Microsoft continues its battle against Google, pitting Office 365 against the rival’s offering of Apps. While both are finding adoption in various places ranging from governments and schools to corporations, this time it is Microsoft that has scored the win.
Yesterday, Google announced that its products were coming to schools in Wales, but today Microsoft has added the nation of Thailand to its resume. “The Office of the Basic Education Commission (OBEC) and Microsoft (Thailand) Limited on Wednesday signed a memorandum of understanding that will provide 8 million students and 400,000 teachers across Thailand with free access to Microsoft Office 365 for education”, the company announces.
The agreement is in effect until at least 2019, but likely there are options included to extend this deal. It is utilizing the ‘Partners in Learning’ initiative that Microsoft launched back in 2003, and claims to have affected more than 200 million students in the time span since then.
“Under this memorandum of understanding, schools under OBEC jurisdiction will gain access to Office 365 for education, giving students and teachers alike the ability to create, connect and collaborate on an advanced and enterprise-ready cloud platform that is safe and secured”, the software giant continues.
Microsoft has been in Thailand for 20 years, but this is perhaps its biggest impact so far. It also serves as a smack at rival Google, which should please the folks in Redmond.
Further reading: Microsoft, Office 365
