Since he figured nobody else was doing anything to change MSU’s e-mail system, mail.msu.edu, computer science senior Daniel Fiordalis stepped up and solved the problem himself.
Fiordalis created State-Mail.com, his own e-mail service with more features than MSU’s e-mail server.
“I had always forwarded my MSU e-mail to Microsoft Outlook,” Fiordalis said. “Then it stopped working on me, so I had to switch back over to MSU’s e-mail system. I realized this wasn’t going to cut it — even after trying other e-mail programs, including Gmail."
Fiordalis’ e-mail service, which is built to mimic a desktop application such as Microsoft Outlook, includes synchronization with mail.msu.edu, a mailbox-search feature, a State-Mail chat tool and full HTML capabilities.
Fiordalis worked on State-Mail for more than five months, beginning in January. Following the 2006-07 school year, he assigned 20 beta testers to critique the system.
“I got a lot of good feedback, having testers tell me, ‘Fix this,’ or, ‘Change this,’” he said. “The site has been through a lot of changes since its release.”
About 400 MSU students use State-Mail, Fiordalis said. MSU students can log in by entering an MSU Net ID and password.
Though the site’s novelty might raise some security concerns, Fiordalis said students have nothing to worry about.
“First, MSU passwords are never saved in a database,” he said. “The database was built with this idea in mind: ‘If, in the very unlikely event State-Mail’s database was stolen, would the thief be able to use any of the information to log into other MSU services, change settings somewhere, drop classes or get access to something like StuInfo?'"
Fiordalis said it would be a waste of time for a thief to try to hack the database because there is nothing to steal.
David Gift, vice provost for MSU libraries, said all MSU Web sites requiring an MSU Net ID and password use Kerberos, an identity security feature.
When telecommunication, information studies and media senior Chris Moylan, one of the beta testers, first tried out the site, he said he wasn’t impressed.
“But I’m finding that I use it more and more,” he said. “When you perform an action in (MSU’s e-mail), you have to wait for the whole page to load. But in State-Mail, the action takes place in the background, allowing you to continue working.”
Gift said he doesn’t have a problem with students switching to State-Mail.
“It’s wonderful that students are working on those innovations, and we certainly welcome that,” Gift said. “It is good for students to have choices about what mail services they use. We don’t feel that it is appropriate for the university to pick one particular vendor for students. If somebody gets innovative, that’s terrific for them.”
Economics sophomore Christina Ewere said she conducted a test to see which mail service would go faster.
“I logged in on both systems and found out that while I had already started reading my e-mail on (State-Mail), (MSU’s e-mail) was still loading,” she said.
Fiordalis said there are downsides to State-Mail, such as the Web site’s being at the mercy of the MSU mail server.
“If MSU’s mail server, or network, decides to take the day off or slow way down, those effects will be present in State-Mail,” Fiordalis said.
Gugulethu Mabuza, an electrical engineering senior who works with the Web site, played a big part in State-Mail’s winning a People’s Choice Award at Usability Day, held Nov. 8 at the Kellogg Center. Mabuza, another beta tester, created a visual of the Web site to show its capabilities at Usability Day.
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“The discipline it takes for a student to believe and persistently pursue such an idea should be recognized as an asset by the university,” Mabuza said.
