Webmail debuts among varied reactions by students

The IU Webmail interface changed drastically last Monday, and students and technicians alike are adjusting to the changes.\nFew glitches have occurred with the new Webmail; however, some problems have arisen.\n"We have a major problem of slowing down," said Richard LeBeau, a consultant with the Student Technology Center -- the technical support center for students at IU. "Some people could not even log on to their e-mail."\nLeBeau said there was a number of students who called in to the support center because they could not log in to their Webmail account and did not know how to use the new interface. \nSenior Scott Brown, a consultant supervisor with the STC, said the new Webmail interface offers a lot more features and is a big improvement. Brown, who works closely with STC consultants all over campus, said the consultants were busy receiving a lot of questions from users in the first couple of days when the new Webmail took effect. \n"I did not have any problem with the new interface because I have worked with similar e-mail at home," Brown said. \nJunior Daniel Osborne said it took him a while to get used to the new interface, but the new Webmail has more features that are beneficial to his needs.\n"I did not like it at first, but you've got to tinker with it to get use to the system," Osborne said. "You'll like it once you get used to it."\nOne of the most drastic changes is the deleting process. One more step has been added to the deleting process in order to protect users from deleting important e-mail by accident. \n"Deleting my unwanted e-mail was a problem at first, but after tinkering with it, it's easy to use," Osborne said. \nLeBeau said he is pleased with the differences between the old and new Webmail interfaces.\n"The new interface is faster, more streamlined and easier to use," LeBeau said. "There are a lot more options in the new interface compared to the old one. It's more powerful."\nLeBeau said there are no instructions or manual on how to use the new Webmail system, but any user who wants to learn more about the new interface can visit the Knowledge Base Web site, an online support service, at kb.indiana.edu.