14 DAY TRIAL // Microsoft has received another important hit as the city of Boston decided to abandon Microsoft Exchange and switch to Google Apps and the built-in Gmail email platform.
Local authorities explained that Google’s own services are much more affordable and should help the city save approximately $280,000 (€215,000) every year. Still, the overall costs of moving from Microsoft to Google are surprisingly big: $800,000 (€615,000) is needed to transfer all data to Google servers.
“We are continuing to drive it forward. We’ve been ready, willing, and able to leverage any of these new capabilities,” Bill Oates, Boston’s chief information officer, was quoted as saying by Boston Globe.
Microsoft, however, says that moving to Google Apps isn’t quite the best decision and explains that the search company’s investments in this particular area are “inadequate.”
“We believe the citizens of Boston deserve cloud productivity tools that protect their security and privacy. Google’s investments in these areas are inadequate, and they lack the proper protections most organizations require,” a company official told the source.