To the members of the Email working group (Divisional Representatives and
MCIS management team copied on this message):
 
Below are the summarized decisions, conclusions and action items identified
in our meeting on May 4.
 
I want to thank all of you for your valued participation in this working
group over the past year.  We learned that messaging is a technology in
progress, not yet to the point where we could find products to meet our
requirements.  We are looking at the decisions identified below as an interim
solution, but one that will also allow us to progress toward a more
full-function messaging infrastructure.  We will need to consider all forms
of messaging from the viewpoint of a universal in-box: rich text, multimedia
(including telephony, sound, image and video), conferencing, routed forms
with electronic signatures, discussion databases, document imaging, and
possibly even secure financial transactions.
 
One of our most critical immediate action items is to document for students,
faculty, and staff how to successfully send enclosures in the current
environment.  While we were not able to make this a transparent process for
sender and recipient, we better understand the issues and current
requirements.
 
Should you have questions or comments on the items listed below, please feel
free to reply to this message (and thereby, to the Email Working Group as a
whole), or to me directly at [log in to unmask]
 
Debi
 
**********
 
Email Working Group
Decisions and Action Items from 5/4/95 Meeting
 
Decisions/Conclusions:
 
POP Clients
 
1.      Both Pegasus Mail and Eudora will be supported by MCIS as POP clients.
Pegasus Mail has DOS, Windows and Macintosh versions, but currently the Mac
version lags behind.  Eudora offers Windows and Mac versions.  All have their
strengths and weaknesses; MCIS to develop a document to assist departments in
their decisions.  The best software for a department may depend on several
factors, such as: whether department is single platform or multiple platform,
funding available, network coverage.  [See Action Item #4]
 
2.      Messaging software is "in process" and expected to undergo fundamental and
sweeping changes within the next few years.  MCIS will review this
PMail/Eudora decision in the summer of 1997.
 
3.      We will want students to use POP service on a broad scale once the
residence halls are networked.  They will have Novell accounts.
 
POP Servers:
 
4.      Currently, supported POP Servers are Novell servers with Mercury software,
and MIAVX1 (the Alpha).  It is also possible that MIAMIU will become a
supported POP server.  [see Action Items #4, 5, and 6]
 
5.      MCIS will review the recommended POP Servers beginning in the summer of
1997.  Long-term direction: a dedicated mail server/redirector. [see Action
Item #13]
 
Enclosures:
 
6.      Currently, enclosures will only work between "informed consenting adults."
 Enclosures cannot be sent to VM.  Sender needs to know where recipient will
read the mail.  We need a strategy for enclosures.  Need rigid standards that
clients should follow when sending enclosures.  Many problems still exist,
and the messaging software currently available can't solve them.  Enclosures
cannot be sent reliably.  [see Action Items #2, 3]
 
 
Other:
 
7.      Related issue regarding unread mail:
 
        MCIS will bounce unread mail on MIAVX1 and MIAMIU after 30 days back to the
sender, regardless of the recipient's disk quota.  Special arrangements can
be made with MCIS to extend the window, required for such circumstances as
sabbaticals or other extended leave.
 
Action Items:
 
1.      MCIS Networking to look at feasibility/possibility of implementing the
same policy for unread mail on Novell servers as decided above for MIAVX1 and
MIAMIU.
 
2.      We need to document what you have to do to send a given enclosure to a
given recipient.  [who to do?]
 
3.      We will need to document the process for students to turn in assignments
electronically to their faculty -- what's needed to make this work
successfully for both students and faculty?  We need to address this in the
current environment.  [Can documentation be developed over the summer?  Who
to do?]
 
4.      Steve Thole, Joe Simpson, Guy Moore and Larry Downes will develop the
configuration standards for Eudora and Pegasus Mail so that we get maximum
interoperability and reliability.  They will begin immediately.
 
5.      Kent and Tech Services will evaluate MIAVX1 for immediate widespread POP
service.  MIAVX1 would be the POP mail server available to clients who do not
have Novell Mercury POP service.
 
6.      Steve Moore and Tech Services will evaluate the feasibility and
desirability of installing POP service on MIAMIU.
 
7.      We will not have a POP.MUOHIO.EDU machine until we have a dedicated mail
machine.  An alternative to the dedicated mail machine is to use the
distributed Novell servers that will be installed across the Oxford campus.
 
8.      Debi to check on the differences between the free Eudora and Qualcomm's
Eudora.
 
9.      Debi to verify that there is not a Eudora client for DOS. [answer: no DOS
client]
 
10.     Debi to coordinate producing a document to assist departments in
selecting their preferred email package(s).
 
11.     Dirk and Steve to investigate use of nickname files in the Eudora for
Windows client like Dirk demonstrated for the Mac client.
 
12.     Debi to check with Qualcomm re: storing Eudora separately from the file
store.  This is an issue both for disk space and for migrating to the next
release.
 
13.     As we are ready to assist departments in their migration to POP mail
service, we will need to set up a timetable.  Microbiology has found it works
best to allow clients to use both the old and new software for a while and
gradually convert them.
 
14.     MCIS to continue to monitor the direction of IMAP and other messaging
technologies.