Computing at the University will have a new feel this fall with two new programs to make work and e-mailing easier for students, faculty and staff.
Students sick of Simeon and its baffling messages such as, "Trying to get mailbox lock from process 18399" will be happy to hear that the University is recommending a new e-mail program called Mulberry that will slowly phase out Simeon.
Mulberry is now available for free download from the University Information Technology and Communications Web site, www.itc.virginia.edu, and will be ITC's new recommended e-mail offering.
ITC changed e-mail programs because the company that sells Simeon, Esys Corp., changed owners and has discontinued sales of the program, said Mark Smith, manager of ITC's desktop computer support.
The University has used Simeon since September 1996.
He added that although ITC will no longer be working with Simeon, students can still check their e-mail with either Simeon or Mulberry until summer 2002.
Mulberry works a lot like Simeon, with a few major improvements, Smith said. For instance, Mulberry opens files attached to e-mails without having to ask users to "specify a helper application," which is often confusing in Simeon.
Third-year Commerce School student Fred Murai has been using Mulberry for a few weeks.
"It's pretty easy to use if you've used Simeon," Murai said.
He said the best feature of the new program is that users can check multiple e-mail accounts.
Mulberry will be installed in all computer labs by this fall, he said.
Simeon will still be available in labs as well, he added.
"We're not pushing students to learn a new e-mail client as soon they walk up to a computer," Smith said.
Mulberry is free to all students, faculty and staff.
Replacing systems with Oracle
The other major computing change at the University is the new integrated computer system from Oracle which will consolidate all computing systems at the University into one easy-to-use system.
"Currently we have a lot of systems that don't talk well to each other," said Carole Horwitz, communications manager for the integrated systems project.
Data is not transferred easily between the University's 24 information systems, so Oracle's new system will make work more efficient, Horwitz said.
The project is a five-year effort and the first phase of the system will take effect July 2 for all financial information besides payroll and student finances.
About 1,500 people will begin using the new system next week, she said.
The second phase to be integrated under the Oracle system is human resources, which will include payroll.
The third phase is the student information system which will replace ISIS sometime in 2004.
She reminded people to be "patient and supportive" with staff members next week, because many of them are just learning the new system.
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