January 14 was the first working day of newly appointed Microsoft Bulgaria (MB) managing director Ognyan Kiryakov.

The company gave a news conference on that day, attended by Kiryakov and former MB director Teodor Milev.

Milev will now be in charge of Microsoft common strategy and implementation of the MB project Partners Towards Knowledge for Central and Eastern Europe.

Kiryakov said that MB offered a wide range of services, starting with consumer decisions, decisions for medium and big business, to software decisions for large corporate clients. He said that he had been attracted to the company by MB's "social responsibility": all the employees and company's managers were, he said, very concerned and bound to the company's development, as well as to the development of the planet in general.

Kiryakov said that MB was currently working on three main programmes that also would be priorities of the company in 2008. The first is the continuing initiative to support business in accessing European Union grants.

"This is number one priority for us," Kiryakov said. He said that high technology was necessary in all fields, from agriculture developers to companies working in IT.

"We think this cause is worth the effort," Kiryakov said. According to him, partnership with MB is a key point for businesses.

The MB project in support of local businesses applying for EU funds was announced in October 2007 and since then the company had started more than 20 projects, which are now in the scrutiny phase, and had given more than 20 consultations to other firms. "So far the companies like the system," Milev said. He said that the Industrial Capital Association and CISCO Bulgaria had also shown interest in becoming members of the Microsoft European Union Grants Advisor association.

The second major programme involves the company providing support for the development and modernsation of Bulgarian education and development of the teacher.bg website. On the website, schoolmasters share good practices and exchange experience.

Innovative Teachers is one of three programmes of Partners in Education.

Milev said that teachers who got involved in the network could, after registration, receive Virtual Classroom Tours (VCT) that include lessons on how to present the study material. The second advantage of the network is the online English-language education. Teacher.bg also organises a chain of meetings during which teachers demonstrate their best practices. The best practices are later recorded on VCD and uploaded on the internet.

"During the International Teachers' Meeting in Zagreb in 2008, Bulgarian teachers will also take part and they will show what they do here," Milev said.

Kiryakov said that MB assisted young people in Bulgaria through its assistance in the development of the job search engine Jobs.bg.

MB's third main programme in 2008 involves ensuring that children practise "safe surfing" on the internet.

MB would continue working in the whole education field throughout 2008, the news conference was told.

The company's schedule for the first half of 2008 includes a round table to be held in February on children's safety on the internet.

In March, MB will launch new programmes Windows Server 2008, Visual Studio 2008 and SPO Server 2008. Small Business Server will also be launched by MB, which will be installed and used by small companies, without the need for external support. "The companies will receive information about all potential problems that may arise," Milev said.

He said that Visual Studio 2008 was a programme for software developers enabling each to use the programming language they found most suitable.

In April MB will hold Days of Microsoft. In May, the fifth national conference IT in Education: A Necessary Investment in Bulgaria's Future will be held. June is the month of the Microsoft Information Forum.

Questioned by The Sofia Echo about the development of the project for installing Microsoft systems in the state administration, Kiryakov refused to comment (for more information, please see Bulgaria's open administration).