Commentary
Google In Your iBook
Charity, it seems, is catching, not to mention competitive. The Maine Department of Education recently struck a deal with Apple Computer to provide iBooks for 36,000 students for $289 apiece as part of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative. The iBooks come with plenty of nifty software. But nothing from Google. So Google, ever committed to organizing the world's information, has decided to donate Google Earth and SketchUp Pro for installation on every public-school computer in the state.Charity, it seems, is catching, not to mention competitive. The Maine Department of Education recently struck a deal with Apple Computer to provide iBooks for 36,000 students for $289 apiece as part of the Maine Learning Technology Initiative.
The iBooks come with plenty of nifty software. But nothing from Google. So Google, ever committed to organizing the world's information, has decided to donate Google Earth and SketchUp Pro for installation on every public-school computer in the state.Such generosity from Apple and Google is certainly welcome. Public schools are terribly underfunded, and every donation helps.
More Internet Insights
White Papers
- Creating the Enterprise-Class Tablet Environment - by Yankee Group
- The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's Good Bones - by BlackBerry
Reports
- How Google+, Facebook Impact Corporate Strategy: Social Media and IT at a Crossroads
- IT Pro Impact: NFC and Mobile Commerce
Webcasts
- Maximize ROI with Database Consolidation onto Private Clouds
- Server Virtualization Gets Relief From Tivoli Storage Manager for Virtual Environments
Still, there's an element of self-interest that comes with gifts of software. I can't help recalling how Microsoft wanted to donate software to settle lawsuits against it, a move Apple saw as harmful.
Is it just too cynical of me to wonder what's in this for Google, or how Google's gift affects competitors like Microsoft? And wouldn't Maine's students be better off with cash?
Related Reading
 |
To upload an avatar photo, first complete your Disqus profile. | View the list of supported HTML tags you can use to style comments. | Please read our commenting policy. |
|
T-Shirt Giveaway: Each week we're selecting one great comment from our readers. The author of the comment will receive an InformaitonWeek Community t-shirt. So get posting! |
Subscribe to RSSResource Links
This Week's Issue
Technology Whitepapers
- Mobile BI: Actionable Intelligence for the Agile Enterprise
- Creating the Enterprise-Class Tablet Environment - by Yankee Group
- How To Regain IT Control In An Increasingly Mobile World - by BlackBerry
- The BlackBerry PlayBook tablet's Good Bones - by BlackBerry
- Red Alert: Why Tablet Security Matters - by BlackBerry
Featured Resource
Download this whitepaper and find out how to easily manage web content by categorizing it into a discrete number of categories.
Learn More
