First-Years Flock to Webmail

What’s the easiest way to tell a first-year from an upperclass student at Harvard? Ask them to check their e-mail.

The Class of 2006 has distinguished itself as Harvard’s first “webmail class”—many of these students check their e-mail exclusively via webmail.

Meanwhile, programs such as Pine, which runs through telnet, and Eudora remain popular for the rest of the student body.

According to Kevin S. Davis ’98, director of residential computing for Harvard Arts and Sciences Computer Services (HASCS), 13,700 users have logged into webmail since its debut last spring. The site is currently peaking at 4,500 log-ins a day, compared to 5,200 daily users of Pine and other programs.

“It’s definitely an evolutionary process,” Davis said. “We’re continuing to moniter popularity and performance.”

Incoming first-years were introduced to webmail this summer by a letter from HASCS which explained how to start using webmail before arriving at Harvard.

Upon arriving at campus, many have simply continued using the program out of habit. Some first-years say they are not aware of the existence of Pine—which has been the dominant program at Harvard for years.

“I don’t even know how to use it,” said Rosina L. Lanson ’06 of the telnet program. “I started using [webmail] over the summer.”

The webmail program was created last year to make it easier for Harvard e-mail users to check e-mail while away from campus. Pine requires that users connect to Harvard’s server using a secure Telnet client, a program most computers lack.

While webmail sucessfully allows users to check their e-mail while off-campus, Davis said HASCS has been focusing on improving speed of the service. Currently, said Davis, it takes between five and six seconds for the inbox to load.

Webmail is inherently slower than programs like Pine and Eudora because it is more resource-intensive for the mail servers, Davis said.

“Webmail will never be the fastest way to check your e-mail,” Davis said. “As far as we can see, right now performance is good.”

While Davis said Pine and Eudora are faster, he said HASCS does not recommend one program over another.

“We’re very agnostic about which e-mail program is better,” he said.

But some students say the large number of possible ways to check e-mail can pose problems.

“I wish everybody would use the same program,” said Laura C. Settlemyer ’05. She said it is sometimes difficult for her to send pictures and attachments to other students using different programs.

Davis said HASCS has stepped up efforts to educate students about computing at Harvard, including seminars during Orientation Week instructing students on different methods of checking e-mail. He said roughly a third of the Class of 2006 attended these seminars.