“Apple Mail vs G Suite webmail is a discussion I’ve had with many other IT directors at different schools over the past few years. Some Apple schools focus everyone on using Mail.app since it’s built it, updated with macOS, and creates a similar experience on iOS,” Bradley Chambers writes for 9to5Mac. “Other schools actually remove Mail.app from the new Mac deployments and force people to use the G Suite web interface? I could argue it both ways…”
“Even for someone who doesn’t care about a universal inbox for multiple email accounts, there are a lot of benefits to using a local mail client. The macOS ‘sharing’ experience works well with webmail clients. For users who want to use Safari, iCloud Photos, etc. – sharing via email will be much simpler in Mail.app,” Chambers writes. “The bottom line is that using Mail.app with G Suite provides the most Apple-like experience for end users.”
“If your school is heavily invested in Google-based workflows with Google Drive, then users will have a much better experience using the G Suite web interface vs Apple Mail. Will it be as good of an experience when using local macOS apps? No, but again, that’ll just go back to your school’s workflows,” Chambers writes. “My school focuses on the webmail version of G Suite, but I don’t disable Mail.app. All of my new employee training focuses on the web interface, and I encourage teachers to use it. With that being said, I still support users who use Mail.app.”
Read more in the full article here.
MacDailyNews Take: It depends on your equipment. If your school is saddled with Chromebook test-taking machines, you have our pity.
Check out the best schools: Apple Macs and iPads dominate.
SEE ALSO:
Apple bids for education market with new software, new iPad – March 27, 2018
Apple takes aim at Google Chromebook with $299 iPad with Apple Pencil support for schools – March 27, 2018
Did Apple do enough to grab back education market share? – March 27, 2018
Apple unveils new 9.7-inch iPad with Apple Pencil support starting at $329 – March 27, 2018
Apple unveils ‘Everyone Can Create’ curriculum – March 27, 2018
Apple’s iWork update brings drawing, book creation and more to Pages, Numbers and Keynote – March 27, 2018
MacDailyNews presents live coverage of Apple’s March 27th ‘Field Trip’ event – March 27, 2018
Google’s Chromebooks are still spying on grade school students – April 21, 2017
Newsflash: Apple sells premium products at premium prices to premium customers – October 23, 2012
I’m surprised a college needs to pay for what is in effect a mail client.
Thunderbird – open source mail client, easy to configure multiple accts into universal inbox. Lots of plugins and far more robust for power users than Mail.
Ditto Firefox over Safari. No comparison.
This article seems like so much fluff. I guess someone needed to meet a deadline.
If you would like Google to read every one of your emails, and compile that information to send you targeted ads as a “convenience” to you, by all means, go for Gmail. From their Terms of Service:
“Our automated systems analyse your content (including emails) to provide you personally relevant product features, such as customised search results, tailored advertising, and spam and malware detection. This analysis occurs as the content is sent, received, and when it is stored.”
And if you enjoy having third parties know what you do and with whom, they also have the the ‘ole “anonymized data” BS (which has been shown to be anything but): “We may share aggregated, non-personally identifiable information publicly and with our partners — like publishers, advertisers or connected sites.”
Gmail, the email choice of sheep everywhere.™
Yeah but why is it even a comparison? I mean if Apple’s tools were truly superior, then there should be a clear choice and no reason to use G Suite tools, right? That’s the problem. Once again, Apple with a lead in this space completely dropped the ball. G Suite’s functionality and interoperability is just clearly superior, period. They spend time and energy cultivating it and improving it. Apple on the other hand has done NOTHING to make their suite of tools better or improved their interoperability. Image how much more powerful those iPads for kids would be with great Apple software behind them. There’d be no competition, but instead we have a suite of software tools that get’s minor bug fixes about 1-2 times a year. Steve Jobs always trumpeted that Apple was a software company and not a hardware company, but ever since the iPhone became their dominate product, they haven’t been acting as if that’s the case. Sad but true. iCloud, Mail, Pages, Keynote, et al could be so much more than they are. Heck, just look at G Suite and see. Their application interoperability is great, user interface, not so much. Come on Apple! We’re here rooting for you and waiting for you with your 100k employees to once again turn your attention toward all of the lagging efforts that have accumulated over the past decade. Show us you can do it, show us some love.
I continue to move further and further away from the Apple ‘ecosystem’. First I dumped the all-in-one for my own multi-monitor setup. Then the keyboard and mouse. Then Safari, which business sites are no longer fully supporting. Then Mail, a productivity disaster. Now I’m even using Alexa, rather than buy a $350 apple speaker. And I’m re-evaluating my need to stay with iphone.
Heck of a job, Timmy.
It ain’t an option where I’m working- they block IMAP from all other clients.
Relatively new curriculums for teachers were created by the Apple Teacher Learning Center and here’s why teachers like Apple mail services: they just get full assistance with their methods and mail features. It’s all about the big 3 in any school and classroom: Microsoft, Google and Apple. …