Microsoft officially launched a new Windows operating system, Vista, and a new version of Office, Office 2007, for consumers on Tuesday, January 30th. The Technology Office is formulating a plan to support these new releases and determine how best to proceed with their implementation. There are compatibility issues if some people have the new versions and others have previous versions, so we want to be thoughtful and systematic in our approach. We are at the mercy of the manufacturers to rewrite/update their systems to make them compatible with this new operating system.

The Technology Office has already seen some Vista and/or Office 2007 computers on campus, but we are not able to support this operating system and application at this time. We are in the process of evaluating both Vista and Office 2007 and will provide updated information in this location as it becomes available.

Because Vista is so new, it is important to think twice before you make the move to the Vista platform and Office 2007. You should check manufacturers Web sites to review the support of Vista in relation to any hardware devices and non-Microsoft software that you may be using. There will be some products that may never work with Vista.

By Fall 2007 we expect to be able to give limited support to students using Vista and Office 2007 who would like to connect to the academy network.

This measured approach seems to be consistent with most educational institutions.