The state of e-mail

So long as they were not previously over the e-mail quota, students in the School of Arts and Sciences got a nice bit of news in their inbox last Friday.

Ira Winston, the head of SAS Computing, announced that his department is undertaking a plan to improve the school's e-mail system.

Central to this will be increasing the amount of space each student and faculty account is allotted. The plan at hand calls for boosting the quota from 20 megabytes of total space to 65. That is certainly a welcome improvement, but considering that those in the School of Engineering receive more than triple that amount of space, there is room for more.

But apparently growth beyond this 65-megabyte ceiling is not possible under the current system. So throw it out.

The SAS system has long played second fiddle to Wharton's Microsoft Exchange-based configuration. What College students do not get is calendar and scheduling functions, as well as the portability that comes with integrating the Web-based client with Microsoft Outlook. What the current system instead provides is a convoluted interface that makes simple tasks such as searching and organizing messages more difficult than it needs to be.

These issues -- both space and usability -- can be solved by replacing the current e-mail system, something the computing planners are seriously considering.

Progress on this has been hindered in the past by a small contingent that is vehemently opposed to bringing in a Microsoft system. Whether a new client comes from Microsoft or not is trivial -- there are plenty of other firms out there that make similar full-featured programs. But SAS could learn a lot from its Wharton counterparts about what functionality is really useful.

Building a Web-based mail client that gives users real power to organize and use information is essential, since the College's support for desktop mail software has been dismal. Taking student input on what features are necessary and understanding exactly how the system is used is a good place to begin.

At least now there will be enough space in everyone's inboxes to have a productive back-and-forth.

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