Adi Kamdar <[email protected]> writes: > Hey folks, > > The Yale Daily News ran an article today about how there's almost-definite > talk about Yale switching to Google Apps for Education and using Google > servers/software to host our email. > > http://www.yaledailynews.com/news/university-news/2010/02/09/google-run-yale-e-mail/ > > I was wondering if you guys had any thoughts or good literature on the > issues with this (re privacy, data, costs, security, tech, law, etc.). For > the most part, the students are overjoyed about this since our old email > system is painful to use, so it'd be nice to address usability issues as > well.
People in this thread have commented on the Gmail aspect, but if the university is using the rest of the Google Apps, then that opens up the Google Docs issue as well -- where the free software arguments seem much clearer. http://www.google.com/a/help/intl/en/edu/university.html has a map showing other schools that have already made the switch. (BTW, this animated map with testimonials / case studies is really cool and something we should do with free software adoption and free culture program highlights.) I don't see how this solves any RIAA problems -- your university administrators still have access to your email via the Google Apps administrative account. Google only requires that the university publish some kind of policy to their users, not much (or anything) about the content of that policy. It seems like a net loss to me -- regardless of whether Gmail is an ethical problem for free software or not, it's still clearly preferable that a university run its mail system and document production/collaboration using free software (or contract to someone who does). It means more autonomy, less risk of corporate interference in education, more educational opportunities for students, faculty and employees, and supporting the growth of an approach to software that is consistent with advancing any university's founding mission. -- -John Sullivan -http://wjsullivan.net -GPG Key: AE8600B6 _______________________________________________ Discuss mailing list [email protected] http://freeculture.org/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/discuss
