Biggest US cloud deployment kills Google Apps for Education
Summary: The state of Kentucky has rolled out Microsoft's Live@edu service across 700,000 staff and students in a single weekend, the quickest and largest cloud deployment in US history.
In what is expected to be the largest cloud deployment in the United States, Microsoft's Live@edu service has been rolled out to over 700,000 students and staff in Kentucky, the state education department for education has confirmed via Microsoft.
This is the pinnacle point in a series of high profile anti-Google Apps moves which could be a turning point in the company's offering of their Live@edu competing service.
The migration from their old Exchange 2003 on-site service to cloud-accessed Exchange 2010 has also been one of the quickest deployments ever seen, with over half a million accounts being migrated over in a single weekend. There is no doubt that the deployment was assisted by existing Microsoft technologies which would have made the transition smoother.
Live@edu now reaches over 11 million people worldwide in 10,000 schools, across 130 countries.
Google anounced recently that their instant-communication Twitter-like tool Wave was rolled out to Google Apps for Education users, as well as a highly anticipated migration tool to assist switching from Outlook to Gmail. However this does not seem to have had any immediate impact on Google's declining userbase numbers, with many students being moved away from their university-trialed Google pilot service.
One school is Yale, which halted its Google Apps service trial, which Microsoft now sees as an endorsement to its own competing service. Last month, the University of California Davis hit Google hard with their plans to cease their Google Apps trial citing "unacceptable privacy levels".
Google's Apps for Education website states that 8 million students worldwide are using their product, over a third less of what Microsoft currently serves. Though many private industries and organisations are favouring Google Apps for their collaboration features, the student market is still struggling to consider Google over Microsoft in the outsourcing arena.
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Talkback
Scary thought of MS having anything to do with this
Microsoft = FAIL in everything.
Of course that grape is sour
Sour indeed!
Seeing the MS Office franchise go down in smoke.
I wonder how much this is hurting Microsoft's bottom line
Looks like it's hurting Google and you, OS Reload
What's wrong, run out of excuses to make up?
LMAO! :)
RE: Biggest US cloud deployment kills Google Apps for Education
Maybe, but whichever way it goes Microsoft is the loser
Google's offering uses surplus computing capacity (like Amazon offerings do) while Microsoft is being forced to add new capacity that will cannibalize their major cash cow (MS Office.)
Slowly but surely Google is driving Microsoft's bottom line into the red with minimal impact on Google itself.
RE: Biggest US cloud deployment kills Google Apps for Education
Quickly and surely, OS Reload is making a fool of himself
You sound more like a desparate man trying to fool people into thinking your own ship isn't sinking.
Sorry if people are smart enough not to want to jump on your boat. :)
RE: Biggest US cloud deployment kills Google Apps for Education
"Dinosaurs once ruled the world
@OhTheHumanit
But they died. ALL OF THEM"
Some evolved which is more than I can say for some of the commenters on here.
@bobiroc
See, OS Reload, you telling another lie again
That's the problem OS Reload. For you
For you these boards are some sort of experience in which you probally get all excited by insulting and trolling hiding behind some silly screen name.
All I'm doing is showing you just how annoying you really are.
Now do us all a favor: Either grow up, or go home.
@zern: Hope you're feeling better now
Then Google is fairly stupid.
If they have that much surplus. Did they mis-budget their needs and are now over-paying capital investment costs?
RE: Biggest US cloud deployment kills Google Apps for Education
Wow
Either that or the make up crap on how Microsoft is doomed and will fail soon. Sorry I have been hearing that for 20 years.
I know some smaller school districts that are also leaving GoogleApps for Live@Edu and it has nothing to do with being paid off. I, like these other school districts, found that Live@Edu was easier to manage, offered more features, better integration with in house solutions already in place, and followed through with it's promises to deliver new features and better management.
Why can't just be that in this case the Live@Edu solution was the better fit. I am sure for some GoogleApps works better for and that is OK. People/Organizations are allowed to choose without the need to make up bogus claims about bribery or outrageous predictions about the doom of one company over another just because you hate company X and since you have no real input to provide you act like a troll and child and make such comments.
Double wow
Someone raises serious concerns about the financial viability (and motivation) behind this move by Microsoft (they are investing heavily in a product that cannibalizes the cash cow MS Office, don't forget) and you can't resist spouting your drivel completely ignoring the concerns that were raised.
Wow... and double Wow!
RE: Biggest US cloud deployment kills Google Apps for Education
Sorry your BIAS and hatred towards Microsoft makes your posts irrelevant. Sure MS Office makes money for Microsoft but their product also works very well for the many people and organizations that choose to use it along with other Microsoft products.
It is the fact that Live@Edu can work with our in house technology such as Office, Active Directory, Exchange, SharePoint, & Moodle that we chose it over GoogleApps. We tested both and found that Live@Edu was easier to set up and manage and offered more at the low low price of Free.
So until you can remove your Anti-MS glasses and see things with an Open Mind you will never be able to look at technology and find the best solution that fits yours or an organizations needs. If a Microsoft solution does not fit because of features or price then we look for alternatives and if you can find me a Solution that integrates as seemless as the Microsoft solutions we have in place when it comes to Email, Document Creation and collaboration, communications such as IM and Voicemail on the Desktop, Web, and Mobile side then I suggest you seek out some counseling for your hatred against Microsoft. It is just unhealthy to harbor in all those feelings. I do not go around criticizing people that choose the technology that they prefer or works for them unless they chose it just because it is NOT Microsoft.
@bobi: More double wow
I'm sorry for you and Microsoft, leaving the financial issues unaddressed will not make them go away you know. Those issues will keep on haunting you for years to come.