Tech-books: Microsoft, Houghton Mifflin strike deal

Textbook publisher Houghton Mifflin said Monday it signed a pact with Microsoft to develop a new digital education system for school districts. Under the deal, Houghton Mifflin will build its learning system with Microsoft technology, including the.Net framework 3.0 and its latest SharePoint servers.

In 2001, Houghton Mifflin, an American institution in education publishing, bought instructional technology from IBM. That technology became what it called Learning Village, a system for school administrators and teachers to access curriculum, among other features. Now used by 45,000 schools in roughly 30 countries, the software is due for an update, according to Houghton Mifflin. With Microsoft technology, it will build an expanded version of the platform that gives lets school administrators, teachers, parents and students access the same portal with individualized sign-on accounts.

Students, for example, will be able to download homework assignments and turn them in digitally. Parents can view how their child is progressing in school. Teachers can add curriculum to the portal and share that coursework with peers in the school district.

Jeanne Hayes, president of The Hayes Connection, an educational consulting firm, said the deal is an endorsement of Microsoft's .Net platform, giving it more of an edge in instructional technology. She added that this deal is one of Houghton Mifflin's first since it was bought out by Irish software company Riverdeep last year.

"This shows it's taking the strategic route of strong instructional technology," she said.

[MaLvaDo39]

Open standards!

What this shows is a blind publishing company shackling itself to
Microsoft's proprietary formats.

Embrace open standards instead!

And who will suffer the most? The children =(

[giuliocesare]

Open source cannot compete with Microsoft here now...

This pact that will result in the use of Windows SharePoint Services 3 and SharePoint Portal Server 2007 in schools is a good idea. Even versions 2 and 2003 (respectively, of course) will do here!

However, open source software companies simply cannot compete with Microsoft here at this time, beacause so far, no one else created a collaboration package that is as easy to use as Windows SharePoint Services and SharePoint Portal Server put together.

[ppgreat]

This isn't about the kids

It's about keeping one struggling publishing company afloat and
being too mediocre to do anything but pair up with MS.

See if they're around in a few years.....