MICROSOFT INVESTS OVER $50 MILLION IN PROGRAMS TO AID STUDENTS AND FACULTY

Maintains Commitment to Advancing Technology in Higher Education

PHILADELPHIA - FEB. 12, 1996 - As part of its continuing commitment to
higher education, Microsoft Corp. is again joining with the ACM, the
Association for Computing, to present this year's International Collegiate
Programming Contest. Microsoft will also introduce two programs designed
to provide faculty and students access to information and tools: the
Microsoft Developer Curriculum Project and the Microsoft Developer
Division Instructional Lab Grant Program.

The ACM Programming Contest, to be held in Philadelphia on Feb. 17, 1996,
showcases top collegiate programming talent, giving students a chance to
display their knowledge and problem-solving expertise. Teams from 43
schools worldwide will compete for $31,500 in educational scholarships to
be divided among the top six teams. In addition to the scholarships,
Microsoft will donate software licenses valued at an estimated $12 million
(approximate retail prices) to the 1, 000 schools that participated in
this year's regional contests.

"Microsoft shares the ACM's commitment to advancing education and achieving
technical excellence in schools," said Joel Kanter, academic program
manager at Microsoft. "We consider our ability to provide students and
faculty access to the latest tools and technologies to be a key investment
in the next generation of the high-technology industry."

"Today's students and their faculty mentors are the cornerstone of
tomorrow's software development community," said Bill Poucher, ACM contest
director and professor of computer science at Baylor University. "We
applaud Microsoft's leadership in providing the technical foundation and
investing in the 1,001 teams competing in the ACM Programming Contest
worldwide."

MICROSOFT DEVELOPER CURRICULUM PROJECT

The Microsoft Developer Curriculum Project Web site, started in 1995, gives
educators access to the information and tools they need to use the newest
programming languages and database tools for supporting their courses. The
project's World Wide Web page, located at http://msdeved.isu.edu/ms, links
syllabuses and other materials from more than 200 two-year and four-year
colleges and universities for courses in computer science, business
information, math, sciences and engineering. The courses described on the
Web site use Microsoft language and database products to teach all levels
of programming skills and software development, as well as to illustrate
how to use programming for problem solving. By spring 1996, the Web site
will include links to materials for more than 400 courses.

MICROSOFT DEVELOPER DIVISION INSTRUCTIONAL LAB GRANT PROGRAM

The Instructional Lab Grant Program awards software licenses for Microsoft
development tools and operating systems to support courses in academic
areas such as computer science, business-information technologies,
engineering and math. The program, started in the spring of 1995, awards
software licenses valued at $20 million to approximately 200 U.S. colleges
and universities each year. In return, schools participating in the Lab
Grant Program are asked to provide course syllabuses for the Microsoft
Developer Curriculum Project. Starting Feb. 15, 1996, interested faculty
can access the Microsoft Developer Curriculum Project Web site for the
latest information about the Lab Grant Program or to download the online
application. The deadline for submitting grant applications is April 30,
1996.

Founded in 1975, Microsoft (NASDAQ "MSFT") is the worldwide leader in
software for personal computers. The company offers a wide range of
products and services for business and personal use, each designed with
the mission of making it easier and more enjoyable for people to take
advantage of the full power of personal computing every day.

Note to editors: If you are interested in viewing additional information on
Microsoft, please visit the Microsoft home page at
http://www.microsoft.com/corpinfo. To receive Microsoft press releases by
fax, please call (800) 859-5915 in the United States or (201) 333-0314
internationally.

THE FOLLOWING ARE THE FINAL TEAMS IN THE 1996 ACM INTERNATIONAL COLLEGIATE
PROGRAMMING CONTEST SPONSORED BY MICROSOFT:

Albert-Ludwigs-Freiburg, Germany
Belgrade University, Yugoslavia
California Institute of Technology
Carleton College
Carnegie-Mellon University
Coe College
Columbia University
Comenius University, Slovakia
Eindhoven University of Technology, The Netherlands
Florida Institute of Technology
Harvard University
Korea Advanced Institute of Science and Technology
Louisiana State University
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Moscow State University, Russia
National Taiwan University
Rice University
Shanghai University, China
Simon Fraser University
St. Petersburg Institute of Fine Mechanics and Optics, Russia
Swarthmore College
Texas Technical University
The Hong Kong University of Science and Technology
Tsinghua University, Taiwan
Universitat Ulm, Germany
University of Bucharest, Romania
University of California, Berkeley
University of Central Florida
University of Delaware
University of Kentucky
University of Miami
University of Missouri-Rolla
University of Nevada at Las Vegas
University of Queensland, Australia
University of Saskatchewan
University of Sofia, St. Kliment Ohridski, Bulgaria
University of Toronto
University of Utah
University of Waterloo
University of Auckland, New Zealand
Virginia Tech
Warsaw University, Poland
Wheaton College
 
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