|
July-August 2003
Home Page
E-Notes Home Page |
 |
|
UIS Recommends New E-mail Software
When University Information Services migrated the University community to GUMail in 2001, Georgetown adopted Netscape Communicator 4.7x as our recommended e-mail client. We chose Netscape Communicator partially because we used Netscape software for our e-mail server and partially because Communicator evinced a unique combination of features. Though we recommended using Netscape Communicator, it was always understood that the GUMail e-mail system could and should support a variety of e-mail clients.
Since the GUMail migration, more e-mail clients have been updated to comply with the IMAP over SSL e-mail standard used at Georgetown. For example, Microsoft Outlook and Qualcomm Eudora are now compatible with the GUMail system. At the time of the GUMail migration, neither client could access GUMail e-mail accounts.
Recognizing that Netscape Communicator is aging and that Netscape's future is questionable (Netscape was acquired by AOL, which then reached an agreement with Microsoft that will probably eliminate Netscape’s products), UIS has performed a thorough evaluation of other e-mail clients for use with the GUMail system.
Different organizations and individuals at Georgetown have come to favor certain e-mail clients over others because the functionality of that client works best for them. Unfortunately, considering the wide variety of e-mail clients on the market, UIS cannot fully support and document every one. To efficiently use our resources and gain expertise with the most widely used clients, UIS has decided to select a few recommended clients that will receive extensive documentation and support from the Help Desk. We will also provide basic documentation and support for other clients and track problems as they are encountered. Finally, we will provide documentation for installing and configuring any other e-mail clients that work with the GUMail system but aren’t commonly used.
During our e-mail client review process, we determined which features were essential, which were important, and which were “nice to have". Essential features included compatibility with our IMAP server configuration, authentication through NetID, and the ability to access the Georgetown Directory. Important features included the ability to search e-mail across folders and to establish e-mail filters. “Nice to have” features included the ability to access multiple e-mail accounts from one interface and to set individual markers on e-mail. Any e-mail client we recommended also had to be widely available, work on multiple operating systems (e.g., Windows, Mac, Linux), and be easy to use. Another crucial factor was that 77% of the respondents to our recent survey use Netscape Communicator, and we did not want to select a client with a drastically different user interface.
Our review process led us to two top contenders for our recommended e-mail client – Mozilla and Microsoft Outlook. Mozilla fits all of our criteria and evades many of Netscape's problems while featuring a similar interface. Microsoft Outlook met many of our criteria, but because it is not freely available to students and not available for all operating systems, we could not recommend it as highly. Outlook will, however, be a recommended and supported e-mail client.
We have begun revising our e-mail client documentation to provide extensive documentation on Mozilla as rapidly as possible. Once the Mozilla documentation is complete, we will work to provide in-depth documentation on Microsoft Outlook XP. Finally, we will enhance our documentation on other clients such as Mac Mail and Eudora.
The Help Desk and desktop technicians will be able to provide the most comprehensive support for Mozilla and Outlook but will always provide basic troubleshooting for any e-mail clients that work with GUMail. Please remember that you can always use any e-mail client you wish but will receive the most efficient support on the clients that we recommend.
A formal migration away from Netscape Communicator is not planned at this time. If you are comfortable with Netscape Communicator and haven’t had any problems with it, you do not need to switch to Mozilla unless you want to do so. Keep in mind, though, that many problems with Netscape Communicator are resolved in Mozilla and, over time, we will recommend upgrading your e-mail client to Mozilla rather than extensively seeking out resolution of problems with Netscape Communicator. All computers received through the replacement cycle or delivered with a UIS-configured operating system will arrive with Mozilla installed.
Features of Mozilla and Microsoft Outlook:
- Mozilla is available for nearly every operating system on campus: versions are available for Windows, Macintosh OS X, Linux, and several flavors of UNIX.
-
In Mozilla, You can read mail for several different GUMail accounts and other accounts from the same e-mail profile. This allows you, for example, to read e-mail from your personal account and your department’s administrative account without closing your window and changing your profile. Georgetown faculty and researchers who are also affiliated with other institutions and associations will find this feature particularly useful.
-
Mozilla makes spell checking available in more than 20 languages.
-
In Mozilla, a “trainable” client-side spam filter helps reduce the amount of junk mail you see every day.
-
Mozilla helps you manage your e-mail more easily through the use of color-coded labels. You can label messages as Important, Work, Personal, To Do, and Later, allowing you to organize your work more rapidly.
-
Mozilla will import profiles from Netscape Communicator when it is installed on the same computer. This allows you to quickly upgrade without having to re-enter all of your information.
-
Outlook integrates well with the Windows operating system and shares the look and feel of other Microsoft applications.
Many of Netscape Communicator's Georgetown-specific features will no longer be available in Mozilla or Microsoft Outlook—namely the menu shortcut to online e-mail administration tools. You haven't lost the ability to administer your e-mail; you will just need to go to the GUMail Web page to do it.
Instructions for downloading, installing, and using Mozilla and Outlook will soon be available from the e-mail clients section of the UIS Web site. We at UIS are confident you will appreciate the new features, easy interface, and stability our new recommended e-mail clients will provide.
|
|
