In today’s ICT Feature we explore each of the four key initiatives announced followed the strategic partnership agreement between Government of Malta and Microsoft Corporation. The first initiative is the establishment of a Microsoft Innovation Centre in Malta which will be focus on Cloud Computing – a technology which according to Jean-Philippe Courtois, President of Microsoft International will remain in the limelight for the next ten years and beyond. The second initiative involves a wider reach of society such as students, teachers and academic staff members who will be able to obtain software packages at a fraction of current retail prices. The third initiative, Live@Edu, gives educational institutions the opportunity to use free hosted, co-branded communication and collaboration services. The forth key initiative is DreamSpark, whereby all ICT post-secondary students will be able to make use of professional Microsoft software developing tools for free.

In this week’s ICT Feature we also look at the latest investment announced by Vodafone with the aim of improving customer relationship and experience. We also provide details about the first Vodafone Android Village held this weekend.

We will also look at what went on during the recently held meeting of the Government of Malta Open Source End User Group which discussed how Open Source Software may lead to competitiveness through collaboration.