OIT Home > News > Upgrades & Changes for Summer 2007

Changes & Updates for Summer 2007

By Denise Moser, Katie Rose, Brian Burchett
April 30, 2007

This summer, the OIT will be updating, improving, and even moving some services to better provide for Notre Dame’s technological needs. The Hesburgh computer cluster will boast a new collaborative-friendly layout on the first floor, and all clusters will have a new approach to software requests. The OIT will no longer be able to provide customer support for some older software applications (see list below). However, the Help Desk is eager to assist users of many other technologies at their soon-to-be home in 128 DeBartolo Hall. They are also now ready to support the recently released Windows Vista and provide advice on upgrading to Office 2007.

Windows Vista

IT staff from many campus departments are actively learning and testing Windows Vista, the new operating system from Microsoft. Because of the significant changes, the OIT needs to test many software applications, and faculty and staff machines may require upgrades to work well in this new environment. Applications and services that students generally use appear to work correctly with Windows Vista, and the Help Desk can now provide Vista support for students. Employees will be working on a variety of service and application upgrades over the summer that they expect will also enable faculty and staff to move to Windows Vista as they replace their existing workstations. The OIT is maintaining ongoing status information about Windows Vista for Notre Dame here on the OIT website.

Office 2007 for Windows

In addition, Microsoft recently released Office 2007 for Windows to the public. This new version of Office is now available for departmental orders through Procurement. However, before upgrading to Office 2007, potential users should know that the new version of Office has new file types, which could cause compatibility issues with older versions of Office. The menu system is also very different. For more detailed information on the changes in Office 2007, and to determine if your department should update to this new version, please visit the OIT Help Desk's Office 2007 information site.

OIT Technical Training will offer a short introductory workshop entitled "Office 2007: What's New?" beginning this summer. To register, visit the online registration system at http://ilearn.nd.edu.

End of Support for Older Software

As Microsoft and Apple have released new software such as Office 2007, they have stopped supporting older software titles. Since the vendors are no longer supporting these titles, the OIT and its Help Desk are also no longer able to provide customer support for the following software:

Windows 2000
Mac OS 9
Mac OS 10.0 - 10.2
Office 2000
Office XP

The OIT strongly recommends that Windows users upgrade to Windows XP with Office 2003 or Office 2007, and that Mac users upgrade to Mac OS 10.4 with Office 2004 to ensure that you have the most reliable and secure computer platform possible.

Help Desk Moves Locations

The Help Desk will continue to ensure your computer runs safely and smoothly in their new location this summer. Since it opened more than 15 years ago, the Help Desk has been located in room 111 Information Technology Center. As part of an OIT-wide space plan, the organization will relocate the Help Desk to larger quarters to provide an improved working environment for staff and enhanced space for interacting with customers. In June, the Help Desk will relocate to room 128 DeBartolo Hall. Help Desk consultants are excited about this change, which will make them more accessible, particularly to faculty and students. The June move will allow the team time to settle in during the summer session, and they look forward to serving many of you when you return in August.

Improvements for the Hesburgh Computer Cluster

Summer students can also anticipate the revamped Hesburgh Library computer cluster. The cluster will move from its current second floor location to the first floor, adjacent to the current Reference desk. The new layout is designed to offer students individual workspace, group workspace, and convenient laptop connection points. There will be a variety of furniture configurations, and student use patterns will directly impact planning for future computing lab designs. The current lab will remain open until the end of the Spring semester, and the new first floor area will open prior to the start of Summer session.

Changes to Cluster & Classroom Software

All computer users in both clusters and classrooms should also be aware of software availability for the upcoming academic sessions. The classroom lectern computers and the Windows workstations in the student computing labs will continue to run Windows XP for summer session and the 07/08 academic year. The process for requesting software titles has changed recently. Please see the details outlining the request process and the current list of Core Applications that the OIT will offer on all classroom and cluster workstations.

At the present time the OIT is evaluating the practicality of offering Office 2007 and Office 2003. Please check on a regular basis for the latest information.

Throughout all these changes, the OIT looks forward to continuing to serve and support the Notre Dame community’s teaching, scholarship, and administrative activities through technology.