ISU postpones replacing MyMail

Last spring, sophomore marketing major Alex Burton, the director of freshman and investigative affairs for ISU Student Government Association, was part of a trial for Zimbra, an e-mail system that would have replaced the current ISU MyMail system.

However, there has been no switch of e-mail system to this date.

Yancy Phillips, the director of user services with the Office of Information Technology, said Zimbra and another system, Exchange, are going to be tested by the same SGA members who tested Zimbra last spring in the near future.

He said the OIT wanted to test Zimbra against a different system and to receive student opinions before making a switch to either Zimbra or Exchange.

Phillips said Exchange is a system that works with Microsoft Outlook; this Microsoft Outlook is not the same program that is downloaded with Microsoft Office 2007, but it is similar.

Phillips also said there was a slight change made to the current portal: a new program was installed that allows users to create more elaborate and safer passwords for their accounts.

Ryan Royer, junior pre-law and business administration major and vice president of SGA who also tried Zimbra, said the system was efficient and provided an instant messaging system. "I just thought it (was) much more user friendly," he said. "I think Indiana State needs something more up-to-date and user-friendly."

Bobby Tichy, a senior marking and business and executive assistant for special projects and student initiatives, also was Both Burton and Tichy said Zimbra offered interesting features, but it had a few glitches.

"The idea was good, (but) it wasn't fine-tuned," Burton said. Tichy said he and others in SGA tried opening Zimbra when they tested it last spring but were unable to.

While he was not thrilled with Zimbra, Tichy did say he was "definitely in support of getting rid of the portal," saying it is "not convenient or easy to use" and it is hard to access personal information, such as a DARS, on the current system.

He said he hoped the new system would allow students "easier access of [their] personal files" and have an easier-to-use calendar application.

Phillips said when the decision is made to switch to a new e-mail system, students will be informed via the ISU portal.

( Harrold Bosstick is a sophomore English teaching major. He can be reached at sascamed@isugw.indstate.edu