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Microsoft Office 365 mandatory in tech colleges, says AICTE

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Abhigna
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CHENNAI, INDIA: Microsoft had bagged a contract from the All India Council of Technical Education (AICTE) last year for the implementation of company's cloud email and storage offering which centralises email storage and provides cost effective solutions.

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The AICTE which serves more than 500 technical colleges and institutes across the country, has issued a notice stating that the implementation of the project is mandatory.

The AICTE notification says the project will be implemented by Microsoft's partner, Malhaar iMarketing Advantage(IMA) and it needs to be completed by June 30, 2013.

As specified in the notice issued by AICTE, "Office 365 for Education, a no-cost suite of communication and collaboration tools includes the following: Messaging Apps: Exchange online (10 GB inbox per student with 18MB attachment) and Outlook calendar, 25 GB online storage space (through Windows SkyDrive), Office web apps - Online companions to Microsoft Word, Excel and PowerPoint and OneNote, 24/7 online support for students and administrators."

"Office 365 will enhance our day to day communication, collaboration, and monitoring of the colleges we oversee. This will help us promote and propagate innovation across all 11,500 institutions," announced Dr. S.S. Mantha, chairman, AICTE.

The announcement of such a project has caused a lot dissatisfaction among the Indian Linux Users Groups, who have eventually raised their voice to protest against this monopolistic act. With so many open source alternatives to Microsoft Office 365, this decision by AICTE seems to favour vendor lock in.

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