EITS has chosen Microsoft Outlook Live to replace the current UGAMail system as the University’s primary e-mail client.

“I hope [students] like it,” said Katie Barlow, president of Student Government Association. “The feedback that we’ve gotten from students so far has been positive. They definitely wanted a change.”

UGAMail, the University’s official e-mail client, blocks 88 percent of the 4,900,000 incoming messages per day due to high spam and virus-carrying messages. Although this security feature can be efficient, other features of the system are outdated, such as the 19 MB inbox storage space for students, the user interface and the calendar.

“I’m always having to clear out my UGAMail inbox,” said Emily Jasper, a junior from Decatur who was able to test the new e-mail client. “This is definitely a step up from what we’re using now.”

Microsoft Outlook Live features 10 GB for inbox storage space and 25 GB of “Skydrive” storage space, which will allow students to store personal files.

After a trial period by students and faculty, the new e-mail system was selected over other e-mail clients, including Novell, Zimbra, Mirapoint and Gmail.

“I like that Gmail has a lot more storage space than UGAMail because I save important e-mails,” said Rachel Bonilla, a senior from Hawaii. “Also, I like that I don’t need to constantly refresh [Gmail] because it refreshes itself when I receive new mail.”

Students paid a special technology fee in favor of adopting Gmail as the University’s primary e-mail client. Because EITS opted for Microsoft’s system, this fund has not been tapped into yet.

“We are getting $100,000 back the first year,” Barlow said in a phone interview.

Barlow said the student body would benefit from additional funding but was unsure of how much, when and how it would be allocated.

The fund, maintained by the Student Technology Fee Committee, can be used for special projects that will be decided on by the Student Technology Fee Committee, SGA and Graduate Student Association.

“We are hoping to work with several other groups on campus to get more information and feedback from students because this is a rare opportunity where money is literally being given back for some sort of project that we can choose that will benefit us,” Barlow said. “So, the greater pool of feedback we can pull from, the better off we’ll be.”

The committee and SGA have suggested three ways the funds could be used, including purchasing a server at the library that would allow students to search all of the databases at once, improving technology in the residence halls and the Miller Learning Center and a TI-83 rental program that is modeled after a program at the University of Alabama.

Students would be able to borrow a TI-83 for up to three days, avoiding a one-time $100 calculator purchase for a possible one-semester use.

Another suggestion is to construct wireless networks in the residence halls. According to Barlow, these networks will be funded through another source and the “Gmail fund” won’t shorten the time necessary to construct the networks.

Barlow said she would post an online poll to collect more feedback from students.

EITS is working to finalize other details of the new e-mail client, and officials will meet this week to decide when to implement Microsoft Outlook Live.