Following the switch from Microsoft Exchange to Gmail for undergraduate e-mail last semester, Computing and Information Services is moving forward to convert the e-mail system used by faculty, staff, graduate and medical students to Gmail before the next fall term begins — a change that CIS staff say will streamline communication and save money.
The move to using Google Apps for Education universally will make faculty and student collaboration easier because everyone will be in the same system, said Geoffrey Greene, the director of IT support services for CIS. For example, Greene said, sharing Google documents will become easier.
CIS considered Microsoft's Live@edu as an alternative to Google for e-mail hosting, but though Microsoft's service has strong features, Google provided other features and functionality without extra charge, said John Spadaro, the director of technical architecture and outreach.
Additionally, Microsoft Live's servers are all located at a single data center and posed "a little too much risk" in the event that data center is compromised, Spadaro said. They also considered that many undergraduates, the first to experience the conversion, already use Gmail.
Spadaro said another advantage of the Google Apps for Education — which is distinct from the consumer Gmail that many people use — is the contract negotiating the ownership of data. Unlike with consumer Gmail, the University would own the user data, prohibiting Google from pitching ads and limiting the company's ability to look at stored information.
The new system also allows administrators to delegate their mailboxes and calendars to assistants so that the assistants can read or respond on their behalf. Though Spadaro said the tool, which Google added recently, is not fully functional yet, he expects it to be one of the most utilized functions Google offers.
But some concerns remain regarding security and privacy. During the transfer of accounts last September, Google accidentally sent some students' e-mails to the wrong recipients and allowed the wrong students access to certain inboxes. Spadaro said this incident was a "real aberration" caused by a coding problem on Google's end. The software glitch affected other schools that use the Gmail system.
Spadaro said CIS talked with their partners at Google and was assured the problem would not occur again. Google also released a new tool a few weeks ago that gives CIS more control in the e-mail migration process from Microsoft Exchange to Google, he said.
Still, Spadaro said he has seen less concern than he anticipated. Greene added that most of the questions he has encountered relate to consumer Gmail, which lacks some of the safeguards and restrictions that the contract with Google Apps for Education would ensure.
Some of the different aspects of Gmail might not appeal to longtime users of Microsoft Exchange, said Thomas Doeppner, associate professor of computer science. Google's calendar system, for example, is significantly different from Exchange's, and whether important calendar information can be transferred between the two systems "needs to be demonstrated," he said. The Gmail interface, which groups e-mails into conversation threads, also differs from Exchange's.
Though Doeppner called the conversion a "step in the right direction," he said he personally might not switch over to Gmail right away, "primarily out of laziness," because he uses the Computer Science department's distinct e-mail system. Some of his colleagues, including Professor of Computer Science Andy van Dam, have expressed a desire not to switch until necessary.
"Switching over is a pain, and I do worry about whether our private e-mails will be adequately protected, and whether up-time will be good enough," van Dam wrote in an e-mail to The Herald.
Still, Doeppner said he predicts he will likely switch over to the new system eventually, and van Dam wrote that he will not switch until he feels he has to, but does not resist the changes entirely.
Spadaro said many other faculty and staff members, though, have expressed enthusiasm for the conversion and have signed on to become early adopters who use test accounts or their own Gmail accounts.
Anjali Sridhar, assistant director of the Third World Center, was already using consumer Gmail when she expressed interest to CIS in the conversion. She said she hopes using the new system will make communication between students and faculty and staff easier, particularly for the TWC. Using Gmail for important functions, like RSVP documents, also "streamlines the process," she said.
"I think the whole package will be very useful," Sridhar said.
CIS will hold a campus-wide forum April 29 to familiarize users with the new system.
Spadaro said the e-mail conversion should save the University money, though he said CIS does not know how much at this time. They are looking to reach out to undergraduates, such as those who work at the CIS help desk, for training new users on the new system.
Though they expect to have the new system up for everyone by the beginning of the fall semester, Greene said they are hoping to have departments that have asked to become early adopters switched over within the month.
