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SENS Vista Recommendations

As many of you are aware, Microsoft has released Microsoft Vista, a new operating system for personal computers. This new operating system is significantly different from its predecessor, Microsoft Windows XP, and we know that there will be issues regarding software compatibility and learning how to use the features found in it. Various support groups around campus are issuing statements regarding support for Vista, and there is a large degree of alignment in this. One such statement, issued by CIT, can be found here:

http://ubit.buffalo.edu/vista/

Here is a summary of our recommendations, which are in line with the CIT statement:

• For the near future, purchase computers that are "Vista Ready", but which have Windows XP pre-installed on them. Our campus licensing agreement will permit us to upgrade them to Vista later. Be careful with the phrase "Vista Capable"; such computers can run Vista but may not be able to use all the available features. SENS staff can help you with specifying systems that will work well with Vista.
• Please do not consider upgrading to Vista for at least six months as we have not yet identified potential incompatibilities with regards to software being used on campus, existing and future computer hardware, and our campus network computing environment.
• Please also be aware that the hardware requirements for Vista are a lot higher than those required for Windows XP, so existing systems may not be able to run it at all, or may run it in a "degraded" mode where not all features are available.
• Expect that it could take up to a year before some bugs and software incompatibilities are resolved. Vista is a major rewrite of the operating system, and some of the new features, especially those related to security, may conflict with software written for Windows XP and earlier versions of Windows. SENS staff, as well as other IT staff around campus, will need time to evaluate the various software packages in use here and learn what problems may exist with running them on a Vista-based computer.
• As our colleagues in CSE have indicated to their community, there are different versions of Vista that will be offered. As with XP, some will be more compatible with our server infrastructure than others, and we can help our customers specify the versions that work properly in our specific environment. Our campus licensing agreement will include versions of Vista that will work well here.
• Our staff need time to become familiar with Vista's features before we can support it effectively for our community, so patience in this matter is appreciated.

If you would like more information on this topic, please send email to "nodehelp@eng.buffalo.edu" or "nodehelp@nsm.buffalo.edu" and we will be happy to discuss it further.