University of St. Thomas support for faculty/staff using Windows Vista and Microsoft Office 2007...

VISTA & OFFICE 2007

At this point in time, faculty and staff will not move to Windows Vista on University-owned equipment.  IRT is currently testing and evaluating support of Vista.  Although most “standard” software (found here) will work under Windows Vista, we have not completed testing and are not in a position to support Vista at this time. 

Over the summer, IRT pushed a Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack to all university PCs, allowing faculty and staff to receive and open documents created with Office 2007. The compatibility pack also allows students to move between computers in the labs and their own computers with Office 2007 with ease. The Mac compatibility pack is currently in beta form and can be installed by contacting the IRT Tech Desk or your local Tech.

While IRT is moving forward and looking forward to some of the advantages that Vista offers, we are not able to provide full support to faculty and staff and cannot ensure a smooth Vista experience at this point.  As we finish testing Vista in the UST environment, we will keep you up to date regarding Vista deployment.

Application Issues with Vista
Please note that we have not tested all of the software in our environment.  It may surprise you, but we use software applications from over 350 vendors here at UST.  If you have a question regarding an application not mentioned, please visit that vendor’s website for further information as updates to add Vista support may have recently been added.  Here is some information on standard applications on UST computers regarding Vista-compatibility.

• Microsoft Office – Office 2003 and Office 2007 are fully compatible with Vista.
• Adobe Reader – Versions prior to 8.1 are recommended to be updated for full compatibility. 
• Please note that prior versions are not compatible and full versions of Acrobat will need to be repurchased. 
• Adobe products – Adobe’s Vista support statement can be found here: 
  Please note that many products need to be upgraded to new versions for Vista support.
• WinZip – Version 11.1 adds Vista certification
• Java – Java 5.0 Update 11 is the first to support Vista, version 6 and newer support Vista
• Sophos – As always, please use the latest version from the UST website to ensure Vista compatibility and the most up-to-date protection
• iTunes – Version 7 and later are compatible with Vista.  As always, later versions contain bug fixes and enhancements, so download the latest version from Apple.
• Quicktime – Version 7 and later are compatible with Vista.  As always, later versions contain bug fixes and enhancements, so download the latest version from Apple.
• SPSS 15 – Compatible with the following Vista hotfix you will need to log in to this website
  User Name: Guest 
  Password:  Guest
• Minitab 15 – Minitab 15.1.1 is now designed to be fully compatible with Vista. Mathematica – Version 5.2 works well with Vista according to Wolfram, version 6 has been fully supported on Vista since release.
• PowerDVD – Our licensed version of PowerDVD is not compatible with Vista.  New computers will come with a Vista-compatible version from Dell.
• Sonic/Roxio Creator – Our current version is not compatible with Vista.  New computers will come with a Vista-compatible version from Dell.

Blackboard Support
Blackboard has classified Windows Vista as compatible with the version of Blackboard UST currently uses.  This means that while many features will work as intended, there are known issues that are not resolved and may hinder full functionality.  It has been tested with both IE7 and Firefox 2. 

Addition Information on Windows Vista
More information on Windows Vista can be found at Microsoft’s website at:  http://www.microsoft.com/windows/products/windowsvista/default.mspx