Shel Waggener, CIO
As most of you are aware, Microsoft released its long-promised Windows Vista operating system and Office 2007 productivity suite at the end of January. These new products, now shipping with new hardware purchases, represent a significant change in management and use for both systems administrators and end users. Last fall, my office solicited participation from departmental Microsoft specialists to work with IST staff on a project to identify the risks and opportunities of moving to the new products, with the goal of minimizing the impact on campus productivity that the transition may have.
Specifically, during the first phase of the project, the UC Berkeley Windows Vista project team worked to identify compatibility issues for the new operating system with both shrink-wrapped and custom applications currently in use on the Berkeley campus; develop a central information repository to provide education, support and best practices guidance for campus departments who will be implementing the new software; and identify training opportunities for both the technical and end-user communities.
The work of the Vista project team has led to the creation of the UC Berkeley Windows Vista site, http://technology.berkeley.edu/msvista/, a resource for the campus. At the site, you will find a variety of information on Microsoft Windows Vista; a link to a campus BearShare [1] site containing a great deal of information from some Vista pilot implementations currently underway at UC Berkeley; as well as links to a range of other Vista resources.
This site will continue to be updated as Vista is more broadly deployed, both at large and on campus, and I encourage you to contribute to the BearShare site as you and your department start exploring the new software. In addition, information about Office 2007 will also be added as our internal UC Berkeley testing continues. The CIO's office is coordinating with Microsoft and training vendors to provide training for campus systems administrators in the very short term, and we hope to be able to announce the details in the next few weeks.
I want to thank the members of the UC Berkeley Windows Vista project team, who have worked hard over the last couple of months to collect and distill information and to develop the resources mentioned above. Thanks to Mike Blasingame, Kevin Burney, Michael Chung, Tim Faircloth, Gabriel Gonzalez, Kevin Haney, Tom Holub, Liz Marsh, John Weber, and David Willson, who comprised the core project team, and to Allison Bloodworth, Kalle Nemvalts, and Seth Novogrodsky for their work on the website and content.
I hope you all will take the time to visit the site, and I welcome any feedback you have about what we can do to make it even more useful to you.
[1] You will need to use your CalNet ID to log on to the BearShare site. If you do not currently have a CalNet ID, go to the Activate CalNet ID web page for information on how to get one.
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