SoftwareGoogle, Microsoft woo higher ed with free online services
Google and Microsoft are wooing college and university IT departments into outsourcing not just student e-mail but customized, Web-based productivity applications and calendaring.
You can think of it as "Schoogle." That would be Google Inc.'s laid-back but unflinchingly ambitious plan to woo college and university IT departments into outsourcing not just student e-mail but also Web-based productivity applications and calendaring to the search company. And a growing number of schools are doing just that. This week, Google announced 13 academic institutions had signed up for the free, and ad-free, cloud-based services, ranging from the Collin County Community College District, in Plano, Texas, to giants such as Kent State and Indiana University. That brings the total number of Googlized institutions worldwide to about 2,000 since the Google Apps Education Edition program was announced almost two years ago. Google said that there are now 1 million active users among their students and faculty. To promote the idea, Google also announced that it's launching in September the "App to School" road trip, a 10-stop tour, aboard an "eco-friendly" bus, visiting schools from coast to coast to talk about Google applications and listen to what students have to say about them. Google isn't alone in courting both IT departments and, especially, students: Microsoft Corp.'s presence, with its Microsoft Live online services, makes the courtship a battlefield. Outfitting students with Windows laptops is no longer enough to ensure their loyalty. To meet and hold a new generation that's living on the Web, both companies are turning to a new generation of Web applications... [ Read more on www.computerworld.com ]
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