As part of the usual summer upgrades in the computer labs, this year we are upgrading the operating system (O.S.) installed in our labs to Windows 7, Service Pack 1. The new O.S. replaces the installations of Windows XP, Service Pack 3 that could be found in most labs on campus.
The direct benefit to our students is that they will be able to use the same user interface that is already available in all new PC’s equipped with a Windows O.S. Additonally, the new O.S. can take advantage of computers that are 64-bit capable to performs certain kinds of processing faster; it can also handle memory sizes above the 3Gb limit existing in Windows XP.
For IT at Michigan Tech, the biggest hurdle in adopting the new O.S. has constituted waiting, and then ensuring that the ~250 applications we provide in the labs work correctly with the new O.S.
The new O.S. (with a new software load) will be available in the labs starting Fall 2011. Those labs equipped with the Fedora 13 distribution of Linux will be patched, and testing of RedHat 6 will take place during the Fall