Update from the Information Technology Standards Workgroup
Update from the Information Technology Standards Workgroup
January 14, 2003
The IT Standards Workgroup serves as a guiding influence on the
direction of information technology investment at the University of
Vermont. In the interest of ensuring faster, more consistent, and
generally better support for your investments, the committee will set
the standards for centrally supported and centrally managed technologies.
These standards will include all types of information technology
purchased by the University. It is not the aim of this group to limit
the choices available to members of the University community, but rather
to recommend directions for technological investment to individuals and
departments.
Our policies and procedures are explained at our web site.
http://www.uvm.edu/itnetwork/standards/
Executive Summary
The Standards Workgroup has been rather quite so far this year.
There are a couple of updates and some changes:
Updates:
- FTP Voyager will continue to be distributed, though it will not
be upgraded
Support ends:
- Support for Van Dyke's CRT Telnet application will end
effective June 30, 2003
- Support for Window 98 and Microsoft Office 97 will end effective
June 30, 2004
- Support for Macintosh Systems 8 and 9 will end effective December
31, 2003
If you would like to be aware of the standards discussions, please
join the it-standards@list.uvm.edu listserv. See "Getting
involved" below.
Resources for planning and migrating to standard tools
- Consulting services are available to help plan migration to
current, supported operating systems.
- Reduced-cost licenses for current versions of these applications
are available through the Microsoft Select Agreement.
(See
http://www.uvm.edu/cit/licensing/)
- Need-based funding is available through the CAP program to help
units offset the cost of replacing old hardware and software.
(See http://www.uvm.edu/cit/cap/)
- University Training and Development is providing self-paced
classes for many software applications and operating systems.
(See http://www.uvm.edu/~training/)
Current discussions
FTP Voyager support
UVM's maintenance contract with Rhinosoft expired in July, 2002. No
consensus was reached regarding the renewal of maintenance with
Rhinosoft for FTP Voyager versus moving to GlobalScape's CuteFTP Pro.
Our existing license fopr FTP Voyager allows UVM to continue to use and
distribute the version of FTP Voyager that was current when our
maintenance agreement expired.
For additional information or to participate in the discussion,
please See "Getting involved" below.
Microsoft product life cycles
Microsoft has released timelines indicating the end of their support
for older "legacy" products.
We have adopted the following recommendations:
- Support for Window 98 will end effective June 30, 2004
- Support for Microsoft Office 97 will end effective June 30, 2004
- Support for Microsoft Office 98 for Macintosh will end effective
June 30, 2004
The
2002
Standards Announcement included the end of support for Windows 98 on
June 30, 2004, which corresponds to Microsoft's document. We have
extended UVM support for the Microsoft Office 97 and 98 products past
Microsoft's dates until June 30, 2004, for ease of planning.
For additional information or to participate in the discussion, please
See "
Getting
involved" below.
Apple Macintosh operating system
support
Apple's Macintosh OS X has replaced the venerable Systems 9. OS X has
been distributed for (a while now?), and our support resources need to
be shifted from the older Mac operating systems to the current one.
- Macintosh OS System 8.x support ends Dec. 31, 2003
- Macintosh OS System 9.x support ends Dec. 31, 2003
Pending Discussions
The following topics have been
raised for consideration by the Standards Workgroup.
- Recommendations for Printer and Printer/Copier models for use on
the campus network
- Recommendations and support for handheld devices (Palm, PocketPC,
Zaurus)
For additional information or to participate in the discussion, please
See "
Getting
involved" below.
Current Recommended Software
| Operating Systems |
Windows XP Pro |
Macintosh OS X |
| Office Suites |
MS Office Standard (2000, XP)
Lotus Approach, Lotus 1-2-3 |
MS Office Macintosh (2002, v.X) |
| Email software |
Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger, Eudora 5 |
Outlook Express, Netscape Messenger, Eudora 5,
AppleMail |
| Web Browsers |
Internet Explorer, Netscape |
| Antivirus |
Norton Antivirus |
| File Transfer (FTP) |
FTP Voyager |
Fetch |
| Calendaring |
CorporateTime |
Complete list available online at
http://www.uvm.edu/cit/software/?Page=recommended.html
See also a list of current software licenses
http://www.uvm.edu/cit/licensing/
Additional Details
Operating Systems
The following operating systems will be supported:
- Windows 98 (see below)
- Windows 2000 Professional
- Windows XP Professional
- Macintosh System 8 (see below)
- Macintosh System 9 (see below)
- Macintosh OS X
Support for the following operating systems will be discontinued:
- Support for Windows 98 will end effective June 30, 2004
- Support for Macintosh Systems 8 and 9 will end effective December
31, 2003
The following operating systems are not supported:
- DOS, Windows 3.1, Windows 3.11
- Windows 95
- Windows NT 4.0 Workstation
- Window ME (Millennium Edition)
- Windows XP Home
- Macintosh System 7 and earlier
Office productivity software ('Office Suites')
The standard tools for office or business productivity are:
- Microsoft Office Standard 97 (see below), 2000, and XP for
Windows
- Microsoft Office 98 (see below), 2001, and X for Macintosh
- Lotus Approach and 1-2-3 for Windows
Support for the following versions will be discontinued:
- Microsoft Office Standard 97 will end effective June 30,
2004
- Microsoft Office 98 for Macintosh will end effective June 30, 2004
The following office and productivity tools are not supported:
- Microsoft Office 4.x (Word 6, Excel 5, PowerPoint 4)
- Microsoft Office 95 (Word 95, Excel 95, PowerPoint 95)
The IT Standards Workgroup is an open body. Participation by members
of the UVM Community is vital to the successful. You can participate in
a variety of ways:
On behalf of the IT Network and the Standards Workgroup,
Geoffrey Duke,
Coordinator, Information Technology Standards Workgroup
Computing Analyst III, Computing & Information Technology
This document is also available online at
http://www.uvm.edu/itnetwork/standards/?Page=stds-update-jan-2003.html
Last modified March 04 2003 10:21 AM
