FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE
Feb. 18, 2008
Contact: Jessica Wong
(662) 329-7119

Google Apps to be introduced to MUW students

COLUMBUS, Miss. – Mississippi University for Women’s Information
Technology Services recently announced that it will be introducing Google Apps to students in March 2008. MUW will be the first university in Mississippi to implement the service.

The program will offer access to free services such as email, the ability to create and edit a personal calendar, instant messaging, on-line storage to save important projects and documents and programs similar to Office products. Advantages of the applications are that students can access the services from any computer with an Internet connection.

“We believe that Google Apps leverages out existing investments and allows the university to provide extraordinary technology to our students,” Larry Jones, MUW director of ITS, said.

The new applications provide students with more network storage space.
This solves the problem of emailing files to one’s own email account or saving it onto a jump drive.

Marco Obaid, assistant director of ITS and network administrator, added, “Google Apps offers the latest and greatest cutting-edge technology to our students. Students will also be able to access these services from anywhere, including their mobile phones (granted the cell phone service plans include data plans).”

Google Apps includes four services – Gmail, Google Calendar, Google
Talk and Google Docs.

Gmail is an email service that has special features such as the ability to block unwanted junk mail from filling your inbox. Unlike the current email service on campus which offers only 50 megabytes of storage, Gmail has more than six gigabytes of storage and counting, 120 times more than the current email service. That is enough space to hold all important emails without having to delete them to make room for more.

Also, the email address used through Google Apps is, as Obaid stated, “email for life.” This means that students keep their accounts as long as they want and don’t have to worry about having their university email addresses canceled six months after graduation, losing all their important messages.

Google Calendar allows users to create their own personal calendar and
input memos, events, meetings, reminders and even class schedules. It also allows students to post their schedule for others to see so they can manage a time to meet up or work on a project.

Google Talk is an instant messenger service similar to AOL, Yahoo Messenger, and MSN Messenger which allows participants to chat with
others on-line instead of waiting for an email reply. It also allows students to “call” other computers that have Google Talk for free and voice chat with others.

Google Docs is similar to Microsoft Office but it allows users to access it on any computer with Internet access. It can be used to create and save documents, presentations, and spreadsheets. It also allows members to invite a friend or coworker to collaborate and work on that same project at the same time from another computer.

In addition to the four services, Google Apps allows students to personalize their own “MyApps” page. Similar to a website, “gadgets” such as news updates, weather alerts, personal schedules/calendars and even games can be added. There are hundreds of different gadgets to choose from to fit an individual student’s needs.

Other universities such as Arizona State University and Northwest University in Chicago have implemented Google Apps into their schools’ systems.

Jones said, “Google Apps just seems to be the most logical step to upgrading our university’s technology.”

Obaid said, “We just want to offer the best technology to help out the students. The SGA (Student Government Association) officers have been piloting this service and we’re working closely with them to solve any issues.”