KYRA WOOD – The Corsair
Out with the old, in with the new! No later than spring 2011, the Novell version of Pirate Mail will be replaced with Microsoft Office Outlook Express Web Access.
Outlook Express will give Pensacola State students not only a more efficient e-mailing system for the school to pass along important information, it will also give students access to a portable Internet-based version of Microsoft Word and Excel.
Every personal account will have up to 10 gigabytes of cloud storage, storage that is saved directly to a third party Internet server so that students may work independently from computer to computer without toting an external storage device. Essentially it means that anywhere an Internet connection can be grabbed, Pirate Mail along with anything saved within the account can be accessed because it is simply floating out on a storage cloud in Internet cyberspace.
Other features include a calendar, task list, font type options, font color options, visible clipart images, the ability to forward e-mails to a personal e-mail account, and available access through a smart phone. Being able to access the school e-mail via smart phone will allow students to send emergency messages to teachers to keep them posted on attendance or help to with assignments.
“Our hope is that when you combine your Pirate Mail with a more modern, attractive version, most students will want to go there first and make it their primary e-mail account,” said Vice President of Student Affairs, Tom Gilliam. “Novell’s version of Pirate Mail is very basic, stuck in a blocky Courier font that is colorless and unattractive.”
With Outlook Express, students will finally be able to see the images that are included in some announcement e-mails and attachments sent out by faculty and staff members, who have been using the system since spring 2009.
“We were going to roll it out in the beginning of fall, but there were too many technical questions we didn’t quite have the answers to,” said Ralph Crago, systems support analyst.
The idea is to provide the more basic software tools to students and the college for free.
“We want to take barriers out of the way for a more unified experience. We want to make it useful and comfortable,” said Crago.
“It’s a better email solution and easier to use,” said Gilliam. “We’re hoping that students will love it.”
