Minimum Workstation and Software Site License Subcommittee Minutes

 

January 18, 2007
Meeting in AH-1120 at 10 a.m.
Diana Osborn, Chair

CATS Conference
Jon Rizzo announced the upcoming CATS conference in CSU Fullerton on March 26-28 and invited everyone to attend. Keynote speakers will include the Assistant Chancellor David Ernst and Car Burger who will speak on Net Generation Students. There will also be a track on accessibility. The web site for the conference is: http://cats.cdl.edu/cats2007conf/home or email Jon Rizzo, jonrizzo@mail.sdsu.edu if you would like additional information on the conference or to find out more about the possibility of a sponsored space.

Deep Freeze
Bob Newhouse will present the MWSSLS Deep Freeze recommendation for consolidation of current licensing and additional licensing to the IT Managers at the meeting on January 22nd.

Calendar Committee/Email Committee
The Calendar Committee met once and coordinated a separate demo on Mirapoint. A demo of the Oracle calendaring product is scheduled for January 30th. Other products will be scheduled in the upcoming weeks. The committee put together a list of 23 criteria points for the new calendaring system. The criteria will now be prioritized into critical and "nice to have" features. Additional members are needed for the committee. Please contact Bob Newhouse at newhouse@mail.sdsu.edu to volunteer for the committee. All the packages being investigated are integrated packages which include email. Another committee will need to be formed to look at the email packages. Bob Newhouse will chair this committee along with a co-chair. Members can serve on both committees or just one.

Meeting Maker
The Outlook interface module is ready. There is a chargeback of $35. This module does not work with Exchange. Users of this module describe it as "ok" but a little buggy.

Miscellaneous
Rich Pickett was introduced. He is the Senior Director of IT and a Senior Officer in Business and Financial Affairs and the official CIO designee for the campus.

Office 2007
Contact Celia Chavez at cchavez@mail.sdsu.edu for Office 2007 media. A handout was distributed titled "Primary Volume Licensing Office Suites" which shows what SDSU is licensed for - Office Standard, Office Professional, and Office Enterprise. The CD for Office Enterprise has all packages on it. That is the CD that is being handed out. If you want to install a single package rather than a suite a special key must be obtained from Celia. There is no license for Project or Visio even though these packages are on the CD. Do not install these packages. The media used for installation of Office 2007 on state-owned or foundation-owned machines is also not licensed for home use. Home use CDs can only be obtained from the bookstore for a small fee. Comments on Office 2007: Not backwards compatible (must perform a "save as" to an older version). There is a converter you can get from Microsoft. There is no FrontPage 2007. Visio 07 still uses old interface.

The only upgrades available through software assurance are: Windows, Office, Front Page, Publisher, Visio Studio.net and Windows Server.

Solaris 10
Celia has the DVD for Solaris 10.

Mathematica
The Chancellor's Office has a site license for Mathematica. The SDSU cost would be $9,100 to get unlimited licensing. The per license copy is $895. Ginger McKee from Mathematica will be sending Diana a list of SDSU users who already hold licenses so that a decision can be made regarding the Mathematica license.

McAfee
The McAfee contract has now been renewed. Some departments still need to pay for their portion of the contract. McAfee updates are now on ROHAN (8.5 for windows, and the latest versions and patches for the last 2 versions of EPO). Diana Osborn recommended that Mac users continue the use of 7.7 and use the DAT files updates on ROHAN until the anomalies showing up with 8.5 are resolved.

HiSoftware
HiSoftware is a new software program for checking website accessibility. It has a server component which monitors all sites, and desktop software which has site verification, link validation and a captioning tool. Celia has the software and it will be distributed to IT Managers. The software will be rolled out in stages, The IT Managers will identify key staff to start using the software. There is limited training on the software.

The ATI (Accessibility Technology Iniative) has 3 components which all must be met by various deadlines. 1. Web Accessibility; 2. Instructional materials must be accessible; 3. Technology procurement. All three must be ADA compliant. If the software is not compliant, it would need a waiver and Rich Pickett's approval.

Vista Enterprise
There are many issues to be resolved before VISTA can be rolled out to the campus. There is the issue of getting a KMS Server or getting a MAK key. Also, many software applications are not currently compatible with VISTA.

Minimum Workstation Standards
Scott Horvath distributed and discussed the draft Minimum workstation standards for PC's and Mac's. He will also look into the lab standards. Let Scott know of any changes, additions or suggestions to this draft document via email at shorvath@mail.sdsu.edu.

EndNote
Marilyn Hall, Librarian, put together a comparison of Endnote and Refworks. EndNote is very robust. EndNote Web is also now available to Web of Science subscribers at no additional cost, which the library is. Prices between Endnote and Refworks are comparable. An executive summary will be prepared with recommendations for IT Managers. Email Marilyn Hall at mehall@mail.sdsu.edu with any questions or comments.

HyperResearch
The Sociology department will be purchasing 30 copies of this software at the beginning of March. If anyone else would like to participate in the volume purchase with them, please contact Ginger Stockdale at stockdal@mail.sdsu.edu. The price would drop at 51 copies from $220 per copy to $170 per copy.

Patch Management
The Patch Management committee has narrowed down their selection to four products - Altiris, Autonomics, LanDesk, and Zen Works. All products are now installed and testers are needed for any or all products. The more people participate in the testing the better comparison we can get. Contact Diana Osborn at diana@sciences.sdsu.edu.

Next MWSSLS meeting will be on February 15, 2007 at 10 a.m. in AH-1120.

PLEASE NOTE: The statements found on the MWSSLS Home Page are for informational purposes only. While every effort is made to ensure that this information is up to date and accurate, official information can be found in the University publications.

Last modified on January 23, 2007
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