune Pass Subscription that allows you to download and listen to all the music you want for the flat rate of $15/month. Additionally, when using a Zune device that has been updated to the latest firmware (release 3.0) you can listen to, and flag for download, songs from the Zune Marketplace using any Wi-Fi hotspot.

An amazing community, flexible purchasing options, the ability to browse the Marketplace directly form the device…What more can you ask for in an end-to-end digital audio platform!?

As students we’re often studying for tests or exams and don’t have time to catch our favorite TV shows when the air, that’s where Windows Media Center truly shines. Windows Media Center is designed to function as a PVR (Personal Video Recorder) in software to allow you to do things like: watch and record live TV, schedule recordings, and time shift recordings.

With Windows Media Center you’ll never miss a moment of your favorite TV shows again!

When not watching the 20 episodes of 24 you’ve missed or rocking out on your Zune you may want to release some stress by playing the latest shooter or live your dreams of being the world’s next great race driver in a game like Project Gotham Racing 4. Enter Xbox 360. Microsoft’s Xbox 360 is a total entertainment experience delivered in one package. With the Xbox 360 you can listen to your favorite music, watch your favorite movies (either from your personal DVD collection or streaming via Netflix) and play some of the best games on the market all form a single console!

Future – Onward and Upward

While college may seem to drag on forever, it will eventually end. When it does you’ll be dropped into the real world (hopefully with some idea of what you’d like to do next – otherwise, why did you spend 4 years of your life doing?) which can sometimes be a jarring transition. At Microsoft we’ve developed a series of tutorials, templates and advice to hopefully make that transition a little easier. Check them out here.

“The Girl from Mars”

This video, set to a great track by Magneta Lane, summarizes our student/digital lifestyle story better than anything I’ve seen! Enjoy!
 

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//Josh Bolling