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I assume "Google in our machine room" is a metaphor, but to be clear here, Google is promoting a hosted solution that incorporates the university's logo into the Gmail look and feel. Here is an article describing how Arizona State was able to redeploy hardware and personnel after switching to Gmail for student mail: http://searchstorage.techtarget.com/originalContent/0,289142,sid5_gci1245576,00.html If the service were hosted in a university's machine room, you wouldn't have the economies of scale of Google's global, low-cost, massive, self-healing file system. Here is an article I wrote in 2004 soon after Gmail came out predicting the pressure on university e-mail services: http://www.infotoday.com/SEARCHER/jul04/wiggins.shtml Don't forget that a big part of the package that Google is promoting for university student use is the hosted Google Apps. Arizona State has incorporated Google Apps into its student portal: http://www.asu.edu/students/ (I have no knowledge of any discussions Google has had with MSU relative to this topic.) /rich On 5/25/07, Ray Hernandez <[log in to unmask]> wrote: > > > So what does *having google in our machine room* buy us? Nothing that > we don't already have. I don't see why MSU needs to compete with > service providers. Scrooge McDuck always said, "Work smarter not > harder." Hell if these places want to provide free services, I say we > exploit what is already there. > >