Microsoft Engages Google in Public School Fight

Microsoft and Google both seem to understand the value of “getting them while they’re young.” Google has been working full-throttle to convert school districts from Microsoft email and collaboration products, as Digits reported Tuesday, but Microsoft has been fighting right back.

On Wednesday, the Redmond, Wash. software giant said that public schools in Portland, Oregon are moving its faculty and staff to Microsoft’s Live@edu cloud computing platform, and will soon be giving its high school students Microsoft Live accounts.

There is more at stake here than simply providing a public service–both vendors are hoping that making students familiar with their products at an early age will transform them into long-term consumers.

Steve Nelson, the chief IT strategist for the Oregon department of education, told Digits that his aim was to provide schools with “access to both [Microsoft and Google products] and use the strengths of each.”

Nelson’s office has signed agreements that give individual school districts access to either, or both, platforms. According to Nelson, this strategy is intended to ensure that students “are prepared to join the modern workforce or higher education… When you allow choice for a district, you give them the opportunity to realize greater productivity and enhanced student learning.”

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