On January 31st, Microsoft will release their new operating system named Vista to consumers. This message will explain OIT's support plan for the campus and give departments and members of the campus community guidance in making plans.
OIT has been evaluating the beta version of Vista for a few months, our plans are to begin to provide official campus support for Vista in the summer 2007.
With regards to Office 2007, Office 2007 has introduced substantial changes in both the user interface and default file format of documents. OIT is not recommending this upgrade at this point in time and will announce plans for this later in the semester after we have evaluated this further.
Guidance for New Computer Purchases:
If departments are purchasing a new computer and want OIT to support the computer on our campus network they should order this computer with Windows XP. Our campus license with Microsoft allows us to upgrade the system to Vista at a later date at no cost to the department once OIT is ready to support Vista.
If departments are purchasing this for an individual in their department to use OIT still recommends XP at this point in time; however if OIT will not be supporting the computer and the computer will not be using the campus file and print services then the department can make the choice of Vista or XP. Please be aware that there is no mechanism, short of reformatting the hard disk, to move from Vista back to Windows XP if there are problems. If a problem does occur that requires a format OIT can not promise that staff will be available to quickly assist you.
Guidance on Migrating Existing Machines to Vista:
Vista is designed for a system with a powerful CPU, fast graphics card, and at least 1-gigabyte of ram. Machines that were purchased in the last year should meet the requirements to run Vista.
Presently, OIT is testing and configuring a Windows key management server (KMS). This server will manage all of the licensing for UMBC"s enterprise site license of Vista. We anticipate having this server ready for a limited deployment in late Spring 2007. If departments want to migrate a machine to Vista in the summer OIT will work with them to schedule this.
Guidance on Running Vista on Your Home Computer:
The campus bookstore will have special pricing for upgrades available for personal home machines. The price is still being determined but it should be much less than what you can get elsewhere. Before upgrading, please visit the Microsoft Vista Upgrade Advisor to have your system evaluated. The upgrade advisor can alert you of potential problems before you purchase the CD's.
Guidance on Utilizing Office 2007 on Campus:
Office 2007 has an entirely new user interface and a new default file format for saving documents (documents can be saved in a format compatible with Office 2003 but this is not the default). Microsoft will be releasing updates to the existing office products that will allow them to read documents in the new format. Until these are broadly released for Macintosh and Windows OIT does not recommend using Office 2007 at this point in time.