WIRED's Stance on Windows Vista

Like it or not, Windows Vista is Microsoft's newest version of Windows, and sooner or later, institutions that run Windows will be upgrading. Lehigh University and the WIRED program WILL support Microsoft Windows Vista, and students bringing computers with it installed will be able to connect to and use the vast majority of University resources (email, web, file storage), even if the University's departments migrate over to it more slowly.

WIRED has recommended having Vista pre-installed on student computers being purchased new. We did this not only because it can be difficult to find a new computer with anything but Vista, but also because this helps to ensure that purchased machines will be fully able to run it properly.

However, as of this writing, not all campus computer systems are 100% Vista-compatible. Most importantly, the web system used to install Lehigh-site-licensed software packages used for some courses and departments ("Install Software") is not 100% ready for Vista clients. The Library and Technology Services department (LTS) is making every effort to ensure that all systems are either fully compatible or have acceptable workarounds by Fall, but a strong possiblity exists that this system will not be 100% ready. Check their Vista page for the latest information.

Although freshmen courses make significant use of the software that that system installs, and having Vista might well be a problem, there are over 800 public-use computers running Windows XP across the campus on which any courseware can be installed and run by any student. Help Desk staff are available to assist students with this. As well, a software library exists on campus, which, depending on the software, may allow students to check out media for the software, and install it by hand.

Further, our campus agreement with Microsoft specifies that the operating system media we make available to students is Windows Vista Ultimate. In this situation, we felt that the unavailability of the software installation system was not enough to try to hold people back from purchasing Vista on new machines, or further confuse them about what we support.

Lastly, The bulk of student's computer time is spent using Microsoft Office, Email, and Web-standards-based systems, all of which function quite well on Vista. Based on that, we can't in good conscience say that there are insurmountable problems with using it on campus -- just some pitfalls with regard to getting particular software installed.

What Vista Version?
Many have noted WIRED, in other documentation, recommended getting Vista Business for new machines. Why Vista Business? The Business version comes pre-configured with additional networking features and file structures that *might* become necessary for accessing campus resources over the course of a student's time at Lehigh as the University's computer resources are upgraded. In the event that the student hasn't picked up their media or hasn't upgraded their machine to Vista Ultimate, a machine with a version of Vista with fewer features *might* have connection or software installation difficulties. Our thought was that for the relatively small increase in cost, we'd point people toward that functionality to head off potential problems. If your student is ready and eager to do the upgrade to Ultimate as soon as they arrive and pick up their media, it's not an issue at all.

Please feel free to call or email with any additional questions.

2/15/08 -- dab406