Google vs Microsoft?

[Shaun_Dark_Lord]

Anyone seen any good comparison articles / videos?

[LosOjos]

In what context?

[fairm010]

As this is in Cloud Services I'd assume you are referring to Office365 Vs GAFE?

[Grey-gear]

Bing vs Google? Internet Explore Vs Chrome?

[Shaun_Dark_Lord]

As this is in Cloud Services I'd assume you are referring to Office365 Vs GAFE?

 

Yes - sorry.

[Arthur]

Why not have both?

[Shaun_Dark_Lord]

Why not have both?

 

LOL

 

Apparently that would be "too confusing for staff".

[edutech4schools]

If I was you I would test both and then decide. All my primary schools decided on Google Apps for Ed but they are both free (Office 365 has some payments for upgraded plans) if using for Education.

[j_mcg]

Hi Shaun, what did you decide to use? We have currently got Office365 but are now looking at going down the Google Apps route and was tempted to keep both but this could be confusing for students and staff seeing as this would mean 3 logons unless you can sync both with AD?

[Shaun_Dark_Lord]

Hi Shaun, what did you decide to use? We have currently got Office365 but are now looking at going down the Google Apps route and was tempted to keep both but this could be confusing for students and staff seeing as this would mean 3 logons unless you can sync both with AD?

 

We're testing both right now. Google Apps is definitely easier to use, but Office365 gives a lot more control......

[j_mcg]

Yeah that is what I thought would be the case however our staff want to trial GAFE. Have you managed to get any of them to sync with AD so that you don't have multiple logins? we have also noticed the Office365 for business app doesn't really work on iOS

[dcwhitworth]

We've tried both. From a user point of view GA is probably easier to get into, 365 is much more sophisticated. GA reminds me of Windows NT. NT was a nice operating system but Microsoft slapped some basic admin tools on top of it and called it an enterprise product. GA feels similar, nice set of products individually but the tools to manage them are really basic and don't give you much control. I've found managing GA very frustrating compared with 365 and the control and granularity that PowerShell gives.

 

And now Google have changed the admin interface and stuff doesn't work - aaarrgh !

[edutech4schools]

And now Google have changed the admin interface and stuff doesn't work - aaarrgh !

 

Would be very interested to know what does not work anymore. How did you find out something had stopped working so I can check at my schools.

 

Thanks

[dcwhitworth]

Would be very interested to know what does not work anymore. How did you find out something had stopped working so I can check at my schools.

 

Thanks

 

Sorry, didn't mean to alarm. I'm not aware that is has broken any user functionality. But for instance if you want to add a user to a group from the user interface it just drops you into the groups list. If you want to add a user to a group from the groups list it just presents you with a dialogue box asking for the user name, no list, no autocomplete. Add user or group has changed to a floating blue circle at the bottom right of the window.

[dcwhitworth]

Oh and I've just finished some documentation with screen shots showing staff how to change student passwords but now the interface is different - arrrghhh again !

[StevieM]

Oh and I've just finished some documentation with screen shots showing staff how to change student passwords but now the interface is different - arrrghhh again !

 

I had that problem with Office 365 a few weeks ago, too.

 

Just as Year 3 are about to start their topic on email, Microsoft, in its infinite wisdom, has decided to change the layout of Outlook Web App... again! So all that time spent creating handouts, worksheets and tutorials was a complete waste because none of it matches anymore, and I'm going to have to show everyone how to use it all over again. Grrrrrr!!!

[dcwhitworth]

I had that problem with Office 365 a few weeks ago, too.

 

Fair point. Clearly Google's attitude to tinkering and changing stuff has pervaded the industry

[edutech4schools]

To be fair to Google they did give us plenty of notice.

 

What's New in Google Apps

 

Google Apps update alerts

[Shaun_Dark_Lord]

While testing Office365, I've found that Microsoft don't seem to keep their documentation up to date with the current version.