Capping a year of intense competition that spanned the globe and fused technological expertise with artistic spirit, Microsoft Corp. today crowned the winners of the second annual Imagine Cup student technology competition. S. Somasegar, corporate vice president of the Developer Division at Microsoft, and Emilio Umeoka, president of Microsoft Brazil, presented the winners with their awards today at the Microsoft® Professional Developers Conference in conjunction with Microsoft's TechoEd Brazil in Sao Paulo, Brazil, following a weekend of competition and judging in Foz do Iguaçu, Brazil, featuring 150 student finalists representing nearly 40 countries. The Imagine Cup represents one of many ways in which Microsoft is enabling the world's community of students to realize their potential.

"Each of these students represents the best and brightest of tomorrow's technology leaders, and their innovative creations demonstrate their enormous potential to change and inspire the world," Somasegar said. "It's a true pleasure to congratulate not only today's winners, but also the tens of thousands of Imagine Cup participants around the world on a job very well done."

Also today, Microsoft announced the localization and worldwide availability of theSpoke.net, an online club built and shaped by the student community as a place to collaborate, discuss, connect and discover. Today, theSpoke.net is localized in six languages: Brazilian Portuguese, French, German, Japanese, Simplified Chinese and Spanish. Localized sites for Italian, Korean and Traditional Chinese, currently in beta testing, are expected to be released by September 2004. theSpoke.net also features a Premium Membership Program that is now available in Brazil and Latin America as well as in Canada, France, Japan, the United Kingdom and the United States. The Premium Membership Program is designed to provide students with easier access to software in their quest to better utilize technology and realize their full potential.