Google hosting e-mail system
Beginning May 1, all USU students and faculty will have the opportunity to transfer to Webmail’s replacement, hosted by Google. The partnership was proposed by Information Technology brought to a vote before the ASUSU Executive Council and Academic Senate.
Similar to Google’s public e-mail system, Gmail, the new USU e-mail will include more than 2 gigabytes of storage space, a built-in instant messenger and other features. There are also some differences, as the USU system will not have advertising like Gmail does, and it will not have Gmail as the domain name. Instead, the new addresses will be username@aggiemail.usu.edu. This name was voted on against other such names like amail, bluemail and ustate in an online poll. Aggiemail won with 445 votes, with ustate coming in second with 378 votes.
The new system is not just changing names and servers, however. It will be much different than the current system. Unlike Webmail, which expires as soon as someone is no longer a student or employee, the Google-hosted e-mails will be usable forever, making it much easier for alumni, transfer students and international students to keep in touch.
Like Gmail, Aggiemail will have search features, documents, spreadsheets and a calendar. It is also compatible with any Web-enabled cell phone.
“I think it’s awesome,” junior Melissa Osterloh said. “I love Gmail, so this is great. It is a lot more organized, and it has so many more features.”
Because this change is so new, it is not yet known what glitches may occur or how smoothly the transition will happen. Eric Hawley, the associate vice president for IT, stated both Webmail and the new system will run concurrently for some time to provide time for the integration to take place.
New students will create their accounts on the Google system, but current students are not required to switch to the new system. Whether a student creates a new account or not, the school will send e-mails, updates and announcements to whatever address students enter as their primary e-mails on Banner.
According the IT Web site, one of the main issues with the old system was the variety of domains used by staff and faculty. Many new departments or employees did not have the features they needed and created e-mails of their own, making many interdepartmental communications difficult.
IT’s Web site states that IT anticipates that all those with trouble will utilize the new system when it becomes available, quickly correcting all the problems that come from having so many different systems.
“A lot of students are using Gmail already, so this will just enhance it for everyone,” Richard Hart said. “And Google will actually be able to fix any problems we have.”
Other student reactions to the idea of a new system can be viewed on USU’s Web site: www.usu.edu/ust/index.cfm?article=13859.
As these changes happen, new information and instructions will be provided by IT on this Web site: helpdesk.usu.edu/studente-mail.
-chelseyg@cc.usu.edu