--- TIC-TECH message:
From: Felty, Wes
To: 'TIC-TECH@tic.ssd.k12.wa.us'
Cc:
Subject: Reflections on OWA use
Sent: 1/14/01 4:11 PM
Importance: Normal
Well, IS fixed me up with one of the new Exchange accounts,
SeattleSchools.org. Aside from Barry's "Owie" report, I don't recall
hearing from anyone what to expect.
First of all, I also found OWA to be slow, slower than any other e-mail
program that I've used from home with my dial-in access. But, not slow
enough to be too much of a problem. Using Outlook Express to get to my
SeattleSchools.org was faster, as fast as Outlook Express usually is. (More
on Outlook Express below).
In many ways, OWA is similar to using pine on CKS. With both of these
systems you are running software on the other end of the line which does
slow things down. Also, in both systems, your e-mail stays on the server
on the other end of the line. This means that your e-mails stay on the
server. You can access your old and new e-mails from anywhere that you
have Internet access, telnet access for CKS and http:/ access for OWA.
Another advantage with these two methods is that you do NOT have to
configure an e-mail system as you must do with Internet e-mail, Netscape
e-mail, Eudora, etc. Also, with both CKS and OWA, you can reply to
e-mails, delete your e-mails, organize your e-mail into folders, etc. No
applications have to be added to use OWA. You just point your Web Browser
to the correct address and OWA runs from the SSD end of the connection.
So, you do have to have Web Browser access from a fixed line or dial-in
access through an ISP (INternet Service Provider).
So why move to OWA from pine on CKS. You get a GUI, Graphical User
Interface and the ability to send and receive attachments. But, the bottom
line is that CKS is going to go away. I did a lot of maintenance on CKS
and can tell you that is a tremendous drain on resources to keep it running
and to deal with users' accounts. We were talking about ending it as early
as five or six years ago.
One fear that I've had that relates to any Outlook product is the new
family of viruses, the ones that can infect the system by just receiving
the e-mail notice in the In window pane. You don't have to open an
attachment or even open the e-mail. I have been told that the district has
been able to filter out these viruses as the e-mails enter our system. So,
I feel better about that.
Not, about Outlook and Outlook Express. The district is using OWA for
teachers and Outlook, the full program, for the Office staff. I suspect
that means that CKS accounts get converted to OWA accounts and the VAX
accounts get converted to Outlook accounts. The Outlook accounts need to
be setup carefully. I expect that is due to higher security being needed
for the VAX accounts.
The district does NOT support POP3 use of our GUI Web e-mail systems, like
Outlook Express, Internet Explorer e-mail, Netscape e-mail, Eudore, etc.
That doesn't mean that they don't work, but the district will not support
your using them. Hopefully, their use use won't screw up the system.
(Actually, I am composing this e-mail on Outlook Express configured to go
to the new Exchange account). If the whole system stops working, we'll
know that it was me who took it down <grin>.
Actually, I just tried to send the message from Outlook Express and it was
rejected. Some messages go and some don't, so it is unreliable. I know
the cause but not a solution.
-Wes
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This archive was generated by hypermail 2b29 : Sun Jan 14 2001 - 16:39:52 PST