Tag: Windows

Microsoft Education Labs is taking Live@edu to the next level

Microsoft Live@edu is a very strong solution on itself, when looking at The Netherlands it is the most widely used cloud services solution in education today and growing at a very rapid rate.

One of the most asked ‘feature’ is integration with 3rd party platform and with the Microsoft platform (i.e. SharePoint, Exchange, etc.). Microsoft Education Labs addresses this need .. big time. Just take a look at some of the most recent projects in here :

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Moodle is obviously a widely used platform in education, also in The Netherlands. Integrating Moodle with Office, SharePoint and Live@edu means institutions get much more return on investment and much better use of the platform(s) all together.

Go check out Microsoft Education Labs

De NGN mag best wat kritischer zijn op de inhoud van haar nieuwsbrief

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Vandaag was ik bij een partner voor een presentatie over onze online diensten. Een van de aanwezigen wees mij op een recente nieuwsbrief van de NGN.

Het item gaat over  een “de introductie van de nieuwe Windows Live Hotmail en een vergelijk met de competitie, maar is gebaseerd op verkeerde aannamen.

Nu respecteer ik een ieders mening en we kunnen niet allemaal Microsoft fans zijn, maar je hoeft het er ook niet duimendik bovenop te leggen toch.

Een “nieuwsitem” over Windows Live Hotmail vullen met verkeerde informatie en vage conclusies is onnodig en voegt voor niemand iets toe.

De auteur (RO ?) van het stuk vraagt of iemand van Microsoft commentaar wil geven … Nou graag ! Loopt u even mee ?

Microsoft probeert een antwoord te formuleren op Google’s Gmail, door diverse verbeteringen aan te brengen in Windows Live Hotmail.

Microsoft probeert geen antwoord op Google’s Gmail te formuleren. Windows Live Hotmail is sinds 1996 de  marktleider in webbased email en is een factor 3 groter dan de runner up.

Microsoft blijft haar online diensten natuurlijk constant innoveren omdat deze bij moet blijven met de laatste trends. Die trends hebben vandaag de dag veel te maken met integratie met social networking, delen van foto’s en ook voor consumenten meer productiviteitsoplossingen zoals Office in de browser. Zie ook de upgrade van Hotmail in de context van het hele Live Platform. Ook de nieuwe versie van Windows Live Messenger is een echte metamorfose

Daarnaast wordt Hotmail een stuk veiliger door volledig SSL te ondersteunen, komt er een slimmer junk mail filter, en een functie van ‘Trusted Senders’. Hotmail krijgt een ‘conversation view’, waarmee een e-mail discussie beter in beeld wordt gebracht (een functie die Gmail al bezit).

De vraag hier is natuurlijk hoe het zit met de beveiligingen in Gmail dat lijkt me ook belangrijk. Daarnaast zie ik nog atijd veel meer SPAM in mijn Gmail dan in Hotmail, ook erg irritant. Daarnaast zijn 9 van de 10 spamcomments op mijn weblog afkomstig uit Gmail boxen nog irritanter …

Internationaal leveren Hotmail en Gmail in de markt voor webmail een gevecht om de tweede plaats; beide hebben meer dan 40 miljoen gebruikers in de VS. Marktleider Yahoo heeft er meer dan 80 miljoen. Meer info, blogbijdrage en video, hier.

Je trekt je de verkeerde conclusies en noemt iets een “gevecht” .. gebaseerd waarop ?  Hierbij even wat links met de juiste feiten ter informatie :

  • Hotmail vs Gmail in Nederland
    http://livelog.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!F22E9E9D8F70E526!1889.entry

    Deze data is iets meer dan een jaar oud, maar recentere info  wijkt niet veel af. Kijk niet alleen naar het absolute aantal emailaccounts, maar ook naar de minuten online. Zoals je ziet significante verschillen tussen Hotmail en Gmail.

(Ik vraag me af hoe die marktverhoudingen liggen voor de zakelijke gebruikers in Europa. Ik vermoed dat Gmail daar marktleider is, en dat Hotmail en Yahoo op grote afstand volgen, misschien zelfs een marginale rol spelen.

Is er iemand van jullie die beschikt over die gegevens? Als je het mij vraagt heeft Hotmail een enorme slag te maken om zelfs maar in de buurt te komen van Gmail.

Ja hoor die cijfers zijn bekend :

  • De educatiemarkt wereldwijd : 
    Google 7 Miljoen gebruikers, Microsoft 50 Miljoen : Link
  • Interessante statistieken over de Windows Live omgeving : Link

    Dit geeft wat meer context aan de omvang van deze diensten. Als je dit afzet tegen de ontwikkelingen van Google en er van uitgaat dat Gmail verreweg hun grootste dienst is(naast search natuurlijk) roept dit misschien wat respect op ?

  • En dan Hotmail …

    Hotmail is a gigantic service in all dimensions. Here are some of the highlights:

    • We are a worldwide service, delivering localized versions of Hotmail to 59 regional markets, in 36 languages.
    • We host well over 1.3 billion inboxes (some users have multiple inboxes)
    • Over 350 million people are actively using Hotmail on a monthly basis (source: comScore, August 2009).
    • We handle over 3 billion messages a day and filter out over 1 billion spam messages – mail that you never see in your inbox.
    • We are growing storage at over 2 petabytes a month (a petabyte is ~1 million gigabytes or ~1000 terabytes).
    • We currently have over 155 petabytes of storage deployed (70% of storage is taken up with attachments, typically photos).
    • We’re the largest SQL Server 2008 deployment in the world (we monitor and manage many thousands of SQL servers).
      Bron : http://livelog.spaces.live.com/blog/cns!F22E9E9D8F70E526!1889.entry

    Inmiddels telt Windows Live Hotmail meer dan 400 Miljoen gebruikers wereldwijd.Los van de cijfers zie je dat Microsoft ook transparant is in haar communicatie over de online diensten.
    Ping me even als je dit soort informatie van via Google ergens ziet over hun omgeving .. ik ben ze nog niet tegengekomen.Je vermoeden is dus niet juist.

Technisch zou het misschien nog lukken, maar de reputatie van Hotmail is toch heel anders dan van Gmail. ‘Hotmail’ heeft al een ‘mindere’ klank over zich… al dan niet terecht. Bovendien snoept Gmail momenteel klanten af van Exchange.

Even voor de duidellijkheid .. Google tranformeert haar consumer emailplatform naar een oplossing voor zowel consumenten als zakelijke klanten. Nu is dit vanuit een branding optiek wel sliim maar zakelijk klanten stellen andere eisen aan hun mailplatform. Je zou kunnen zeggen  dat er meer moet zijn dan een goede ‘klank’.

Windows Live Hotmail is primair gericht op consumenten. De zakellijke emailoplossing van Microsoft is Exchange (Online).

Er zijn een paar voorbeelden van bedrijven die hun oude Exchange omgeving inruilen voor Gmail, dat is een fact of life. Maar het is wellicht goed te zien dat de ‘magic’ voor sommige bedrijven snel is uitgewerkt. Bedrijven geven massal de voorkeur aan Outlook als email client en zoals ik al zei stellen zware eisen aan hun bedrijfsemail en collaboration platform.
Een goed voorbeeld is Serena software .. eens voor korte tijd een Google klant en nu aan het migreren naar Microsoft Online Services : Link

Misschien niet in grote getale, maar toch. Hoeveel bedrijven zullen er zijn die zijn overgeschakeld van Exchange naar Hotmail? De vraag alleen al klinkt lachwekkend. 🙂

Lachwekkend misschien niet, maar je voelt denk ik zelf al aan dat Windows Live Hotmail primair gericht is op consumenten. De online oplossing voor zakelijke klanten is Exchange Online : Link.

Tot slot nog wat goede informatie voor met name zakelijke gebruikers in hun afweging Microsoft vs Google : Why Microsoft

Upgrade coming for Windows Live Workspace

Windows Live Workspace will be upgraded in the coming months. Users can upgrade their accounts for free :

Your Microsoft Office Live Workspace beta account is about to become even better. You already know it’s a great way to store and share documents, and soon it will come together with Windows Live SkyDrive to become a great way to view, create, and edit documents from virtually anywhere.

In the coming months, you’ll receive notification when your Office Live Workspace account will be upgraded, along with further details. Until then, there’s no need for you to do anything.

With your SkyDrive account, you’ll get 25 GB of online storage for sharing both documents and photos. Your SkyDrive account is designed to work smoothly with other Windows Live services like Hotmail and Messenger. And you’ll be able to view and edit documents from virtually anywhere* using new Microsoft Office Web Apps.

Questions? Visit the Office Live Workspace upgrade center.

Source : Microsoft Windows Live Team

Several Universities abandoning Google Apps for Education #live@edu

Yale University delayed its decision to move to Google Apps :

Yale Delays Switch to Google Apps, Cites Security Concerns

Yale University was set to switch over its campus from using Horde Webmail to Gmail and its complement of services included in the Google Apps for Education package, but officials in the Information Technology Services division have announced they’re putting that move on hold. The gradual transition to Gmail would have been ongoing through the year and completed by next spring.

According to the Yale Daily News, the original decision to switch over to Gmail(Gmail) was met with concerns and reservations from the faculty and administration. Several felt the decision had been made too hastily and without proper University approval.

Source : Mashable.com

University of California stopped using Google Apps / Gmail because of security concerns and pulled back its 30.000 users :

Major University Dumps Gmail Over Security Concerns

The University of California, Davis has stopped using Gmail for its 30,000-member staff and faculty body. The university was trying Gmail for faculty and staff with plans to roll out service to the entire campus. But school officials say the e-mail system isn’t secure or private enough to meet their standards.

CIO Peter Siegel, Academic Senate IT Chair Niels Jensen and Campus Council IT Chair Joe Kiskis said the plug was pulled on Gmail(Gmail) because members of the faculty were concerned that it wouldn’t keep their correspondence private enough. Many privacy experts also say that Gmail’s social component, Google Buzz(Google Buzz), is a source of privacy and security vulnerabilities.

School officials also noted that “outsourcing e-mail may not be in compliance with the University of California Electronic Communications Policy.”

Source : Mashable.com

University of Massachusetts also is discontinuing because the Google Apps service of :fered at the beginning of the school year has failed to catch on with students

Google: UMass discontinuing Google Apps service potentially unprecedented

It’s not often to hear Google has failed at anything, but according to the Office of Information Technology (OIT), the Google Apps service offered at the beginning of the school year has failed to catch on with students.

University of Massachusetts officials sent a campus-wide e-mail in early April announcing undergraduate students can no longer sign up for Google Apps and that the service will eventually be phased out completely – an exceedingly rare and potentially unprecedented move, according to Google.

The reason for discontinuing Google Apps, according to OIT, is the low adoption and usage rates among undergraduate students since the service was introduced in September 2009. In the eight months since Google Apps became available on campus, around 7 percent of the University’s 20,000 undergrads have switched from the traditional University-provided e-mail service, UMail, to Google Apps, and “only a small number” of that 7 percent log in frequently, OIT said in the e-mail.

Source : Dailycollegian.com

Microsoft Outlook Live Connected Campus using Exchange Web Services API

Interoperability between Microsoft’s Live@EDU platform (Online Services for education) and the institutiions back-office systems is key.
Microsoft’s prime online email offering for education is Outlook Live; Microsoft Exchange 2010 Online platform for, which is free to Students and staff. This paper outlines the adbanced options for integration of Outlook Live with the prime education systems.

… This whitepaper describes how live@edu Outlook Live customers can connect their school systems with Exchange Web Services (EWS).

Provide your school or university with seamless integration of campus applications, information systems and portals to Outlook Live using the Exchange Web Services (EWS) API and PowerShell. This whitepaper details a scenario of integrating a course registration system with Outlook Live using the EWS Managed API and explains the EWS Managed API with code snippets so that you can plan for a similar implementation. …

Source: Microsoft Outlook Live Connected Campus using Exchange Web Services API

Chris Dawson: Can I be a Windows, Apple, Linux, and Google guy all at once?

I regularly read Chris Dawson’s blogposts as he blogs about technology solutions in the education sector and that happens to be one of my areas of interest. Today he blogged about something that I hope to see and here more about … a different perspective on Microsoft … simply because there many good solutions coming from Redmond …

…I’m having an identity crisis. Regular readers of both this blog and my Education blog will know that I border on being a Google fanboi and Linux tends to work its way into my computer passions as well. I work almost constantly in the cloud and Linux obviously provides a cheap, stable platform […] 

… And then there’s Microsoft. Microsoft was easy to hate a few years back when they were the antitrust bad guys. Then they released Vista and it was even easier to say that they’d sealed their fate. Apple and Linux were going to dominate the desktop! The 3000 pound gorilla was dead! And suddenly, the betas of Windows 7 were stable, fast, attractive, and everything that Vista should have been. Office Web Apps and other Windows Live properties started to appear and mature and were compelling bridges to the cloud. And if the cloud wasn’t your game, Office 2010 rolled into beta and was even better than Office 2007. Seriously, have you used the beta? It rocks out loud. I may spend a lot of time in the cloud, but I also often have to produce publication-ready documents. Besides, have you ever tried to do a mail merge in Google Docs? Of course you haven’t, because you can’t.

It’s gotten to the point where I actually look forward to hearing from Microsoft PR since they usually have something particularly cool to tell me about. In fact, Office 2010 just might be one of the more compelling reasons to buy a Windows PC. Then there’s Sharepoint 2010, the cloud-oriented meat of which has already appeared in Live@Edu and Office Live Workspace. …

Yes lot’s of cool stuff coming this year … hope to see more positive news coming from Chris’ blog soon

Source : Can I be a Windows, Apple, Linux, and Google guy all at once?

Microsoft Live@EDU close to 50 Million users

Good article by Zack Whittaker about the number of users supported in education by some of the online players :

… Microsoft and Google are still plotting away at each other in attempts to get colleges and universities on side with their own email, document and general productivity suites.

Google hasn’t got back to me with any of the questions I sent over in regards to this vague tweet:

Since then there has been an awful lot of email to’ing and fro’ing between myself and a number of public relations folk. My last post comparing the two suites was a few months ago; it’s time for a revision and seeing where universities rank the in-house email killers, by deconstructing the jargon and seemingly meaningless spin. …

Although the Live@EDU estimates of 50 Million + users is not an official Microsoft number it at least shows this is very, very large :

… Live@edu is used by more than 10,000 “schools”

Microsoft finally updated its press release to confirm that over 10,000 “schools” – which as Americans often describe school as “a form of education” not mutually exclusive to compulsory education but university/college also. Considering most universities have over 10,000 students, I would fairly say that there are definitely over 7 million users using Live@edu; it’s probably closer to 50 million if not even more. …

Source : ZDnet.com

Engineering Messenger for real relationships : Very impressive Windows Live Stats

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Piero Sierra is the Group Program Manager for Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Mail and he shares some impressive WL Messenger statistics :

…The first thing that comes to mind when you think of Windows Live Messenger is usually instant messaging – bouncing short text messages back and forth. But there are tons of things we’ve built into Messenger to make that experience more meaningful, and closer to a real face-to-face interaction. My name is Piero Sierra, and I’m the Group Program Manager for Windows Live Messenger and Windows Live Mail. Today I’m going to talk about how we’ve engineered Messenger to help people stay connected with each other in more meaningful ways.

Web-based social networks have had huge growth lately, and they’re a great way to share and stay informed about what everyone that you know is up to. They let you reach out to large groups of people, including friends and family, but your social network usually also includes a broad group of acquaintances, co-workers, and people from your past that you may no longer be very close to. Messenger, on the other hand, is about the people that matter most to you – the ones you talk with frequently and share more personal moments with.

For several years now, this has been our North Star in building Messenger – helping people stay connected to their closest friends and express themselves in meaningful ways. I’d like to tell you a little more about how we’re doing that. …

… Some key stats

Our goal is to allow you to have deeper, more meaningful conversations in Messenger. So how do we measure our success? One key metric we track is conversation length – having a longer conversation means you’re generally going beyond lightweight exchanges of messages like “Are you coming?”

We also look at voice and video (our closest approximation to a true conversation), and how people interact with each other through photos. Some numbers:

  • The average length of a Messenger session (a conversation) is 9-11 minutes
  • About 59% of sessions are over 5 minutes, with about 10% over 20 minutes long
  • 1.6 billion sessions per month are over 30 minutes long
  • People use Messenger to exchange over 380 million photos a month —over 4.5 billion photos a year (this is in addition to the tens of billions of photos people also share each month via Windows Live SkyDrive and Hotmail)
  • Messenger users have 230 million voice & video conversations per month
  • Average voice session length is about 18.2 minutes
  • Average video session length is about 13.3 minutes
  • 9% of video calls and 13% of voice calls are longer than 1 hour
  • Usage of international voice and video sessions differ geographically. Brazilians use voice & video only 13% of the time for international connections while users in other countries, such as Spain or Germany, use voice and video 50-75% of the time for long distance chats with friends and family.  …

Continue at Source : Engineering Messenger for real relationships

Misvatting over Online Diensten in educatie

2 reacties

Eergisteren had ik een aardige “discussie” op twitter met Ernst Fuld (@efuld) van o.a. NGN over Online diensten in de educatie sector. Dit was naar aanleiding van nieuws dat Universitiet van Utrecht GMail aan haar studenten gaat bieden.

Ernst reageerde daarop met :

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Dit triggerde een korte tweet-wisseling :

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Het is namelijk zo dat er geen 25 GB email capaciteit geboden wordt door Google in educatie, maar “slechts” 7.414998 GB . Google laat de capaciteit heel langzaam groeien.

Ernst was van mening dat het toch de standaard 25 GB was, maar de Google Apps voor educatie pagina bevestigt het tegendeel.

Dus bij deze is dat misverstand de wereld uit. Google Apps voor educatie is niet hetzelfde als de standaard omgeving.

 

Even later nam Melle Gloerich (@mgloerich) ook nog even deel aan de discussie :

image

 

1. Kosten voor Google / Microsoft in educatie ?

2. Meer storage voor Google ?

3. BPOS (Microsoft Online Services) voor educatie ?

 

Ik heb Melle belooft daar even wat uitgebreider op te reageren, dus bij deze :

1. Kosten voor Google / Microsoft in educatie ?

Google en Microsoft hebben beiden een gratis oplossing voor educatie instelling. Deze is gratis voor studenten/leerlingen, personeel en alumni.

Een kort overzicht met de highlights van Microsoft Live@EDU:

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2. Meer storage voor Google ?

 

Totaal dus 40GB opslag voor studenten, medewerkers met Microsoft Live@EDU.

Dit is aanzienlijk meer dan Google biedt. In een blogpost van april vorig jaar heb ik ook een evaluatie van Google Apps vs Microsoft Live@EDU

Denk je daarnaast eens in hoeveel educatieinstelling dus zouden kunnen besparen op hun opslagkosten.

Een grote groep instellingen heeft ook al voor Microsoft’s oplossingen in educatie gekozen. Een moie recente referentie is Canisius College uit Nijmegen :

Het Canisius College kiest met Live@edu voor de beste communicatie- en online samenwerkomgeving voor leerlingen en leraren
Het Canisius College was op zoek naar een communicatie- en online samenwerkoplossing voor leraren en leerlingen die goed aansluit bij hun behoeften. Lange tijd had de school een voorkeur voor Google Apps.

 

3. BPOS (Microsoft Online Services) voor educatie

 

Ja, naast Microsoft Live@EDU heeft een instelling ook de keuze om online diensten via Microsoft Online Services af te nemen. Dit is niet gratis, maar er gelden voor educatie instellingen wel speciale tarieven. Voor meer informatie over de prijzen kunnen instellingen terecht bij hun Licentiepartner (SURFdiensten, APSIT en SLB diensten.

Er wordt al veelvuldig gebruik gemaakt van Microsoft Online :

Schools adopting Microsoft Online Services

Universities are beginning to embrace the Microsoft Business Productivity Online Suite on campus, which is comprised of Exchange Online, SharePoint Online, Office Communications Online and Office Live Meeting. These products have been traditionally on premise, but are now available in a paid-for, hosted environment in the cloud that Microsoft manages for you that you can buy through partners.  These online services offer streamlined communication, simplified management and business-class security and reliability…and new this quarter, we are increasing the mailbox size five-fold to 25 GB for every user.  Recent customer wins include:

• University System of Ohio. The state of Ohio has signed an Education Alliance Agreement with Microsoft that will bring a cloud computing approach to the entire state. Exchange Online is one of many products that will provide significant cost savings, increased productivity and improved performance while minimizing environmental impact.
• Hofstra University. Hofstra is moving its faculty and staff to Exchange Online. By using Microsoft’s security, spam filtering and archiving capabilities, the technical staff will be able to concentrate on providing other high-valued academic services to the University.
• Belmont University. Belmont is using Exchange Online to serve approximately 1,400 faculty and staff email accounts. The Exchange Online implementation supports the school’s green initiatives by saving space and energy costs. They anticipate saving about $30,000 a year by not having to hire additional IT staff to support.

Bron: Microsoft Education Blog

Microsoft biedt dus verschillende opties, keuze,  voor educatie instellingen hoe zij hun ICT omgeving willen inrichten. Het onderstaande document geeft inzicht welke afwegingen een instelling kan maken in de keuze voor bijvoorbeeld het email platform :

Key Considerations For Exchange Email Deployments In Academic Environments

View more documents from dehaaspeter.

En hier blijft het niet bij … Coming soon:

  • Office Web Applications (Office in de browser, Safari, FF, IE)
  • SharePoint Online based collaboration (met office Web Apps)  – gratis voor studenten

New collaboration opportunities

We are also announcing new SharePoint Online-based collaboration and productivity services will be available for students as part of the Live@edu next year. These new SharePoint-based services will offer IT departments more flexibility and control to set up and manage their school’s collaboration and productivity tools in a security-enhanced environment…as well as the ability to access and manage permissions to sites, documents and content (pictures, videos) with enterprise-class control.

For students, these new services give them access to similar types of functionality that has made SharePoint the fastest growing server product in Microsoft history. It will enable them to create, edit and securely access content from their school’s site anywhere, whether at home, at the school library or even while on the road for holiday. It will allow them to organize, track and easily share classroom information, interests, expertise and easily find colleagues. By leveraging Office Web Apps that are currently in technical preview, students will have a new online space where they can securely upload, easily share, and collaborate on documents, including in-place editing. We believe this will better prepare them for the workforce through use of functionality and technology used every day in the workplace.

Microsoft’s software plus services model—which spans mission-critical datacenter availability and security, Live@edu, Microsoft Online Services collaboration and communication offerings, and Windows Azure—combines the reach and flexibility of the cloud with the power of on-premises software applications. Today, we see that people want to access information on the PC, in the browser and on a mobile device…and I think this the real value in moving to the cloud…having the flexibility and choice to run your solutions either in the cloud, on premises, or a mix of the two.

Bron: Microsoft Education Blog

Microsoft Online diensten in educatie … now you know …