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

Peter de Haas
Peter de Haas
Artikelen: 3801