[Macpartners] IS&T Software Update for March 2006

Deb Bowser bowser at MIT.EDU
Mon Apr 3 13:38:04 EDT 2006 

Date: Monday, April 3, 2006
To:  Members of the MIT Community: itpartners at mit.edu, macpartners at mit.edu,
winpartners at mit.edu, sw-release-announce at mit.edu, ed-tech at mit.edu, 
linux-help at mit.edu
From: Software Release Team <swrt at mit.edu>
Subj: IS&T Software Update for March 2006
Cc:  is&t at mit.edu, itag at mit.edu, it-lead at mit.edu


This monthly communication is intended for Faculty, Staff and 
Students within the MIT Community, to provide updated information 
regarding new and upcoming software products and services.

Topics of the month:
----------------------------------------
1. Recently released software
2. Software release efforts underway
3. Email migration at MIT
4. What's new
5. Volume & site license software update
6. Windows automatic update service (WAUS)
6. How are we doing?  Let us know


1. Recent Releases
---------------------------------------------------------
Macintosh
Virtual Private Network (VPN) 4.9 - (Intel and PowerPC, 10.4 or 
later) - March 30, 2006


2. Software Release Efforts Underway
------------------------------------------------------
Linux
-----------
None


Macintosh
----------------
iPassConnect 2.37 - Release effort underway - April 2006
Intel Mac evaluation underway - TBD


Windows
-----------------
iPassConnect 3.40 - Release effort underway - April 2006
Windows Defender beta 2 (formerly known as MS Anti-Spyware) - 
evaluation underway - TBD
SecureCRT 3.1 - testing wrapping up - April 2006
SecureFX - 5.1 - testing wrapping up - April 2006
Microsoft Vista beta - evaluation underway - TBD
VirusScan Enterprise 8.0i w/patch 11 - testing wrapping up - April 2006
VirusScan Enterprise 8.5i beta - evaluation underway - TBD
Windows XP 64-bit - evaluation underway - TBD

To obtain information on any of the software release efforts or other 
projects underway, please visit our page:

          <http://web.mit.edu/swrt/>


3. Email Migration:
The team was busy during March providing assistance to departments, 
labs and centers conducting on-site migrations, email migration 
presentations and quick start sessions to better educate users.  The 
transition from Eudora to Apple Mail, Outlook Express and Outlook Pro 
2003 has been a positive experience and has been well received within 
the MIT community.


4. What's New:
---------------------------
Apple began shipping Intel-based Macintosh computers in early 
January; some applications that IS&T supports and distributes 
currently do not work on these Intel Macs:

* Matlab
* SAPgui 6.30, 6.40
* TSM 5.3.2
* VPN client 4.8
* Virtual PC (part of Office 2004 Professional for Macintosh)

IS&T is monitoring the situation and will provide further updates as 
information becomes available.  For more information on the new 
Intel-based Mac's, visit the Apple Site:  <http://www.apple.com/>.

To see a list of what does and does not work, please see the Mac Partners blog:

http://usergroups.mit.edu/macpartners/archives/2006/02/software_that_r.html


5. Volume & Site License Software Update
--------------------------------------------------------------
We have added the Matlab Distributed Computing Toolbox (DCT) to the 
available toolboxes under the MIT agreement to support the needs of 
high performance computing clusters on campus.  In order to utilize 
the DCT, clients must also acquire the Matlab Distributed Computing 
Engine (MDCE) from Mathworks.  Instructions are provided from the MIT 
Matlab order forms to getting the MDCE.  The pricing model set by 
Mathworks is such that we could not pass on any savings to you for 
providing the MDCE and there is no disadvantage in terms of licensing 
costs to start out with a small cluster license and expanding it down
the road.  To add the Distributed Computing Toolbox to an existing 
license, please submit a new order with just the Distributed
Computing Toolbox (and any other toolboxes you would like to order) 
and reference your original licenses ticket number so we can quickly 
locate your original license.

Also new on the Matlab front is the availability of the new release 
R2006a (also known as R15).  Mathworks has switched to a twice a year 
release schedule, so we will have adjust to new version numbers.  All 
new licenses being generated starting today are R2006a and will work 
with R14 SP3 installations as well.  If you are planning to upgrade 
to R2006a down the road, please wait to request an updated license 
code.  We are making improvements to our system to more efficiently 
generate updated codes.  If you need your license code updated to 
R2006a sooner, please send e-mail to vsls-matlab at mit.edu with your 
original ticket number and we can manually generate an R2006a code 
for your license.  All licenses purchased via VSLS since January are 
entitled to free upgrades to the current version.

To place Matlab and other orders from VSLS, visit:

	http://web.mit.edu/ist/products/vsls/


6.  Windows Automatic Update Service (WAUS)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------
We recommend users configure their Windows machines to use MIT's 
Windows Automatic Update Service (WAUS) for critical patches and 
service pack deployment.

WSUS is here.  MIT WAUS now deploys updates for Microsoft Office 
products.Check the Approved Updates page for details regarding 
deployed packages. WSUS also adds support for 64-bit Microsoft 
Windows operating systems.  For more information about and 
instructions on how to configure your machines to use WAUS, see the 
WAUS documentation:

         <http://web.mit.edu/ist/topics/windows/updates/>


6 How are we doing? - Let us know
--------------------------------------------------------------
Do you find this communication helpful?  Are there other items of 
interest you would like to see included as well?  Please take a 
moment to let us know:

          <http://web.mit.edu/swrt/feedback.html>

Send email to <swrt at mit.edu> with any questions and comments you have 
pertaining to this communication or other software release matters.


Deb Bowser
Team Leader - Software Release Team
Client Support Services
Information Services and Technology (IS&T)
Massachusetts Institute of Technology
Room W92-175
Cambridge, MA 02139
617-253-3879
bowser at mit.edu

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