Many people don't know they are eligible for complimentary Microsoft software and services. You can help spread the word to ensure that people in your community are making the best of what's available to them.
Not-for-profit donations
Microsoft and many other suppliers offer technology donations through TechSoup. Microsoft has donated more than $19,000,000 worth of technology to NZ nonprofits through this programme.
Software startups
Microsoft's BizSpark programme provides complimentary software, cloud services and access to a community of partners around the world who are involved in supporting software-fueled innovation and the next generation of technology entrepreneurs.
Anti-virus software
For home users and small businesses, Microsoft Security Essentials is a complimentary download from Microsoft that is simple to install, easy to use, and is automatically updated to protect Windows PCs with the latest anti-malware technology.
Māori language packs
Complimentary Māori language packs are available for Microsoft Windows and Microsoft Office are available to translate commonly-used features, giving people the choice to use the technology in a language that is familiar.
With compliments
Microsoft offers a number of services free of charge to help people live and work a little smarter. Here’s a quick overview of technology to make life a little simpler and more fun. More than a million Kiwis use at least one of these services, and you'll probably find something that's useful for you and your community.
Protect your online safety
For Cyber-Safety Awareness Week this year, we featured top tips to help you keep safer and more secure online.
New Zealand organisations are quickly deploying cloud computing. Low prices and convenience are appealing, but there are also important questions to ask around privacy, security, and data integrity.
Waldo Kuipers, Corporate Affairs Manager at Microsoft NZ, says “Organisations know that trust matters. They need to keep business information secure, and do the right thing on privacy. But people often tell us they’re unsure what to ask.”
In February, the Office of the Privacy Commissioner published a plain English cloud computing guide. That guidance is available at http://privacy.org.nz/using-the-cloud/.
“Headlines about information leaks have raised awareness, and Kiwi organisations are taking privacy seriously. They want their move to the cloud to improve privacy and security, so they’re asking us to take them through this cloud guidance,” says Waldo.
Today, Microsoft NZ has released a standard response to help organisations assess the Office 365 cloud service, based on the cloud guidance from the Office of the Privacy Commissioner. “It’s a very straightforward way for people to work through this official cloud privacy guidance if they’re considering Office 365,” explains Waldo.
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With responsible adoption of cloud computing services at front of mind for many organisations and policy makers, it is timely to consider the global context and New Zealand's work to advance trustworthy computing. This article was originally published by Standards NZ in Touchstone Issue 48 - April 2013 as An update on standards for cloud computing and has been re-published with permission.
The international standards community is working together to address many of the common challenges of cloud computing. These challenges include clarifying exactly what is meant by 'cloud computing', managing its risks, increasing security, and improving the governance and management of cloud-based services. The goal is to make cloud computing easier for your organisation – whether that's as a cloud computing consumer or provider.
Microsoft’s new Wellington office has opened for business today.
Following a karakia led by local kaumātua Sam and June Jackson, the Wellington office opened its doors to the public at 11am this morning. Local Member of Parliament Grant Robertson and US Ambassador David Huebner attended a celebration with Microsoft partners, community stakeholders, and customers.
The new office puts people at the centre. The fresh design was placed in the hands of Microsoft’s Wellington staff, working with local architects Stephenson&Turner and taking inspiration from the movement towards activity based working. The goal was to make people feel great about being here.
Microsoft offices around the world have started to move to activity based working. This has been inspired by today’s technology that allows work to be done seamlessly from anywhere. New flexibility allows people to define work by what they do, rather than where they are.
With the recent launch of Windows 8, we have been delighted to see how quickly Kiwi software innovators are taking advantage of the Windows Store platform.
New Zealand consumers want access to fantastic apps that are built just for them. As a small gesture of encouragement to people working on turning local data sources such as the Government’s open data archives into beautiful apps especially for Kiwis, we ran a contest on Humanising Data. Today we’re pleased to announce the five winning apps selected by the judges.
The Māori Language Awards 2012 were held on Friday last week in Tauranga.
It was an inspiring event that celebrated the contributions of 30 individuals and organisations who have contributed to te reo Māori through their work. I attended the event with my colleague Anne Taylor, who has supported Microsoft's investment in te reo Māori since 2004.
Microsoft has collaborated with language experts to bring te reo Māori to Windows, Office, and Internet Explorer. All it takes to add a te reo Māori user interface to these products is installing the free downloads for each product you have. We encourage everyone to try it.
We are honoured to be recognised for this investment through the awards. We would like to take a moment to acknowledge everyone who has been involved with this work, and thank them. This work has only been possible because of the passion and dedication of many people.
Last week we were delighted to join more than 2,000 technology professionals at TechEd New Zealand 2012.
A strong theme of this year’s keynote was the use of technology to make data human: Useful, exciting, beautiful, and even fun! It may not be the first thing that comes to mind when looking at a page of numbers, but keynote speaker Jer Thorp (Data Artist in Residence, New York Times) showed with great humour and conviction exactly how to achieve it.
Continuing the theme of making data human, Hon Amy Adams (Minister of Communications and Information Technology) discussed the data that Government collect and make freely available for businesses and developers to gain insight and build great applications. The Government’s data.govt.nz website now boasts almost 2,000 sets of open data.
We were pleased to announce a contest to build Windows 8 apps that make use of New Zealand data, for New Zealanders. The contest is open to all New Zealand residents, and we’re giving away five Windows RT slates to the contest winners as an extra incentive for people to get involved.
Businesses use technology to improve productivity. They need it to speed up innovation, and help with the basic needs to save money and get more done.
Internet-based subscriptions make cloud computing a cheaper way for businesses to get computer technology working for them. Capital expenditure and maintenance can largely be taken care of by cloud providers in return for a fee based on actual use. Because of scale and automation, that fee is typically less than your actual costs would be running services yourself.
Today's Microsoft cloud solutions can help businesses:
You can move at your own speed – Microsoft’s flexible approach allows the mix of private or public services (either in NZ or in a global datacentre) that suits you. There is no “our cloud or nothing” ultimatum.
This paper summarises some of the circumstances in which it's worth considering a cloud option, and some of the factors to weigh up when moving business-critical support services to the cloud.
A growing number of businesses in New Zealand are making a conscious effort to encourage and facilitate their employees’ volunteer activities in their own communities. At Microsoft New Zealand, some employees have chosen to use their three days of paid volunteer leave available to them each year to share their significant professional and technical skills with community organisations.
Plunket is the largest provider of free support services for the development, health and well-being of children under the age of five in New Zealand. The non-profit organization has been undertaking a technology transformation over the past 18 months, which Microsoft has been supporting with a significant software grant. Microsoft New Zealand employees, as enthusiastic supporters of the work Plunket does in the community, were eager to devote time and resources to work together with Plunket to ensure that they were able to maximize the value of the investment they received.
“Expertise in skill areas that Plunket does not currently possess, but Microsoft has in spades, is highly valued,” said Craig Le Quesne, General Manager, Information Communications Technology, Royal New Zealand Plunket Society. “
Parliament’s Education and Science Select Committee has launched an enquiry about education needs for the country’s future. The enquiry seeks to identify possible savings in technology and buildings, to develop recommendations regarding optimal learning environments, and to identify the skills required for teachers and students to achieve their full potential in the modern world. Nikki Kaye MP says, “Through the inquiry there is an opportunity to hear from stakeholders across both the education and technology sectors about how we ensure that New Zealand children can become even more digitally literate.”
The New Zealand education achieves excellent results based on international measures. We should be proud of that, but there is more to be done.
Every child needs to have a safe and supportive environment that respects and fosters learning. Those who understand how education can help them achieve more will naturally be motivated to achieve, at any stage of their life. An expectation of what the future holds can be transformative, and we believe that articulating career pathways to learners is an important component of this. Technology makes it easier than ever to give all learners the opportunity to excel, no matter who or where they are.
Microsoft has invested in communities and technology to support learning over many years, as we see it as a critical component of a smart, connected and competitive New Zealand. Last week, we were honoured that the Committee took the time to hear from Anthony Salcito (Vice-President, Education) while he was in New Zealand.
New Zealand’s first Cyber-Security Awareness Week is on now. It's been organised by NetSafe and the Government, with support from businesses including Microsoft and MSN New Zealand Ltd. It’s a time for everyone to work together to help all Kiwis be safer online.
Unfortunately, criminals are using the Internet to scam and cheat thousands of Kiwis each year. But a little bit of knowledge can do a lot to protect you.
Online safety matters
Crime has gone online, so we need to be smart about what the criminals are doing. Malicious software and fraudulent websites have become widespread tools of crime. They are used to get sensitive information from people – things like credit card details, passwords, and business secrets.
Once criminals have this information, they will use it for their own purposes, to try to make money at your expense. Or they might try to get at your friends and family, or your employer. Malware can also give criminals control of people’s computers. Usually people whose computers have been infected don’t even realise their computers could be rented out by underground networks to spread spam and scams to new victims.
So, what are some of the top tips to help people stay safer online?