Weekly #WhyMSFT Round-Up 10/12/2012

Each week, we round up industry news and articles you might have missed. Enjoy this week’s selections.

Steve Ballmer Asks Customers, Partners and Shareholders to Believe in Microsoft
Steve Ballmer: “Fantastic devices and services for end users will drive our enterprise businesses forward.”

Microsoft Wins Major Deal to Cloud Enable Ireland’s Third-level Sector
Microsoft’s Irish division signs a three-year agreement with HEAnet to cloud enable Ireland’s universities and college campuses with Microsoft Office 365, Windows Azure, and Microsoft DreamSpark.

EPHEC Saves Students Time and Money With the Cloud
The Ecole Pratique des Hautes Etudes Commerciales (EPHEC), a Brussels-based university college renowned for its business curriculum, switches to Office 365.

UCSB Decides to Eliminate U-Mail: New Virtual Communications Platform to Start on Its Way
University of California Santa Barbara Selects Office 365 over Google mail based on its “cleaner” look, integration with Outlook, split screen, and email and folder management capabilities.

Update to Office Web Apps with SharePoint SU4
Microsoft to update Office Web Apps as part of SharePoint Online service update, delivering more editing and formatting controls, co-authoring support across the web apps, and expanded device support—including editing from tablets.

Microsoft Will Judge Your Company's Cloud Readiness
Microsoft offers cloud security readiness tool to help IT managers assess what issues their enterprise might face if it moves to the cloud.

Windows 8: 4 Smart Security Improvements
Security expert analysis calls Windows 8 “the most secure version of Microsoft Windows to date.”