Microsoft thanks customers as Office 365 passes million mark

Office 365 Home Premium proves the fastest selling edition of the vendor's productivity suite yet

Redmond has announced that Office 365 Home Premium has passed the one million subscriber mark in 100 days since its January launch, making it a faster mover off the virtual shelf than free cloud-based apps such as Facebook, Dropbox and Spotify.

John Case, corporate vice president of marketing for Office at Microsoft, said more than one had been sold every second on average so far in the 100 days to 29 May.

"People tell us they are choosing the service because it delivers full Office, it keeps them always up to date and it is fantastic value," he wrote in his company blog. "Thanks a million."

Instagram was one cloud app that hit the one-million subscriber mark faster.

Some 20 million copies, including subscriptions, have reportedly been sold to Office 365 across all versions so far.

Microsoft's news follows its 13 May announcement that it believes businesses are also choosing Office 365 over Google Apps -- which it says is because of its security, privacy, and enterprise-class capabilities.

It named six organisations across the globe that had reportedly selected Office 365 after comparing it with Google Apps: Caltex Australia, FHI 360, Santa Clara County, Sensia Hälsovård AB, SEPCOIII, and Arysta LifeScience.

Microsoft claims that Office 365 offers "the most robust" set of certifications and standards options of any major cloud-based productivity service, as well as the US's HIPAA requirements.