A new and revised version of WiscMail is being launched to the entire campus community this week with a host of improved features resembling the functionality of most desktop mail clients.
After months of testing pilot versions of the new system with select campus users, all University of Wisconsin students, faculty and staff now have the ability to make the switch.
The switch is optional at this point, according to Brian Rust, UW Division of Information Technology communications director.
“We’re going to give people a couple months to get on board voluntarily, then next semester we will actually move people over that have not made the switch,” Rust said.
The new client was designed to resemble the features of Thunderbird, Outlook Express or Apple Mail, Rust said.
Users accustomed to such desktop clients will likely welcome the changes, said John Lucas, UW spokesperson, who was part of the initial pilot testing this year.
“Not to diss the old system, but this thing just provides so much more functionality,” Lucas said.
Among other changes, the new system makes it much easier to keep your inbox organized.
Users can now easily search their inboxes for specific e-mails without opening new windows, drag and drop e-mails into specific folders and with a single click of the mouse, send messages and add contacts.
Another feature Lucas found especially useful is the connection to the university directory. When a user begins typing the name of someone in the directory in the address bar, his or her e-mail will automatically appear.
The new client also allows users to compose multiple e-mails simultaneously, switch easily between customizable tabs, and includes a preview pane that allows users to see the content of messages without leaving their inbox, Rust said.
While DoIT explored the possibility of incorporating other Web-based clients such as Google’s Gmail and Yahoo into the new system as other schools such as the University of Minnesota have done recently, such a move was deemed less advantageous, Rust said.
He added that concerns over reliability and ownership of content were several reasons UW did not choose this route.
