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Discontinuing Software/Hardware Support during FY2003 Q2 Update |
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Date: Friday, 11 October 2002 Good Afternoon, 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:
Software slated for discontinuation of support on June 30, 2003:
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:
These recommendations are based on machines being 3 years old by June 30, 2003. *Information Systems' Training and Publications team has seen a decline in PageMaker use on-campus with increasing demand for Quark and InDesign. The Training and Publications team is offering a Pagemaker course on campus during the Winter of 2003. In addition, they will also offer a Quark class during this time frame. ** 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. ___________________________________________ Last updated November 15, 2004
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