Microsoft released two of three new products on October 22, 2009, the new operating system Windows 7, as a replacement for Vista, and the browser upgrade to Internet Explorer 8. Soon to follow will be MS Office 2010 early next year. All three of these products represent Microsoft’s move to improve functionality, performance and usability. 

     Although Microsoft has announced that support for Windows XP will continue until 2014, the industry expects Third-Party support for XP to begin to decline much sooner.  Through a rigorous test program similar to that of MS Office 2007 two years ago, IT for FIT has assembled “Task Force 7” to thoroughly test and work with each of these products to expose any issues that may require pre-emptive action prior to deployment.

     Although preliminary experiences with WIN 7 have produced few issues or problems, the larger inventory of FIT academic and business applications and systems have yet not been tested.  Therefore, FIT asks that you do not load either WIN 7 or IE8 onto your FIT computer and that you do not connect any personal computers with these products to the FIT network.   

     Until these products have been certified by IT to be fully compatible with the FIT network along with all academic and business applications in use at the College, IT will not provide support to users encountering problems with either one of them.  Users who have installed WIN 7 or IE8 on their FIT PCs will be asked to disconnect their computer from the network until they are uninstalled.  However, students experiencing problems with new computers with the Windows 7 operating system installed will be supported on a “best effort” basis.

     As part of the test program for WIN 7 and IE8, the Task Force is encouraging other members of FIT to participate in the test program to evaluate these products in their respective academic or administrative environments.  We plan to begin functionality and compatibility testing of MS Office 2010 when it is released early next year. 

     To learn more about Task Force 7 or if you wish to join in the test program, visit the Task Force 7 web site at www3.fitnyc.edu/TaskForce7 or contact one of the members of the Task Force whose names are listed on the site.