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Topic: Google

Google Apps adds anti-spam: Student email war continues

Summary: Google Apps users now has counter-spam features. Microsoft is trailing behind with anti-virus features expected soon, but shooting fast ahead with overall users.

Zack Whittaker

By for iGeneration |

Google Apps will now contain an anti-spam feature using Domain Keys Identified Mail (DKIM) to sign outgoing messages as a method of authentication. Ordinary Gmail has had this for some time, but Google Apps has finally caught up.

This means users of Google Apps, including school and university users have the option, if their organisation supports it, to add an extra layer of protection to their inboxes enabling their messages to easily slip through Google's spam filter. 

In short, it means more genuine emails will pass through the spam filters unharmed and dejunked.

But Microsoft's competing and succeeding email client, Live@edu does not support lacking this industry in their cloud offering, where a non-hosted Exchange server does. But Live@edu, soon to be Office 365 for Education, has another trick up its sleeve instead.

As Mary Jo Foley reported just before Christmas, before the transition to Office 365 for Education, Forefront technology will be plugged into the cloud in the form of spam and anti-virus management.

In both cases, however, spam email still remains a problem even though this past month overall spam levels have been significantly lower. Why didn't Google and Microsoft do anything about this sooner?

The email wars continue...

Topics: Google, Collaboration, Security

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9 comments
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  • RE: Google Apps adds anti-spam: Student email war continues

    I fail to see were the Microsoft offering does not currently include AV or anti-spam(AS). The Office 365 offering allows AV/AS "management" due to the remote management features of ECP from Office 365's basis on Exchange 2010. The link you provided points to someone asking about setting a smarthost for Live@edu. A smarthost is not to be confused with AV/AS but simply just someone elses SMTP gateway that allows routing for other mail servers.

    As a matter of fact, on the Live@edu services outline page it states this.
    ?Protect email from spam & viruses
    http://www.microsoft.com/liveatedu/new-student-email.aspx?locale=en-US&country=US
    jmiller1978
    Reply Vote

    • Would really be surprised....

      @jmiller1978 .....if livemail did not have antivirus/antispam built-in. Hotmail has had both for some time. Had a user complain a few weeks ago that she could not download an attachment from someone from the post office?! Checked out her email - she was using hotmail - and sure enough it was a virus that a MS identified and blocked from delivery. I was pretty impressed by that - most email systems wouldn't think twice to supply that attachment.
      rock06r
      Reply Vote

      • RE: Google Apps adds anti-spam: Student email war continues

        @rock06r

        Spam and malware protection are important as they might be used to obtain personal details, demographics, record the sites you click on and target ads to you. Google isn't just protecting you, they're eliminating competitors ;-)
        tonymcs@...
        Reply Vote

  • RE: Google Apps adds anti-spam: Student email war continues

    "But Microsoft?s competing and succeeding email client, Live@edu does not support lacking this industry in their cloud offering, where a non-hosted Exchange server does."

    I can't make heads or tails of that sentence....
    jlee@...
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Google Apps adds anti-spam: Student email war continues

      @jlee@... Ditto here ... let's try that one more time.
      Trep Ford
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Google Apps adds anti-spam: Student email war continues

      @jlee@...

      That sentence confused me too. Is it just me or does ZDNET seem to be in bed with Google and Apple?
      Rob.sharp
      Reply Vote

    • RE: Google Apps adds anti-spam: Student email war continues

      Yeah I can rarely make heads or tails of anything this guy writes.
      ElgatoNL
      Reply Vote

  • Why not sooner

    That's what's nice with competition. But it is important that nobody get's communistic figures like 90% in some marktet.
    bezoeker
    Reply Vote

    • RE: Google Apps adds anti-spam: Student email war continues

      @bezoeker
      That's more like monopoly capitalistic.
      fairportfan
      Reply Vote
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