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You may recall that back in February, Google got some favorable publicity for providing hosted Gmail for students at San Jose City College. At the time, some Microsoft PR people were upset that Microsoft wasn’t getting equal ink for their own similar program which no one else seemed to know about. The obvious answer was for Microsoft to publicize their own offering and if you were waiting with bated breath for that to happen, you can relax, because on Friday they released a Press Q&A about the Windows Live @ edu program featuring Glasgow Caledonian University in Scotland as the reference customer:
In January, the university began rolling out e-mail accounts with its domain name to all 15,000 students and plans to offer the service to its alumni as well. Students aren’t likely to bump up against mailbox limits; the e-mail accounts, now based on MSN Hotmail, each come with a 250MB mailbox and will grow to 2GB when students are switched to Microsoft’s new Windows Live Mail later this year. The e-mail service also brings the features Watson’s discerning students demand – advanced junk e-mail filtering, antivirus protection tools, calendar and an address book.
Along with the e-mail service came a big bonus. Using the same ID, the university is also deploying Windows Live Messenger so students and staff can keep in touch with free audio and video conversation features as well as text messaging; MSN Spaces for participants to share blogs and build communities; and MSN Alerts so the university can notify students of special events. Students can access their e-mail wirelessly from smart phones and Pocket PCs – a major benefit given the ubiquity of mobile devices among students and the freedom those devices give them to send and retrieve e-mail without returning to a desktop computer. And Glasgow Caledonian University didn’t have to purchase an expensive e-mail system – because Microsoft is providing and hosting this service.
Glasgow Caledonian University may be special in many ways, but its deal with Microsoft isn’t one of them. Some 57 schools worldwide have either rolled out or have contracted to roll out their own branded and customized versions of this service from Microsoft and as many as 100 institutions are expected to do so by year end. All are participating in the Windows Live @ edu program, which provides institutions of higher education with flexible, robust and reliable hosted-communications services for students, alumni, and applicants. A minimal financial and infrastructure investment is made by the university to participate in the program, with Microsoft hosting the e-mail service while helping ensure the institutions maintain full control and management, including the ability to create, delete, and store e-mail addresses for their constituents.
As we mentioned at the time, the minimal investment is an installation of “Microsoft Identity Integration Server (MIIS) on a Windows Server to handle the user management.” That rather keeps it from being a hands-off offering like Google’s, but either one is undoubtedly a good deal for the schools since they are free. As for Google and Microsoft, besides the public relations value, what they are offering is only a little different from what is already free to all comers on the Internet with the exception of using the school’s domain name.
LiveSide has the story:
On Thursday the public beta of Custom Domains was upgraded. Some good news for those who have been asking for Windows Live Mail inboxes instead of Hotmail inboxes, 40 Mail Beta invites will be given to domain owners next week (14/2).
Hit the link for other changes.
The post also mentions yesterday’s kerfuffle in which various Microsoft employees feel aggrieved that Live Domains doesn’t seem to be getting the publicity that Google’s hosting of email for students at San Jose City College received. Microsoft does have a hosted WindowsLive@edu program for educational institutions which, despite the “Live” name, is a bundle of existing MSN services including Hotmail, Messenger, Spaces, etc.
There’s nothing wrong with that, but the offering isn’t exactly “hands off” infrastructure since the customer has to have an installation of Microsoft Identity Integration Server (MIIS) on a Windows Server to handle the user management. By contrast, Google says “there’s no hardware or software for you to install or maintain.” It will be interesting to see if the Microsoft offering changes in this regard as the transition to the new Live services takes place, but it merely adds to the main point which is competition for traditional software from Web based offerings.
While Microsoft is still in beta with its hosted email service, Windows Live Domains, Google has announced that they are providing hosted Gmail for students at San Jose City College. It’s a beta too, like so many Google offerings, but SJCC has 10,000 students relying on this beta. Google is also inviting other organizations to try it out. To be fair, Windows Live Custom Domains also features the less compelling hosted instant messaging, but Google could provide that too, of course.
Beyond the battle of the dueling Internet email services, the underlying issue is that no matter which one is chosen, it’s less business for traditional software as Nicholas Carr points out in Gmail attacks Outlook. There may well be fees for these services when they launch for real and/or they may serve up ads to users like the garden variety Gmail and Hotmail, but is seems very likely that they are going to put a crimp in the revenue stream from some of Microsoft’s biggest cash cows.
Update 2/11: Microsoft’s Robert Scoble has a bit of a rant about this story. Of interest is that he reveals that Windows Live Custom Domains has signed up “20 colleges/universities” for their beta.
LiveSide, a community site for Microsoft Windows Live, Xbox Live, and Office Live enthusiasts, stirred up press interest with a posting this week that Office Live “pre-beta” invitations have already been sent out:
Promising “a free Web site with your own domain name, free hosting, online business applications, e-mail and more” along with easy access to “your company e-mail, customer and project information from almost any Internet-connected computer” this is one Live service that is definitely not targeted at the home consumer.
You can still sign up for the beta program at the Office Live homepage though as always, not every applicant will be offered a place on the beta.
The beta is open to US residents only, and requires Windows XP and Microsoft Office 2000 or higher.
Later in the week another poster further roiled the waters with the observation that the “beta should be released any day now” and that features of Microsoft Office Small Business Accounting and Windows Live Custom Domains would be part of the package as well.
Office Live was announced with Windows Live on Nov. 1 of last year.
