WELS: [Welstech] Educational Cloud Solution

[Jeremy Johnson]

Thanks for the great feedback, everyone!

One thing that our new principal pointed out to me is that FinalWeb has
webmail, calendaring, and other collaboration functions.  Does anyone know
how this compares to the Google and Microsoft offerings?

We are really looking for solutions for our staff and teachers right now.
We're not planning on setting up accounts for students, at least not for a
while.  We also want to set up audio/video streaming and rework our website,
so FinalWeb sounds like a great way to nail several birds with one stone.
It would also be interesting in knowing how well FinalWeb might sync up with
Google Apps or Windows Live if we wanted to eventually include a more robust
groupware solution.  Any thoughts?

Thanks again,

Jeremy Johnson
On Sun, Sep 20, 2009 at 8:39 PM, Ben Polzin <ben at thepolzins.us> wrote:

> I have now helped three congregations (2 with schools) migrate to Google
> Apps. Each did it to get away from an old e-mail system and discovered many
> other benefits besides e-mail. Each time I received much positive feedback
> from the staff.
> I can tell you that the biggest hit has been the shared calendar system
> available through gCal. The different congregations have used them for
> everything from organist practice schedules to personal calendars to the
> main church & school event lists.
>
> The feature-set with Google Apps is very rich.
>
>    - Gmail is, in my opinion, the best web-based e-mail platform available
>    (I know there's some personal preference there, but it's at least towards
>    the top of anyone's list). A big hit with staff is using Google Search
>    against their e-mail. Great interop as well with IMAP and mobile device
>    support.
>    - Gcal integrates with nearly anything via .ical and has a great method
>    for embedding into websites.
>    - Google Docs, until the recent/upcoming release of Microsoft's online
>    office suite, stole the show for free, web-based document
>    editing/collaboration. I think the jury is still out on how well the MS
>    online suite stacks up.
>    - Throw in gChat for IM & Google Sites for an easy setup,
>    password-protected intranet and you have a great platform.
>
> Other than a quick Google search and a brief look through their website, I
> haven't used Windows Live at edu. It seems fairly comparable, but a heavier
> emphasis on desktop software (using Outlook & MSN Messenger). I'd be
> cautious of the calendar side to see how it compares to Google Apps. As one
> of the staff-favorite features, this is one area I'd focus on for
> comparison. MS also has SkyDrive, which is a nice service and huge amount of
> storage space, but you could always use DropBox if teachers need a service
> similar to that.
>
> If you have specific questions about Google Apps, please let me know. I'm
> more than happy to help.
>
> Ben
>
>
>
>   On Sat, Sep 19, 2009 at 21:14, Jeremy Johnson <
> johnson.jeremy+welstech at gmail.com <johnson.jeremy%2Bwelstech at gmail.com>>wrote:
>
>>  Does anyone have experience with Google Apps for Education or Windows
>> Live at edu?  We're considering using one of these at Risen Savior, and I'd
>> like to help make an informed decision.  They both seem to have what we
>> need, so it doesn't look like a simple choice.
>>
>> Thanks,
>> Jeremy Johnson
>>
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>>
>
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