For students who are dissatisfied with Project Vincent, there is a new option for accessing ISU e-mail accounts: WebMail.

The WebMail program is accessible from any computer with Web browser access and is available to anyone with an ISU e-mail account. The address of a personal e-mail account does not change.

Frank Poduska, system analyst at the Computation Center, said WebMail was created to give people with ISU e-mail accounts an option more like the popular Hotmail and Yahoo! e-mail services. WebMail users can still use programs such as Eudora Pro and EasyVincent to check their e-mail.

Poduska said WebMail has been tested by 1,300 people since last June, and was OK’d for use last month.

The program is now running on three servers, which Poduska said is not full speed.

“We are currently running on three servers, and we just ordered three more today. We hope to keep the processing power in line with the demand,” he said.

The program can be accessed at http://webmail.iastate.edu.

Some ISU students seem to appreciate the new option for checking e-mail.

Jim Currans, junior in management information systems, said he has been using WebMail for more than a month and finds the option “very handy.”

“WebMail is a lot better for checking e-mail, at least. There are a lot of other things that Project Vincent can be used for, but most people don’t use them. Computer science majors, for example, can program on Vincent,” Currans said.

Currans said he believes there are many benefits to the new system.

“There are no commands to remember for WebMail,” he said. “Just point and click. You can send and receive attachments, too, which is very difficult on Vincent. Eudora can still be accessed, also.”

Reid Watson, junior in journalism and mass communication, said he is also a regular WebMail user.

“I use it all the time; I like it a lot better,” he said. “It’s faster and lets me view pictures and attachments.”

Kristen Banas, freshman in mechanical engineering and business management, got fed up with EasyVincent in February and began having her e-mails forwarded to a Web-based Hotmail account.

“In my [mechanical engineering] 102 class, one of the presentations on the class’ Web site links you to instructions on how to forward your mail. As soon as I found out about that option, I forwarded my mail,” she said.

Banas said she is now planning on checking out the WebMail program.

“Since Iowa State is giving us the option of Web-based e-mail, I am going to discontinue the forwarding of my Vincent account. Hotmail can be a pain in the arse, and now I have something else to try,” Banas said.

Bret Wilkinson, freshman in agricultural engineering, said he prepared a proposal for his English 105 class concerning Web-based e-mail access last semester, and the proposal coincidentally occurred at the same time the WebMail program was in the testing phase.

Wilkinson said he prefers the Web-based e-mail service.

“The program is all right. There are still some bugs to work out, but it is improving all the time,” he said.

“Once they get all of the servers going, WebMail will replace my Yahoo! account because it will be so much faster.”