[223] in sw-release-announce
Discontinuing Software/Hardware Support during FY2003 Q2 Update
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jonathan McIndoe Hunt)
Fri Oct 11 13:40:03 2002
Message-Id: <5.2.0.3.0.20021011131936.03be0e38@po12.mit.edu>
Date: Fri, 11 Oct 2002 13:36:35 -0400
To: itpartners@MIT.EDU, macpartners@MIT.EDU, winpartners@MIT.EDU,
sw-release-announce@MIT.EDU
From: Jonathan McIndoe Hunt <jmhunt@MIT.EDU>
Cc: infosys@MIT.EDU, itag@MIT.EDU, swrt@MIT.EDU
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Date: Friday, 11 October 2002
To: Members of the MIT Community, itpartners@mit.edu,
macpartners@mit.edu, winpartners@mit.edu, sw-release-announce@mit.edu
From: Software Release Team <swrt@mit.edu>
Subject: Discontinuing Software/Hardware Support during FY2003 Q2 Update
Cc: infosys@mit.edu, itag@mit.edu, swrt@mit.edu
Good Morning,
In an effort to ensure a high level of quality support for the Macintosh
and Windows platforms, Information Systems reviewed the vast combinations
of hardware and software currently being recommended and supported. Our
review suggests that discontinuing support for the following applications,
operating systems and hardware during this fiscal year is vital to maintain
quality support, improve responsiveness to new vendor releases and make it
possible to introduce new product offerings.
In September, we shared the following matrix with IT-Partners and have
clarified our recommendations based on their feedback. Today, we wish to
confirm these recommendations and request the Community's assistance. As
you review your computing environment's needs and plans for this fiscal
year, please consider the impact of IS discontinuing support for the
following hardware/software. If this presents a significant burden, we are
prepared to work with you to help ease the difficulties in migrating to a
more current environment.
Software slated discontinuation of support on December 31, 2002:
Application/OS Mac Version Win Version
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Fetch 3.0.4b6sec --
Netscape 4.6 & 4.74 4.6 & 4.74
PageMaker* all versions all versions
Plop & WS-FTP** -- all versions
Windows -- ME
Software slated for discontinuation of support on June 30, 2003:
Application/OS Mac Version Win Version
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Eudora 4.3.2 4.3.2
FileMaker Pro 4.x 4.x
Mac OS 8.6 & 9.0.4 --
Windows -- 98/98SE & NT 4
As a reminder, to support the operating systems' retirements, Information
Systems has negotiated licenses with Apple and Microsoft.
The discontinuation of support for Windows 98/98SE and Windows NT 4.0
Workstation is partially due to Microsoft's plans to retire those operating
systems on that date. Microsoft's plans are available
at: <http://www.microsoft.com/windows/lifecycle.mspx>
That means Microsoft will stop producing security patches and will not
provide assistance in resolving problems after that date. We have noted a
decline in the number of Windows 98/98SE and NT 4.0 machines on campus, and
hope that by June, most of the remaining systems will be replaced by
Windows 2000 or XP.
The discontinuation of support for an operating system or application means
that IS will stop testing new applications on it, stop writing installers
to handle its peculiarities, stop maintaining documentation, and stop
researching questions and/or newly identified problems for it. We will
provide assistance in upgrading to a current version.
Others Enterprise Application (such as the SAPgui) Support Providers at MIT
may align their testing and support practices for operating systems and
applications with dependencies for the same reasons. Please check with
other Enterprise support providers for their support policies.
Hardware Recommendations:
For members of the Administrative Community relying on the broad suite of
Enterprise-wide applications, we recommend retiring as a primary desktop
workstation the following hardware for June 30, 2003:
Processor CPU speeds
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Macintosh G3s all cpu speeds
Macintosh G4s cpu speeds less than 450MHz
Pentium II cpu speeds less than 500MHz
These recommendations are based on machines being 3 years old by June 30, 2003.
Thanks,
Jon
* Information Systems' Publications team has seen a decline in PageMaker
use on-campus and an increase in training requests for Quark. We will no
longer research support calls and new problems for PageMaker.
** Plop and WS-FTP are being replaced by FileZilla and SecureFX. FileZilla
1.9.7 was released on April 25, 2002. Work is underway to provide support
for SecureFX this year.
___________________________________________
Jonathan M. Hunt
Windows Platform Coordinator and Team Leader
Software Release Team
Information Systems
W92-191 x3-0172
DISCLAIMER:
------------
The Software Release Team does not distribute software releases, updates or
patches through e-mail. Please DISREGARD ANY MESSAGES WITH ATTACHMENTS SENT
BY THIS TEAM. Most likely, they are forged and will contain viruses and/or
unsolicited and potentially offensive content.
