Summer 2008
First off, welcome to the new incoming class, the Class of 2012! Please take a moment to browse the recent news about our services and technology related initiatives below:
New Personal Purchase Software Vendor
ITS has partnered with e-Academy, Inc to supply the latest Microsoft and Adobe software for faculty, staff and student personal purchases. The e-Academy site (login required) provides software for use at home or in the residence halls. Please note that e-Academy, Inc, is our partner vendor for personal purchases only. Please contact the ITS Help Desk for assistance with purchases of software licenses for University owned computer(s), including those purchases made with grant monies.
New Hardware Recommendations & Vendor
We have updated our minimum and recommended specifications for the Fall '08 incoming students as well as faculty and staff looking to buy a new computer for personal use. ITS is expanding its hardware vendor partnerships to include Hewlett-Packard (HP) in addition to Dell and Apple. We are working to get the HP store up and available for your use soon. These partnerships help us to realize heavily discounted prices on systems that match our hardware configuration recommendations and standards for personal purchases. If you are shopping for a new computer, we urge you to check these configurations and pricing before you make your purchase.
Support Begins for Windows Vista, Apple OS 10.5.x, Office 2007 & 2008,
and Internet Explorer 7
We're sure many of you will be pleased to know that with the start of the fall semester, ITS will be expanding its support offerings to cover the new Vista and OS X operating systems along with Office 2007 & 2008. As of August 1st, our documentation and instructions for ITS supported resources will include versions for these newer products. We are still testing currently used applications with the newest operating systems with a goal to start deploying them after the start of the Fall '08 semester. Starting today, ITS will accept requests to update supported systems to Office 2007 & 2008. We will start deploying new computers with Office 2007 & 2008 by October 1st and actively start upgrading current computers as of the start of 2009. Lastly, we are awaiting the upgrade of our Banner administrative information system, that will support IE7 and will allow for IE7 to be installed across campus.
Support Ends for Windows 2000, Apple OS 10.3.x, Office 2000, Office XP & Office X
Unfortunately, the tradeoff we realize with new technology is that older technology is eventually no longer sustainable or supportable. With the roll out of the new operating systems and Office products, Windows 2000, Apple OS 10.3, Office 2000, XP & X will join Windows 95, 98, ME, Apple OS 9, and Office 97 in the list of products that ITS will not support as of August 1st. These products will no longer be allowed on the Clark network. This is not a black and white process. ITS will be in touch with all known users that will be impacted by the change to help update, replace and otherwise discuss solutions. If you believe that any of your equipment will be affected by this change and you do not hear from ITS prior to the first week of June 2008, please do not hesitate to contact the Help Desk (508)-793-7745.