IT For FIT Services > Windows 7 - Task Force - Institutional Policy


Microsoft Windows 7

Institutional Policy

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.

Scroll down to see Task Force 7 Test Members

VISIT MAIN HOMEPAGE: TASK FORCE 7

Below is a table of all the Test Teams for Windows 7. Please feel free to contact any of the contacts below if you have questions or concerns regarding the new Microsoft products.
 
Contact: Extension: Representing:
Van Winston 7-3404 Software Services
Olufemi Ariyo 7-3503 Instructional Computing
Sumit Bagchi 7-3456 User Support Services
Gus Dickson 7-3416 Systems and Operations
Arthur Kopelman 7-3030 Faculty Senate
Patricia McGillin 7-3395 Technology Development Team
Michele Nagel 7-4632 Instructional Computing Committee
Carolyn Rieger 7-3511 Instructional Computing Center Coordinator
Subah Sachdeva 7-3493 Software Services
Cesar Sosa 7-3439 Software Services
Raj Vangapaty 7-3854 Registrar
Lou Vitale 7-3444 Enterprise Technology Services