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 Two
new e-mail programs now available
Staff
Report
U.Va.
computer users can now check their e-mail from anywhere in the
world where there is access to a Web browser and an Internet connection
-- via Web Mail, a new program ITC
is providing. In addition, ITC will soon be offering a new e-mail
program called Mulberry that will be phased in as a replacement
for Simeon. Web Mail just became available at http://www.mail.virginia.edu/
to anyone with an account on the central mail server.
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Everyone's
got mail
At U.Va., there are approximately 30,000 e-mail user accounts
(21,000 on the CMS and another 9,000 on unix.mail). The
CMS processes an average of 434,000 messages daily on workdays;
the CMS and unix.mail combine to process over 900,000 messages
daily at peak times.
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Web
Mail makes it possible to check and respond to e-mail quickly
from any Web browser when a full-featured program like Mulberry
or Eudora is not available. It does not require any program configuration.
Web Mail, however, does not have all the features of a standard
e-mail program, such as access to users' address books. It is
intended as a convenient supplemental program, not as a full-time
replacement for any program.
ITC
reviews the marketplace for new products on a regular basis and
will continue to look at Web-mail service programs that will meet
the needs of the U.Va. community and work with U.Va. servers,
said Scott Crittenden, an ITC systems analyst. Feedback on the
new program can be sent to: webmail-comments
@virginia.edu.
Mulberry
will be made available in June as a Simeon replacement, and Mulberry
will be the recommended e-mail program for all new incoming students
beginning this fall. A team composed of ITC computing staff, departmental
local support partners and students chose Mulberry after months
of evaluation, testing and piloting. It is a feature-rich, cross-platform
e-mail program that provides the most convenient end-user transition
from Simeon of any e-mail program available, including migration
of messages, folders and address books. Information about the
evaluation results is available at http://www.itc.
virginia.edu/coo/crossdiv/email/faq.html.
No
longer supported by its manufacturer, Simeon will nevertheless
remain available to the University community at least through
the summer of 2002, providing it continues to work with U.Va.'s
mail servers. Eudora will continue to be supported by ITC, and
configuration information for Outlook Express will be available.
Departments
may switch all of their users from Simeon to Mulberry at the same
time; contact ITC's Departmental Computing Support at dept-support@virginia.edu
for information and assistance.
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