Join the Windows Vista Release Project

In November 2006, Microsoft is expected to release a new desktop operating system called Windows Vista. In anticipation of this release, Information Services & Technology (IS&T) is kicking off a project to evaluate Vista and would like to invite you to participate. If you are interested in testing Windows Vista or have ideas about how to help the community transition, please contact the Vista Release Team at vista-release@mit.edu.

As with any major new operating system release, Windows Vista will have a significant impact on the MIT community. Since early April, IS&T and other members of the MIT community have been testing and documenting findings on the early beta versions of Vista. While Vista offers new features and security enhancements that will benefit the community some applications and services do not function as they did with Windows XP Professional. We have identified and tracked those compatibility issues and have been working with applications developers and owners, 3rd party vendors, and Microsoft to resolve those issues; a number of which have been fixed in subsequent beta versions of the operating system or applications. For more information on current known issues and test results, please visit the Vista Release Notebook at: http://web.mit.edu/swrt/releases/vista.

IS&T will initiate a training and outreach effort to help the community prepare for the transition to Windows Vista. The training for support of Vista that will be prepared for the IS&T Help Desk will also be offered to IT liaisons from Departments, Labs and Centers to enable broader support for the larger community.

Stay tuned for further information on Windows Vista.