Filed under “got out just in time!”…

Although I am no longer a student at California State University, San Bernardino, As an Alum I still get email from there.  Just in time to get un-noticed by the Google controversy of the week, comes the word that Student Email from my Alma Mater is moving to “Coyote Mail Powered by Google”.   Nice branding!  I could go on an on for days about how this is such a not good idea, but since most people are already seeing ads giving away their data using Gmail anyway, I’d be talking to the wall.

Not evil. No, seriously.

My favorite line of the free ad Press Release,

“We are anticipating this effort to go as smoothly as it has at other CSU campuses…”  Muuwaaaahahaha

Here’s the full text, since nothing says it’s a secret:

From: XXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXXX
Date: August 5, 2010 3:57:08 PM PDT
To: campus
Subject: CSUSB Student Email Moving to Google

California State University, San Bernardino Is Moving Student Email to Coyote Mail Powered by Google

An email account and access is free and easy for anyone to create in today’s world. Most students coming to campus already have personal email accounts and are frequent users. Over the years email has become increasingly more important to the institution and remains the mechanism for campus academic and administrative student communications.

After more than a year of looking into its offering, California State University, San Bernardino (CSUSB) is moving forward with a plan to phase out the antiquated and costly SUN/Oracle Solaris student email system in favor of a new relationship agreement with Google. The agreement will provide not only Gmail accounts for communications between the university and students but also additional applications that students can use to interact with each other. The initial Gmail offering, which is already operational at several other CSU campuses, comes to the university at no additional cost.

The decision to transition to Google has been brought to the attention of constituencies such as the Academic Affairs Council, Administrative Council, ASI, Faculty Senate, etc. All are in agreement that the current environment does not make the grade and that Google is a viable alternative with unique benefits. For example, Gmail offers more storage and a more contemporary Web interface.

By using the CSUSB Gmail account, students will have access to Google Apps, a hosted integrated communications and collaboration suite which includes:

Google Gmail:
Each user account has over 7GB of mail storage and an attachment size of 25 MB. Search tools that facilitate finding information fast and performing instant messaging from right inside their accounts using “Google Talk.”

Google Talk:
Send instant messages to your contacts for free anytime, anywhere in the world.

Google Calendar:
Organize your schedules and share events and calendars with others.

Google Docs:
Share documents, spreadsheets, and presentations. Collaborate in real time with your team or anyone you invite to join.

One of the consequences of this transition is that it will be necessary to separate the email domains for students and faculty and staff. That is, the student’s email will migrate from @csusb.edu to @coyote.csusb.edu. In other words, students email in Gmail will be of the form account@coyote.csusb.edu.

Transition to Gmail system

The process for migrating existing student accounts in their entirety to Gmail will start sometime during the first three weeks of September 2010. The final dates still need to be determined. All of the existing messages, folders, configurations, etc, will move from the current account to the new account. Students WILL NOT lose access to their account, except during the transition period for each individual account. While an individual account is being transferred, the student may not be able to access his/her account for several hours. The main difference is that the Web interface will change from a SUN Web mail navigation to a Gmail navigation.

Access to the new “Coyote Mail” will be provided in several different ways, namely:
i) through a campus website – mail.coyote.csusb.edu, requiring the student’s Coyote-ID and password

ii) directly through gmail.com – requiring full email address (account@coyote.csusb.edu) and password, and

iii) through email clients (Thunderbird, Outlook, etc) using secure IMAP and POP protocols – requiring full email address (account@coyote.csusb.edu) and password.

In all cases, the password will be the same as the password set to access the MyCoyote portal.

The campus mail.csusb.edu site will be updated to reflect the changes and direct students to the new student email Web site

Impact to Campus Business Processes

All business processes that rely on student email-addresses will need to be reviewed and updated to reflect the change in the new domain.

In order to facilitate the transition and minimize the impact to all entities across the campus, email directed to students at their current @csusb.edu address will be delivered to their new “Coyote Mail” (@coyote.csusb.edu) for a period of one-year.

All of this is expected to take place this fall. We are anticipating this effort to go as smoothly as it has at other CSU campuses. An initial message will be sent out to the student community three weeks prior to the change and again one week before to prepare them for the Google transition. Should they need further information, a link to a website containing information, including a list of frequently asked questions, will be located at mail.csusb.edu. As another option, students can contact the help desk at (xxx) xxx-xxxx or xxxxx from on campus.

XXXXX XXXXXX
Information Security Officer

# # #

Personally, I hate Gmail and everything else Google makes you log in just to use *cough*Android*cough, and I always told my friend if CSUSB sold out their email to Google, that’s when I would stop using it.  Which is right… about… now…