This week’s mid week post is a wrap up of the brief 2 part overview ^[1] of the free offerings for Education from Microsoft and Google that I did here over the last two weeks.

I spent some time looking for notable differences between Google Apps for Education ^[2] and Microsoft’s Live@edu ^[3], and while there are plenty of little differences to point out and discuss, few things jumped out at me as undeniable deal breakers.

I compiled a table (below) listing some of the differences between their popular e-mail and document storing and sharing applications. Remember though, there is a lot more to each firm’s offerings than what is being compared below - for example, both offer IM, some sort of web site space, and a growing list of additional features, for free to education. The importance of those additional features and functions is largely dependent on your environment and other factors that are specific to your institution.

If I had to make a choice based on the information presented on their web sites, and independent of a given set of tools already in place in any institution, I would probably lean towards Microsoft because of the (current) breadth of their offerings and the familiarity of the Office applications. However, these tools are constantly evolving, so it may not stay that way for long.

Anyone looking to decide between the two of these can do some research and make their own choice, or … just choose do what The University of Washington is doing ^[5], and use them both!

What would you do? Or, did your institution already make the decision, and if so, which offering did they go with, and why? Comments and feedback are welcomed and encouraged!

^[6]