Who is using Vista at school?

[cloggersd]

i have some software that is used By my ESL programs
I did an upgrade to vista and guess what it ALL works
Even applications that were written for dos and windows 3.1
We have the liceses and the hardware so we are going to run it.

[Skoggmeiger]

We're speccing our pc's for it though (min 1Gb ram core 2 duo processors, decent gfx cards etc...), as it would be good to be prepared.

I understand the need for the 1GB minimum of Ram and a decent x 2 core processor, but why a decent graphics card? Are you planning on using Aero? The first thing I did when I installed my copy if Vista (Which I have since removed) was revert to "Windows Classic".

Reasons being;

1) Familiarity - Of utmost importance to non technical people i.e admin staff
2) Speed - Even on a 1GB, AMD 64 x2 3800 it ran rather sluggishly until I turned off the bells and whistles.
3) The bells and whistles appear to be a pile of useless crap, in my humble opinion.

I note cloggersd is based in San Diego. Can I ask you how big a budget you guys have on the other side of the pond for IT? I have a sneaky feeling it's a lot higher than most schools have in old Blighty.

[cloggersd]

we are the 3rd biggest college district in the USA.
So some years we have lost of $ and some not.
for the admin side of the house we are not planning on going to go to VISTA untill sometime next year. as we are no fully on AD ( still on novell serers)
for the instructional side of the house probably in Q1 we will switch.
The KMS servers are a pain.
but the only real solution. that is why i have setup one lab to test things on. in the future MS is saying that all Volume licensing will be KMS including the next version of office
my web site has some info about vista ( i need to update it tho)
www.dougstips.com click on the botom where it says vista deployment blues
cloggersd

[zag]

You don't need to use KMS, Microsoft can give you a VLK if you ask nicely Then just need an internet connection to activate it.

Agree about turning off Aero, its not really needed in a corporate/educational environment, and speeds up usage alot.

I just don't see the reason to switch so soon to vista, what does it bring to schools that we don't have already

[enjay]

I just don't see the reason to switch so soon to vista, what does it bring to schools that we don't have already

It brings schools up to the same standards as you might see in business/university - surely an element of our jobs here is to prepare the students for the world outside the school gates?

[farmerste]

GOD NO !!!!!

not even i.e 7, except on teachers laptops, and they want to remove that

awful
awful
awful !!!

worst OS since microsoft began.

long live xp pro ( never thought i'd say that ) but at least after a couple of days work you can kick XP into doing what it should ( most of the time anyway ) and make an image.

come on REACTOS we need you !

i honestly don't know what micros@ft are doing
this OS makes me think about working with computers as a career, it is SOOOOOOO bad.

but on the positive side if you take the install cd and drill a small hole near the edge you can hang it in your garden as a bird scarer !

[webman]

It brings schools up to the same standards as you might see in business/university - surely an element of our jobs here is to prepare the students for the world outside the school gates?

So the majority of businesses and universities are already using Vista?

[enjay]

It brings schools up to the same standards as you might see in business/university - surely an element of our jobs here is to prepare the students for the world outside the school gates?

So the majority of businesses and universities are already using Vista?

No, of course not. A small number will be, and more will be by the time our students finish here and more still by the time those that go have finished uni.

Also, anyone buying a new computer will have Vista on it (some may even be upgrading), and there is something to be said for providing a common interface at school and home (isn't that what remotely-accesible VLEs are all about?).

I'm not saying that we should all rush out and get it - we won't be doing that here - I just offered it as one reason why we might want to consider it.

[Nij.UK]

Working at a uni, i know we are not looking to deploy it just yet, we are still in the project stage of things.

I dont know of any uni that has rolled out vista yet... the general feeling is that they are going to wait

[Geoff]

Also, anyone buying a new computer will have Vista on it

Just FYI, I have a little side trade down the pub fixing/upgrading peoples PCs. To date, I've downgraded 4 laptops and 7 PCs to XP from Vista for a range of reasons.

[DreddMetal]

On the admin side schools need to avoid Vista like the plague as it has not been confirmed to work with the various pieces of MIS software that the schools use, and even when it does i'd advise schools to avoid it still.

If the school really really want some thing thats flashy but more or less completely useless i'd advise them to go buy Macs, at least their stable

[enjay]

On the admin side schools need to avoid Vista like the plague as it has not been confirmed to work with the various pieces of MIS software that the schools use,

That's the main reason that I am about to put Vista (and Office 2007) on my office PC, as I want to see how many of our applications will scream and cry under Vista, so that we have time to get them sorted before a Vista roll-out becomes necessary for some reason. Absolutely no plans for a widescale Vista roll-out any time in the next 18 months, but I can't escape the fact that one is coming, and I'd like to be ready for it when it does.

[zag]

On the admin side schools need to avoid Vista like the plague as it has not been confirmed to work with the various pieces of MIS software that the schools use,

That's the main reason that I am about to put Vista (and Office 2007) on my office PC, as I want to see how many of our applications will scream and cry under Vista, so that we have time to get them sorted before a Vista roll-out becomes necessary for some reason. Absolutely no plans for a widescale Vista roll-out any time in the next 18 months, but I can't escape the fact that one is coming, and I'd like to be ready for it when it does.

Yep agree with that, but don't even bother testing Sims yet, it's supposed to work but all the reports screw up with office 2007 and vista. Various things also dont work with the main program.

I would wait a few months for Capita to sort it out and test it properly, they are working towards making sims office independent soon.

[enjay]

Yes, I know that SIMS reports will stop working, but hopefully the rest of it will be more or less okay (I rarely run reports anyway) - I don't really want to lose all access to SIMS.

[jcryan1]

My Vista Home Screen saver is not working? The settings I am using is to use photos stored in "my pictures" folder. I have tried the different time-outs and nothing? Any ideas?