[WinPartners] Availability and Recommendation to WAIT for Windows Vista

[Jonathan Hunt]

Good Evening,

Beginning January 31, 2007, Information Services and Technology  
(IS&T) will make Windows Vista Enterprise available to faculty, staff  
and students for download through the Microsoft Campus Agreement  
(MSCA).  At the same time, IS&T will begin providing Limited Support  
of Windows Vista through the Computing Help Desk.

IS&T RECOMMENDATION: WAIT
IS&T strongly recommends that the MIT community WAIT to upgrade to  
Windows Vista. We are making the latest Windows operating system  
available to the MIT community to empower the departments, labs, and  
centers (DLCs) to make their own decision as to when the time is  
right to move to Windows Vista. The timing coincides with Microsoft's  
release of Windows Vista to the consumer market and we wish to avoid  
unnecessary purchases of Vista licenses already covered through MSCA.

If you are purchasing new computers, we recommend purchasing the  
machine with Windows XP Professional and consulting our hardware  
recommendations available at <http://web.mit.edu/ist/services/ 
hardware/presales.html> to ensure the computer you purchase will be  
viable for the next 3-4 years.

WHY WAIT?
Many products that are important or critical to productive and safe  
computing at MIT do not work, including:
- TSM (backup)
- SAPgui
- Cisco VPN
- Authenticated Printing (e.g., Athena Clusters)
- Matlab
- Mathematica

IT support providers need time to learn Windows Vista to be ready to  
support you. Please check with your local IT Support Providers as to  
their readiness to support your IT needs.

PHASED SUPPORT PLAN
IS&T support for Windows Vista will be phased in over time.   
Beginning on Tuesday, we will be prepared to offer support for:
- configuring the network (both wireless and wired)
- activating Vista via on the MIT Network

As new products become available that work with Windows Vista we will  
increase the support provided, eventually recommending Windows  
Vista.  Support for Windows XP Professional will remain available  
well after the recommendation for Windows Vista is made.

GETTING HELP
When you are ready to acquire your copy of Windows Vista, visit the  
MIT Software Download Site at:
	<http://web.mit.edu/software/win.html>

Microsoft media for Windows Vista Enterprise will be distributed to  
the Software Liaisons identified for each DLC once it is available  
from Microsoft.

Limited MIT documentation for Windows Vista, including links to  
training can be found at:
	<http://itinfo.mit.edu/product.php?vid=735>

For assistance, contact the Computing Help Desk at (617) 253-1101 or  
computing-help at mit.edu or submit a request via the web at:
	<http://web.mit.edu/ist/helpdesk/>

For more details on the Windows Vista release project, visit the  
Vista Release Project Notebook at:
	<http://web.mit.edu/swrt/releases/vista/>

Thanks,
Jon
___________________________________________________
Jonathan McIndoe Hunt     MIT EECS '97 617.253.0172
Manager Software Services
Client Support Services
Information Services & Technology, MIT
http://web.mit.edu/ist/topics/software/