[233] in sw-release-announce
MIT announces support for Windows XP SP1
daemon@ATHENA.MIT.EDU (Jonathan McIndoe Hunt)
Fri Nov 1 10:18:18 2002
Message-Id: <5.2.0.9.0.20021101092224.043bfd40@po12.mit.edu>
Date: Fri, 01 Nov 2002 10:17:54 -0500
To: itpartners@MIT.EDU, winpartners@MIT.EDU, sw-release-announce@MIT.EDU
From: Jonathan McIndoe Hunt <jmhunt@MIT.EDU>
Cc: infosys@MIT.EDU, itag@MIT.EDU, winxp-release@MIT.EDU
Mime-Version: 1.0
Content-Type: text/plain; charset="us-ascii"; format=flowed
Date: Friday, 1 November 2002
To: MIT Community: itpartners@mit.edu, winparnters@mit.edu,
sw-release-announce@mit.edu
From: Jonathan McIndoe Hunt <jmhunt@mit.edu>
Subject: MIT announces support for Windows XP SP1
Cc: infosys, itag
Good Morning,
Information Systems is proud to announce MIT support for Windows XP
including Service Pack 1. Information Systems has been working with our
Enterprise partners around the Institute to test and evaluate Windows XP
SP1 with all supported IS and Enterprise applications. Support is now
available from Information Systems and other Enterprise Wide Support
Providers for Windows XP SP1. With the few exceptions noted below, all the
applications worked well with Windows XP SP1.
Internet Explorer 6.0 is the default browser included with Windows XP. We
tested IE 6.0 SP1 with MIT Personal Certificates and did not discover any
sites at MIT that did not work with IE 6.0 SP1, which had worked with IE
5.5 SP2.
We strongly recommend Windows XP Professional versus Home Edition because
Home Edition lacks several features commonly used at MIT. Information
System will only provide best effort support for Windows XP Home
Edition. For example, Home Edition cannot participate in a domain or
disable Simple File Sharing.
Who should upgrade and Why
--------------------------------------------------
If you are running Windows XP without Service Pack 1, you should apply
Service Pack 1 today and any other critical updates from the Windows Update
service.
We strongly discourage people from installing Windows XP on machines that
do not meet the MIT minimum system recommendations. Our testing has shown
that performance on machines below the minimum requirements to be painfully
slow.
We also do not recommend installing Windows XP on machines that have less
than one year of useful life left. Reinstalling the operating system
requires a considerable investment of time that does not need to be spent.
Instead we suggest waiting to replace the machine when it is scheduled to
be retired with a new computer running Windows XP Professional.
If you are running Windows ME, you should plan to upgrade to Window XP Pro
SP1 or replace the machine if the current system does not meet the minimum
specifications before December 31, 2002 when MIT support for Windows ME
will be discontinued.
If you are running Windows 2000 Professional, we do not recommend that you
upgrade to Windows XP right now, unless you have some other motivation for
upgrading.
As with any major system change, you should check with your local technical
expert for guidance.
Minimum System Requirements
---------------------------------------------
MIT Recommended Minimums to run Windows XP:
- Pentium 500 MHz Processor
- 256 MB RAM
- 3 GB of available disk space
Microsoft's System Requirements:
- Pentium 300 MHz Processor
- 128 MB RAM
- 1.5 GB of available disk space
Known Issues and Caveats
----------------------------------------------
- SAP does not support SAPgui 4.6D on Windows XP
- Coeus has some GUI issues, but works with XP
- TSM 5.1.1 is not ready for release and TSM 4.1.3 has some bugs on XP
- Qualcomm does not support Eudora on Windows XP yet
- Apply patches (Critical Updates)
- Profiles remain in previous location for upgrades
SAP does not recommend or support SAPgui 4.6D running on Windows XP. Work
is underway to create a new release of a supported version for Windows XP,
which is expected in about a month.
MIT supports Coeus under Windows XP. A few of the windows in the Coeus GUI
appear clipped at the bottom under Windows XP, although full functionality
is still available. The Coeus team is working to address this issue.
TSM 5.1.1 is expected to be released in the next two weeks and works well
with Windows XP. TSM 4.1.3 is currently available, though it cannot
restore to the same folder location and errors when the application is exited.
Qualcomm has not announced support for Eudora on Windows XP. Extensive
testing has shown that Eudora 5.1 works fine on Windows XP, except for
Statistics and launching attachments from within messages.
A number of security vulnerabilities have been detected in Windows XP and
Internet Explorer 6. We recommend that you apply all critical updates
including Service Pack 1 for both the operating system and
application. More instructions on maintaining your machine are available
in the documentation linked below.
When a system is upgraded to XP the user profiles remain in the location
used prior to the upgrade. For example, Windows NT 4.0 stores profiles in
C:\WINNT\Profiles and after upgrading to XP they will still be in
C:\WINNT\Profiles. This may cause some confusion when trying to find the
profile on an upgraded machine.
Notable Features
-----------------------------
- Improved stability
- Improved Graphical User Interface (GUI)
- Start Menu now includes commonly used applications based on how often you
use the applications
- Context specific menus and tools (e.g., photo manipulation software in
Windows Explorer)
- built in ZIP file extraction
- Integrated CD burning capability
- Internet Explorer 6.0
- Remote Assistance (not supported by IS at this time)
- Remote Desktop (not supported by IS at this time)
How to obtain Windows XP Professional
------------------------------------------------------------------------
Information Systems has purchased a quantity of Windows XP Professional
licenses for the MIT Community. We request that you only use these licenses
for machines that will have at least one year of use at MIT so that the
licenses can serve the greatest good for the Institute.
To request a license, follow the MIT/Windows XP Professional Registration
link from the "How to obtain" section of the Windows XP at MIT page linked
below.
Where to get Help for Windows XP Professional
---------------------------------------------------------------------------------
Support for Windows XP Professional is available from the Computing Helpdesk at
email: pc-help@mit.edu
phone: x3-1102
web: http://web.mit.edu/helpdesk/
or from the Residential Computing Consultants (RCC) for students living in
dormitories at http://rcc.mit.edu/.
For support of Enterprise Wide Applications, follow the same procedures as
you have for previous versions.
The Windows XP at MIT page has documentation including, upgrading, network
setup, printing configuration, requesting a license, security lock down
instructions and stock answers available at: http://web.mit.edu/is/help/winxp/.
Thanks,
Jonathan
Windows XP Release Team Project Leader
___________________________________________
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.
