Nearly 30,000 students at theUniversity of
Portsmouth have been given Google Apps
accounts after they refused to give up their private Hotmail and
Gmail accounts and spurned the university's Netmail system in an
effort to gain better access to more applications.
A spokesperson for the university said students preferred their
private email services to the university's Netmail e-mail system.
They will now be able to redirect their existing email accounts to
Google Apps if they wish.
The spokesperson said students were asked what they wanted and
they asked for more applications than just email as well as
something more modern, so the university chose Google Apps.
University staff will keep using Novell’s GroupWise email system
because of the need to archive certain documents, she said.
Students were using Google Apps for e-mail, instant messaging
and document sharing. They were also using it to set up clubs and
societies, their own web pages and calendars. They will soon have
personalised timetables.