[via BetaNews]

Very good initiative! Good point for MS to have integrated this add-in. Free download here.

[…] “The goal of Creative Commons is to provide authors and artists with simple tools to mark their creative work with the freedom they intend it to carry,” founder Lawrence Lessig said. “We’re incredibly excited to work with Microsoft to make that ability easily available to the hundreds of millions of users of Microsoft Office.”

Users of the add-in would be able to select from a variety of licenses available from Creative Commons. Additionally, the add-in could be used to allow work to become part of the public domain.

“The collaboration of Microsoft and Creative Commons to bring Creative Commons licenses to Microsoft Office applications underscores how for-profit companies and nonprofit organizations can work together to bring innovative ideas and tools to the public,” said Alan Yates, general manager of the Information Worker Division at Microsoft.