The daily Nebraskan. ([Lincoln, Neb.) 1901-current, May 01, 1997, Page 8, Image 8

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--- President
Matt Sasek
=== Treasurer
==: Jeana Seitzinger
=== Senior Qift
Jen Powell &
Bobbi Zapp
=== Trading Places
=== Ryan Shanahan
Vice President
Erin Hamilton
Social
Adam Anderson &
Lexie Mueller
funding Project
Brittany Koiste
Scholarship
Amy Lucht
Secretaru ===
Tara Adams
Builder's Award
Andrea Lauenstein
Pizza Sales :==
Malle Trupp
Membership Selection
Andy Schuerman &
Jessica Planagain ===
I in Membership Development Big Red Wieicome/Public Relations ==J
z== Pat Mclnteer & Matt Luth Sara Spence
llrT'iiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiH-iiiiiiriiiiiiiiiiiniiiiiiiiiiiilfi
.
TWO EXAM
BOOKS FREE!
FROM
NEBRASKA
ROOKSTORE
NO PURCHASE
NHXSSAKY.
STOP M NEBRASKA
BOOKSTORE’S
TEXTBOOK DEPARTMENT
AND ASK FOR THE “BUIE
BOOK.” NO STRMGS
ATTACHED—
NOTHIN! TO BUY.
JUST ANOTHER WAY WE
CUT THROUGH HASSLES.
OHER GOOD MMI SUPPICS LAST.
There Really Ls A Difference.
Notes not worth it,
7 <!
. some opponents say
Current system could be better;
Lotus technology unneeded at UNL
LOTUS from page 1
members with specialized computers.
Kent Hendrickson, UNL associate
vice chancellor for information ser
vices, has said those who did not want
Lotus Notes would not be forced to use
the system.
But students and faculty said the
expense of Lotus Notes did not justify
the benefits or lack of them to many
campus users. The university does not
make good use of the powerful com
puters it has now, they have said.
Tom Carrell, UNL assistant pro
fessor of special education and com
munication disorders, said he was con
cerned the university chose Lotus
Notes for the wrong reasons.
UNL also is not buying into Lotus
Notes on the system’s own merits, he
said, but because the current e-mail
systems are so poorly operated.
The unlinfo e-mail system has had
the same problems for the last three
years, he said, and they haven’t been
corrected.
Matt Evans, a computer engineer
ing sophomore, said a common com
plaint about bigred was the long, nu
merical user names.
mai s a punuy ucumuii, cvaus
said. Bigred users could be identified
by letter-based user names, but uni
versity computer services decided to
use numerical names.
Carrell said network operators
have made the current UNL systems
as unfriendly for users as possible.
This makes Lotus Notes appealing to
UNL computer users as a different
system, not as the best system avail
able for the university, he said.
The recent loss of the dial-in mo
dem pool was an example of inconve
nient service dictating policy changes,
Carrell said.
The university’s modem service
was poor and inconvenient, he said,
so people who wanted decent Internet
access were happy to let an outside
company provide the service.
“The more easily accessible they
make things, the more people would
use them,” Carrell said.
Leader of the pack
Carrell said the university admin
istration was correct in thinking Lo
tus Notes the best of all commercial
systems.
“If Lotus is here and free, I prob
ably would want to use it,” he said.
Although UNL did get a good deal
on Lotus Notes, the system is not free,
he said.
About $650,000 has been budgeted
over six years for all hardware, soft
ware and support for Lotus Notes at
UNL. Commercial businesses would*
pay much more, he said.
But the cost of Lotus Notes is still
significant in this budget-crunching
period.
“I really hate to see the university’s
budget being cut so much and spend
ing so much money on (Lotus Notes),”
he said.
In the past year, when the univer
sity sought to make a decision on a
new e-mail and information-sharing
computer system, the university did
not consider any of the free options.
An example is Netscape e-mail,
which is free to any university user.
Eudora mail is also free on the
Internet.
Walter Weir, NU assistant vice
president and chief information of
ficer, has said good e-mail systems
were available free on the Internet.
More than mail
But e-mail is a small part of Lotus
Notes capabilities, Weir said. Database
sharing and applications development
are more important facets of the sys
tem.
a
The more easily
accessible they
make things, the
more people would
use them.”
TomCarrell
UNL assistant professor
Eudora mail is free, but the up
grade to make it comparable to other
Lotus Notes applications besides e
mail would cost $1,500 per user. NU
will pay $2 per user for Lotus Notes,
he said.
Evans said Lotus Notes’ database
sharing capability may be a good idea
for those elements of the university run
like a business, including much of the
administration and staff.
The university would make a mis
take with Lotus Notes if it forced those
who use computers for research to !
make the Lotus Notes switch, Evans
said.
The Lotus Notes system is a .
“bloated system,” he said, and is not
written to Internet standards; in other
words, the Internet has a standard e
mail system, which Lotus Notes does
not follow. Evans said Lotus Notes was
built to its own commercial standard.
Although this may not bother staff
and administrators, computer users
who need their e-mail system to fit the
Internet standards could be disturbed.
Powers of persuasion?
Computer users who have invested
in high-powered UNIX hardware j
could not use Lotus Notes as it would
be purchased by the university, Evans
said. UNIX hardware has a different
operating system than popular
Macintosh or Windows computers.
“By using Notes... you’re not gain
ing anything,” he said. “You’re just
shutting off a fairly significant group
of people and a fairly significant group
of hardware.”
For instance, with current e-mail
systems, a user with a modem can ac
cess e-mail away from hone on a text
only terminal.
Lotus Notes requires a rur sys
tem to check e-mail away from home,
or a program such as Netscape that
supports graphics.
Evans said shoving the Lotus
Notes change down the throats of un
willing university members would be
a mistake. Lotus Notes offered as an
option would be acceptable, he said.
“If the students are left alone, if
services like bigred are still made
available, it could be OK,” Evans said.
Bigred is an “incredible” machine
and very powerful, he said. Its alpha
processor is the world’s fastest, he
said, and allows it to handle mass
quantities of e-mail easily.
Another machine the university
operates is called CSE, Evans said,
and it is also a very high-powered
machine.
The Air Force uses a form of CSE
for its flight simulations, Evans said,
and the computer is cheaper and more
powerful than Lotus Notes hardware.
The university would do well to
handle the equipment it does have
better, he said, and then look to Lotus
Notes for administrators and others
needing its capabilities other than e
mail.
Lotus Notes is a good system for
some users, but not the answer to cur
rent system problems, he said.