Institution

1. Who responded? The 22 institutions represented were a mix of public and private institutions, both large and small. There were two international respondents (thank you!). 90% of respondents administer mailing lists on behalf of their institution or other large community (eg. National research network).

2. What are they using? The 3 most popular software packages in use were: Mailman, Majordomo, and LSOFT listserv. Three institutions use more than one package, focusing on special features available in each for specific tasks; for example, one package might be used only for “bulk” email.

3. What was the basis for their choice? There is no apparent relationship between size of institution and email package selected. In some cases, it was history – LSOFT users tended to begin mailing list services very early and often on a mainframe; the software is maintained and they have stuck with it. Others made a point of choosing open source software so that customization would be possible: Mailman and Majordomo both fell into this category.

4. What mailing list features are most important to mailing list administrators?

§ Open source

§ Web interface for users, list managers, and list administrator (with email command capability) that is easy to understand and to use.

§ LDAP Integration

§ Single sign on for all lists

§ Extensive set of configuration options

§ Digest capability

§ Documentation

§ Support

§ Graceful handling of very large lists

§ S/MIME support

5. How much interest exists in moving to some other software package? Interestingly, half the respondents are evaluating other mailing list software packages. The main drivers are desire for LDAP integration, to replace custom scripting, and support for S/MIME.

6. What interest exists in Authentication/Authorization integration? 50% of respondents said “YES” and 23% answered “MAYBE” to this question.