The centerpiece of this transition is the HBS intranet.

An intranet is just an implementation of the Internet with limited access, usually to a site.

The intranet is the method by which all HBS students, faculty and staff get just about all of their information, from curriculum to social activities. "They all live by it," said MBA IT Support Service Product Specialist Kevin F. Canavan.

Using Netscape Navigator, one has access to all course syllabi, announcements, memos and assignments.

Professors make the Web pages via a form interface which fills in their information to a preset template page. No knowledge of HTML is necessary.

In order to prepare its students, the B-School ships them a set of diskettes two months before their arrival that install all necessary software onto their systems including a pre-configured version of Netscape Navigator and Eudora Pro.

In addition, beginning with this year's class, all students are required to install and use McAfee Viruscan on their systems.

Canavan, who has worked for many companies' IT divisions, said, "I have never seen a place which puts [technology] at their fingertips [like HBS]."

Some people call it in your face, but I call it empowering," he added.

--Baratunde R. Thurston '99 is the Claverly Hall user assistant for HASCS, editor-in-chief of Computers@Harvard, published by the Harvard Computer Society, and a Crimson editor. He is also trying to figure out how to transfer to the Business School.