At 1.3 M users, the NSW DoE is nowhere close to being MS's biggest customer. The US DoD brings more than 4M users to the table on MS products.

I'm not a fan of Hotmail, but Gmail ain't any better. I've used it few times but only keep an account active to reserve my name. The GUI is so bad that I feel I'm back in the 90s using free email services.

Good step..., another nice chunk off of Microsoft's strangle hold on users/companies.
Plus, for the most part Gmail incorporates all the necessary features for generic day to day communications and will incorporate more features based on customer demand as they pick up more corporate customers.

Maybe they implemented "groundbreaking" special features for the NSW Department of Education version like *sub-string searches* in email. Imagine that! Being able to use the most fundamentally simple searching ability in an email client, let alone one made by a search engine company.

As a gmail user I have to say that the system is rife with usability issues and bugs. I hope this means that Google will be fixing some of these issues... Best of luck to the Aussies, sometimes you get what you pay for.

"since he does just about anything to keep MS customers in bondage."

How would offering someone a better deal equate to keeping them in "bondage"? You should have just said "Grrr me hates Micro$oft$$$$.". It would have required less typing.

The article says it will be Googles biggest single client, not Microsofts?

Now they should move to Open Office.

Microsoft seriously needs to be cut down to size, so anything that bites into its market share is good in my book.
Now I can only hope that Ballmer is not going to swoop in on Microsoft's private jet to ink a new deal that'll only cost $8 million - since he does just about anything to keep MS customers in bondage.