MyMail, the e-mail system Syracuse University students use every day, may not be around much longer – say goodbye to its measly 50 megabytes of storage space.

Eric Sedore, an information technology architect in SU’s Information Technology and Services department, said the MyMail system was supposed to be a temporary plan. But the timelines dragged out longer than the department would have liked, and students are still using MyMail to access their Syracuse e-mail accounts.

‘(MyMail) was intended to be a solution to last about two years,’ Sedore said. ‘Now it’s two and a half.’

It’s not the best-case scenario for students, Sedore said, as MyMail is behind the curve in functionality.

‘It’s a lot behind the times,’ he said.

Offering only 50 megabytes of storage space, MyMail is far behind other e-mail providers. Gmail, Google’s free e-mail service, provides 7.2 gigabytes of storage, and Microsoft’s Windows Live boasts five gigabytes.

Dissolving MyMail and switching to an application service like Microsoft’s Windows Live could happen during this year’s winter break, or by the beginning of next summer, Sedore said.

Such a change would give added benefits to students’ daily communication – for example, functions like shared calendars and a global address book could be provided by their university e-mail account.

Calvin Morrissey, junior sport management major and assistant at the computer support center in Kimmel, said students often have problems with the limited storage space in MyMail.

‘The limited amount of space in people’s inbox fills up, and they can’t get e-mail from their professors,’ he said.

Morrissey said he personally doesn’t use MyMail and prefers the Gmail system.

Sedore from IT Services said changing the e-mail system ‘is at the top of the list’ for the department. Keeping up with changes in technology is hard work, Sedore said, since incoming classes each year have different expectations for what technology can do.

‘We certainly try to stay current in their understanding of how they should use technology, so that we’re not trying to apply a mid-90s mindset of computing to a 2008 freshman coming in,’ he said.

Chris Finkle, communications manager for the ITS department, said much of the department’s job is keeping up with the needs of the university community.

‘Sometimes, things that looks like bells and whistles today, six months from now are essential,’ Finkle said.

This year was the first year that the number of Apple computers sold in the campus bookstore surpassed the number of Windows computers, he added.

The IT department also detected almost 20 percent of students with more than one Internet-capable device with them on campus – devices like video game consoles, iPhones or second computers. These changes in the way students use technology are what the IT department pays attention to when updating systems.

Finkle said keeping up with modern advances can be difficult, given deadlines and the resources the university provides.

‘Our biggest challenge … is what can we deliver reliably on time and on budget, and do a good job on, versus what people need or what people think they need,’ he said. ‘It’s a balancing act, every day.’

mdanie01@syr.edu

Published on October 22, 2008 at 12:00 pm