By Theresa Felder
Managing Editor
When current sophomores return to the university in the fall, they will be greeted with new ThinkPads and new software to go along with them.
Current sophomores will be able to exchange their laptops Aug. 22 and 24 for machines equipped with Netscape Communicator Pro, the groupware that the university will adopt next year.
Incoming freshmen and faculty members who will be given new ThinkPads next year will also use Netscape for e-mail, and any current juniors and freshmen may switch from their present e-mail systems if they choose, according to Jay Dominick, an assistant vice president and the chief information officer.
Staff and faculty members who do not receive new machines next year may also switch to Netscape Mail, Dominick said.
Netscape Mail is supposed to be more flexible than Lotus Notes, and it should be easy for people to learn how to use, according to Dominick.
"The main advantage is that it is in the browser," he said. "It is considered less complicated than Lotus Notes."
Dominick also said that Information Systems will be able to provide better service for the new program.
The option to switch e-mail packages drew mixed reactions from students. Junior Kristi Hennan said that she will continue to use Telnet to access her account on the academic computer. "I love Pine. I would never switch. It's so easy," Hennan said.
Freshman Emily Morrison, however, said that she will welcome the university's switch to Netscape and that she currently uses it for e-mail. "I've already been using that system. I've found that Lotus is not always successful, and some of my e-mails do not get through," Morrison said.
The basic mail package is available on the Internet and is free for student use, Dominick said. The university is still negotiating with Netscape about prices for the licensing for calendaring, which would cost a few dollars per student, according to Dominick.
"We'd like to (purchase the calendaring license) if we can get them to be reasonable on the price," he said. The university must also pay for the server and software.
Among the software included on the new ThinkPads will be Windows '95, Microsoft Office '97 Pro, Netscape Communicator, Virus Scan, Maple and some utilities.
"It's basically the same as this year with new versions of the software," Dominick said.
To prepare for the exchange, current sophomores should contact their resident technology advisers about backing up their current files on CD-Roms, which cost around $5, Dominick said. The RTAs have been provided with recordable CD-Rom drives, which will write the entire userdata directory to the CD Rom.
Senior Brian Ostasiewski, an RTA in Davis House, said that a student must buy the CD from Technical Support or the College Bookstore, install the CD software through the university web page and bring the ThinkPad to his RTA.
Burning the information onto the CD takes approximately two hours, Ostasiewski said.
Dominick strongly recommended that sophomores take care of saving their files before the end of the semester.
"There won't be time in August to do backups," he said. "This is also a way in general to do backups."
Each student has also been allotted 25 megabytes of disk space on the academic computer on which to store files, Dominick said.
Ostasiewski said that two or three students have approached him about backing up their files.
Senior John Regan, an RTA in Kitchin House, said that a couple of people have come to him so far, and several more have contacted him about saving their data.
"People have been contacting me, and as it gets closer (to the end of the semester), more people will want to back it up," Regan said. |