Electronic Mail at UNT

        By Claudia Lynch, Benchmarks Editor (lynch@unt.edu). Click here to view related article.

        On April 25, 1991 the Electronic Mail Task Force met for the first time. The Task Force was formed in March of 1991 at the request of Dr. Blaine Brownell, the UNT Provost and Vice President for Academic Affairs, and was charged to evaluate, recommend, and implement a University-wide electronic mail system. Dr. Paul Schlieve, Associate Professor, Department of Technology and Cognition, College of Education, chaired this task force that reported to the Information Resources Council (IRC) as well as to the Provost. The task of the force was never easy, and Dr. Schlieve reported to the IRC on July 20, 1994 that the Task Force has not been able to agree on one mail package, since there are irreconcilable differences between the various packages. (Click here to see related article.) Subsequently, the Task Force met again and after much deliberation decided on a set of recommendations to move forward to the IRC. On September 22, 1994 the final recommendations of the Electronic Mail Task Force were presented.

        Electronic Mail Task Force Recommendations

        1. Use of NetWare Global Messaging to enable LAN-based applications to exchange mail via MHS and SMTP (including WordPerfect Office 3.1 on an interim basis).
        2. Recognition of the need to support AOCE messaging as part of the Macintosh core operating system.
        3. Implementation of an Interactive Mail Access Protocol (IMAP)-compliant mail system for student mail.
        4. Pursuit of in-house development of integrated directory services.
        5. Drop Pegasus mail and WordPerfect Office 3.1 as supported items.
        6. Adopt cc:Mail as the centrally supported microcomputer E-mail package.

        According to the IRC minutes for September 22, 1994, there seemed to be some concern about the recommendation the Task Force was preparing to make so the Chair proposed the creation of a system by which a decision can be made on a campus-wide E-mail solution by the end of this semester. He proposed forming a new commission, taking the E-mail recommendation to the Communications Program Group, getting a broader campus-wide hearing and coming back to the Council at its November or December meeting with a final recommendation.(Click here to view related article) At the end of the meeting, the Electronic Mail Task Force was declared officially dissolved.

        Electronically Enabled Communications Commission

        As you will see from reading the Information Resources Council News of this issue, the new commission that was suggested on September 22, 1994 was formed and christened the Electronically Enabled Communications Commission. The executive summary of the final report of that commission is found below. The Commission considered two products, cc:Mail and GroupWise, and stated that due to familiarity, comfort, and perhaps lower training costs associated with the Novell product, GroupWise is recommended by the Commission for implementation as the centrally supported and administered electronic communication package.



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