Zimbra is the New MC Mail System

If you check your Marietta College e-mail over the summer, you just saw an e-mail from the head of the school’s IT Department about the new e-mail system the school is moving to.  The system, known as Zimbra, is Yahoo’s answer to Google Apps.  And by answer, I mean alternative with all the same features at a higher price.

Zimbra features e-mail, hence why its replacing the old webmail system, but does much more than that.  It includes instant messaging, collaborative documents, web storage, collaborative calendars, collaborative task lists, and archival systems.  Things that Google Apps also does in a more familiar form to most users.  But at a cost that Google does not put on users.

Not that price matters to the student, but I’m guessing it is somewhere between $9 and $14 a student a year.  Support for the platform is around $2,500 a year.  But factor in all the students, administrators, faculty, and staff that will use the system, and the total price is huge.  Google Apps for education is free and includes all the things that people use and already collaborate with, plus free support.

The reason I’m questioning the move to Zimbra is that the school has had to make budget cuts in the past, and will probably continue to do so with the economy in its current form.  Zimbra seems like a great platform.  But so is Google, at the low low price of free.  The college could take the money saved from using the Google Apps platform, and then use it for other things that need improved around campus, or put more money into the student activities fund for student groups to use effectively.

Zimbra is not the only change coming to Marietta’s online presence.  WebAdvisor will be updated over the summer, and will supposedly create a more user-friendly environment for students to use to access grades and scheduling.  A new Marietta website is also in the works, which will hopefully premier soon (before college recruiting season begins).

With the Zimbra update, all mail that crosses the college’s server from the 31st through August 1st or 2nd.  All mail will then be accessible again.

Give Zimbra a chance since we have it, and some classes will probably use its functions, but stick with Google if you can.  It’s the de facto standard for easy collaboration tools.