Desktop Software Upgrade Project

Microsoft Windows

Overview

The Windows version (Windows 2000) upon which University's current staff SOE is built is in extended vendor support.  This means that no vendor support for the software is available.  The only exception is that Microsoft will continue to make available security updates.  Microsoft has advised that it will not longer provide security updates beyond June 2010.  At this point the University will be exposed to potential security breaches which could lead to significant downtime and/or loss of University intellectual property.

As Microsoft phases out support for Windows 2000 so too do hardware manufacturers and most will not commit to providing support for Windows 2000 beyond 2008.

There is also demand for an up-to-date Windows SOE to support the ongoing teaching, research and business operations of the University.

Windows Vista

The new University Windows SOE is being built using Windows Vista and incorporates Microsoft Office 2007 (including Outlook for email).  Both represent the latest and most feature rich versions of these products.

The Vista SOE has been extensively tested against the University's core IT infrastructure systems.  ITS also continues to work with business and academic areas to ensure business applications as well as teaching and reseach software provide required functionality on the new SOE.  Academic software will continue to be tested throughout the rollout during each School's migration.

To see what the new SOE will look like on your desktop click on the following links for previews: