Understanding Email at the UO: What Are Your Best Options?

If you're bewildered by the array of available email products, this guide can help you make an informed decision

Returning Student and/Longtime Faculty/Staff | New Students and New Faculty/Staff | Email FAQs | Email-Related URLs|

By Joe St Sauver
joe@oregon.uoregon.edu

There are many different ways you can read your email at the University of Oregon. Sometimes the number of options can be rather overwhelming, particularly if you're new to campus. This article is designed to help new UO students and new UO faculty and staff understand their email options.

Returning Students and Longtime Faculty/Staff [Back to Top]

If you're a returning student or a longtime faculty/staff member and you're happy with the way you're currently reading your email, we think that's great--there's no need for you to change. We know that personal preferences about email are strong and passionately held, and we don't believe we can (or should) try to force all users into a single one-size-fits-all-solution.

Email Security. Having said that, we do urge all UO users to become more security-conscious about the risks associated with certain email-related practices, and to minimize those risks where possible.

For example, because of the possibility of mail-borne viruses (such as the ILOVEYOU virus that struck Outlook and Outlook Express users at some sites in May 2000), be sure you're running current virus protection, and don't open unexpected attachments.

Another area where many UO users can improve their email security is in the area of "network sniffing," or the risk that someone may eavesdrop on your email or your username and password while you're checking your email. UO users now have a number of options for virtually eliminating that risk, ranging from the very simple (e.g., using a secure web-based email product, as described below) to somewhat more sophisticated techniques, such as using SSL-enhanced POP or SSL-enhanced IMAP to read your email.

New Students and New Faculty and Staff [Back to Top]

Our recommendation for new students and new faculty/ staff is to try our new web email product called "IMHO."

You can use IMHO to read your email wherever you happen to be using your favorite web browser, e.g., Netscape or Internet Explorer. IMHO uses your existing Darkwing or Gladstone account; it automatically uses SSL session encryption to prevent hacker/crackers from sniffing your email traffic; it works for both PC and Mac users; it does not require cookies, Java or Javascript; and it does not require you to install any additional software on your system just to read your email. To try IMHO, go to http://email.uoregon.edu/ and select Darkwing or Gladstone, as appropriate for your account.

EMAIL FAQS

Q: My email account is on Oregon...can I use IMHO with that account, too? [Back to Top]

Q: I'm On Darkwing (or Gladstone) and I currently use the "old" WebMail product... Do I HAVE to switch to the new IMHO web email product?

A: No, the old/classic WebMail product will continue to be available for your use. In general, we think you'll prefer IMHO to the older product, but if you want to continue with the classic WebMail product, that's fine too. To get to the classic WebMail product, either (1) as always, go directly to https://webmail.uoregon.edu/, or (2) go to http://email.uoregon.edu/, select Oregon, and then choose Darkwing or Gladstone (as appropriate) on the opening classic web mail screen.

Q: Why doesn't the Computing Center continue to suggest Eudora? [Back to Top]

A: While Eudora has long been a campus favorite, at this time Qualcomm has elected to distribute three different versions of Eudora: Eudora Light, Eudora Pro (Sponsored Mode) and Eudora Pro (Paid Mode).

Let's briefly consider those three different versions:

1. Eudora Light is a free version of Eudora that offers reduced functionality vis-`a-vis Eudora Pro. As it was released some time ago, it's unlikely to get further significant development by the vendor.

2. Eudora Pro (Sponsored Mode) is a full version of Eudora, but includes integrated advertising (just as broadcast TV includes commercials).

3. Eudora Pro (Paid Mode) is just like Eudora Pro (Sponsored Mode), but without integrated advertising. Unfortunately, you need to pay to use it. We believe that neither Eudora Light nor Eudora Pro (Sponsored Mode) were a good fit for UO users, and unfortunately the cost of a site license for the Paid Mode product was prohibitive. There's also the fact that Eudora's a POP- (rather than IMAP-) based solution; this has some important support implications for users who work from more than one location.

We're also striving to ensure that all email solutions we recommend support either SSL or SSH encryption, and unfortunately, at the time we were preparing this year's Duckware CD-ROM, Eudora lacked support for that sort of encryption. However, we fully expect Eudora to add SSH or SSL encryption sometime in the future.

Having said all that, we don't mean to imply that people should stop using Eudora for their email if it works well for them.

Q: Why aren't you recommending Outlook or Netscape Communicator as email solutions? [Back to Top]

A: We know that many UO users run Outlook or Netscape Communicator, often simply because it comes with the web browser they're using. Unfortunately, the experience of some campus units with email-borne viruses and Outlook's perhaps too-tight integration with other desktop applications led us to avoid recommending Outlook as a general-purpose email client for the campus as a whole at this time.

We've also found that Outlook, Netscape Communicator, and other integrated mail clients don't work well in computer lab situations, where users need to customize Outlook with their email address and personal information and often forget to remove that personal data when they're done--leading to substantial confusion and ongoing support issues associated with mail sent by subsequent users of that machine.

As with Eudora, if you're using Outlook or Netscape Communicator and like it, that's fine. We're just not promoting it as a recommended campus solution. As always, we strongly urge Outlook and Outlook Express users to install a good virus protection product, and we strongly recommend that you also exercise good self-discipline when it comes to backing up all your work.

Q: What about Pine and other command-line email clients? [Back to Top]

A: Pine (and other command line email clients) have traditionally worked very well for many users, and will continue to be an option. The biggest problems with Pine and other command-line email clients have been that printing messages doesn't work the way users expect it should; and, as a text-only application, command-line email clients have limitations when working with attachments.

Q: What about Departmental-only email? [Back to Top]

A: Some departments have elected to run departmental email solutions such as Microsoft Exchange Server, Groupwise, etc. If those departmental email solutions work well for thse departments, that's fine. However, since our support staff do not have accounts on those departmental-only systems, and because there's a limit to the number of different email clients we can learn and maintain proficiency in, we can't directly support users of departmental email systems. Users of those systems should contact their departmental system administrators for assistance with any problems they may have.

Q: What about free web-based email solutions such as Hotmail? [Back to Top]

A: You should use a UO account for your UO-related (academic and administrative) email. Here are some of the reasons why:

- Loss of UO Identity: When you send email from a free web-based email account, UO recipients of that email have no way of knowing that you're from the UO. Because many of our services are limited to UO faculty, students and staff only, when you send email from a non-UO account you may be denied access to some services, or experience delays in getting service which would not occur if you were using a UO address.

- Overlooked Incoming Email on Your UO Account(s): If you use a non-UO account, you may end up missing email sent to your account of record (as listed in the UO online directory).

- Free Web-Based Email is Filtered By Some Users/Sites: Because many spammers routinely exploit free web-based email providers to send their spam, or forge the address of free web-based email providers into spam sent from elsewhere, many people routinely filter ALL email from free web-based email providers. Often this results in your messages from the free web-based email provider simply being silently discarded.

- Free Web Based Email Systems Are Favorite Targets For Spammers: Receipt of spam is a problem at many free web-based email sites, too. While we actively work to eliminate spam on Darkwing, Gladstone and Oregon, there's nothing we can do to help you eliminate problems you may have with receiving spam on a free web-based email account.

- Free Web Based Email Systems Do Not Generally Support Encryption: Most free web-based email solutions do not offer encryption of your email messages or your username and password, which can leave you vulnerable to hacker/crackers sniffing your traffic.

- POP Consolidation Routines Represent Security Vulnerabilities: Some free web-based email solutions permit you to consolidate email from multiple accounts (located elsewhere) on a single free web-based email account, typically using the POP3 (Post Office Protocol) to retrieve the mail from those other accounts. If you POP your UO email onto a free web-based email account, the free web-based email site will typically store your UO account information and password on a server at their site--a very insecure practice.

- Hidden costs: "free" web-based email solutions such as Hotmail are actually supported by advertising and have various hidden costs. For example, the university ends up having to engineer additional network capacity to accommodate the load associated with those "free" services. Email received on Darkwing, Gladstone, or Oregon is far more efficient and cost-effective. In conclusion, we urge you to use the UO accounts that are made available to you for your UO administrative and academic business.

Q: What about campus "portals" - will UO install a campus portal with integrated email? [Back to Top]

A: While the Computing Center continues to actively evaluate various campus portal solutions, we will not be installing a campus portal which uses integrated email at this time.

Email-Related URLs: [Back to Top]

- To access UO's web based email: http://email.uoregon.edu/

- Microcomputer Services (for general help with supported desktop email clients: http://micro.uoregon.edu/)

Your email and viruses....

- Anti-virus software (You can get this on the Fall 2000 Duckware CD-ROM, which is available from the Microcomputer Support Center in 151 Grayson Hall)

- Information on the ILOVEYOU virus in particular http://www.symantec.com/avcenter/venc/data/vbs.loveletter.a.html

- "Stay Virus Free! Don't Open Unknown Email Attachments!" http://cc.uoregon.edu/cnews/summer2000/iloveu.html

Your email and security....

- SSL Encryption Lets You View Your Email Securely on Darkwing or Gladstone http://cc.uoregon.edu/cnews/spring2000/ssl.html

- IMHO's home page in Sweden http://www.lysator.liu.se/~stewa/IMHO/