Outlook Dropped For Gmail in Australia... 1.5 mil licenses

http://www.techcrunch.com/2008/06/23/15-million-australian-students-dump-outlookexchange-for-gmail/

by jasonlbaptiste • 18 years ago

44 25 18 years ago

Email is a solved problem, and it's mysterious to me why a school system wouldn't just throw up a few servers and be done with it. Google can now data mine millions of students for marketing purposes, and charge them for the benefit. I don't get it.

alaskamiller2• 18 years ago

- Exchange was a AU$33 million contract and took four years

- Gmail is $9.5 million and should be live by the end of 2008

- User storage will increase from 35 MB to 1 GB

mynameishere2• 18 years ago

Yeah, I read that. The alternative would be: Hire a team of 1st rate sys admins, set up mail servers. Total cost: Maybe 1.5 million a year.

gaius2• 18 years ago

Why is anyone surprised that a more recent product is faster and cheaper than an older one?

Prrometheus• 18 years ago

And I expect that many students will find Gmail more convenient. The simplicity of the interface, the fast loading time, and the ability to search your inbox instantly for attachments or contacts are all winners for Gmail.

PieSquared• 18 years ago

Because they're not techies and don't trust themselves to 'throw up a few servers' reliably? I dunno, that's my guess, since it seems they were looking for an email contract both with Outlook and now with Gmail.

paul• 18 years ago

How many 1.5 million user email systems have you operated? You don't just "throw up a few servers and be done with it."

tdavis• 18 years ago

Amen to that. Setting up mail infrastructures for a number of users with far fewer zeros is pain enough, I can't imagine 1.5mil

And the AU was probably smart enough to do the research and find out that it would cost a whole lot more to purchase, build out, and maintain their own mail infrastructure.

Maybe

neilc• 18 years ago

Why should the school system be in the business of running their own email servers? They don't generate their own power or purify their own water. The NSW Department of Education is probably not particularly skilled at running large IT infrastructure projects in-house -- nor should they be.

bprater• 18 years ago

And Microsoft continues to sit there and stare out the window...

ideas101• 18 years ago

why $9.5mil - isn't it free for educational institution?

anyway, if google focuses only on schools and universities then half the battle is won against MS as millions and millions of student will have their primary email from gmail and when they join the workforce they will automatically become a marketing tool for google to implement similar products in the companies.

eru• 18 years ago

> "why $9.5mil - isn't it free for educational institution?"

I guess: support contracts and legacy integration.

alaskamiller2• 18 years ago

For what it's worth, this was how Microsoft used to compete back in the day. They would go in to a big orgs like this that used to have Novell or Lotus contracts worth tens of millions and offer up prices per seat that were ridiculously cheap.

One day, Google will feel the sting as well.

maximilian2• 18 years ago

Why don't they just tell everyone to go get free gmail accounts? That'd be free.

I guess they get more control or something..or it violates gmail's EULA or something.

mikkom• 18 years ago

Maybe they have some privacy concerns..

bigbang• 18 years ago

That would get them @gmail.com instead of @*.edu email address.

maximilian2• 18 years ago

You'd think though, that google would work with them for less than the amount they are spending to setup those domains. Assuming gmail is a money maker, google would love to have that many more guaranteed users.

chrisbroadfoot• 18 years ago

This is pretty big news. I wonder whether other states will follow?

Also, there is mention that Google might host some of the e-mail in Australia itself (I have the feeling the local govt would push for this.)

Outlook Dropped For Gmail in Australia... 1.5 mil licenses

Related Stories