Webmail popular in 1st week

Less than a week after it became available, Webmail is the e-mail system of choice for thousands of IU students. Technology officials said the new system has been well-received by users. \nTerry Usrey, the data communications director of University Information Technology Services, said while it is too early to know what students think of Webmail, the number of users speaks for itself. \n"There's been hardly any feedback," Usrey said. "In our business, no news is good news. However, we can interpret the general reaction to Webmail from the amount of people who have been logging onto it. Thousands have logged on so far. It has truly exceeded our expectations." \nWebmail is an Internet-based e-mail system accessible through any Internet browser. PINE, which is still available to students, requires a program be installed on the computer for access. \nUITS Manager of Messaging Rick Jackson said about one-quarter of PINE users have begun using Webmail.\n"On Friday, Webmail experienced 90 connections per minute. That's pretty darn impressive," he said.\nAssociate Vice President of Telecommunications Brian Voss said students have been reacting well to Webmail. \n"What it does is it gives people a very easy way to receive e-mail and handle attachments," Voss said. "The response has been really positive so far." \nJackson said there have been relatively few calls from Webmail users to the UITS Support Center reporting problems.\n "The support center only received about 20 calls about Webmail in the first two days that the system was running," Jackson said. "The idea behind Webmail was that it was supposed to be easy to use, and this shows that we've been successful."\nWebmail has been available to students since Thursday. Students can access it at webmail.indiana.edu.