[sims] Summer 2013 and XP

[Sheridan]

Reading through the info for the Summer 2013 update, I noticed this:

 

This is the final release compatible with Windows XP and Windows Server 2003

 

Thats a bit quick, a lot of us are stuck with XP machines until they can be upgraded to Win7. And does that mean SIMS will not work on XP, or is not supported (2 entirely different things!)

 

By my reckoning we're going to need to upgrade about 100 extra PCs - not good!

[synaesthesia]

It should continue to work - it's a matter of no longer being supported.

[laserblazer]

This has been fairly well announced for some time now. We updated from 2003/XP at the beginning of the year on the basis. I'm led to believe that Capita no longer support 2003/XP so chances are you'll experience problems with the SIMS summer update

[hardtailstar]

I spoke to capita last week and issues will start happening at the Autumn release.

 

You should be fine until then.

[FN-GM]

Reading through the info for the Summer 2013 update, I noticed this:

 

 

 

Thats a bit quick, a lot of us are stuck with XP machines until they can be upgraded to Win7. And does that mean SIMS will not work on XP, or is not supported (2 entirely different things!)

 

By my reckoning we're going to need to upgrade about 100 extra PCs - not good!

 

To be fair they have been saying it for a long time. You should be moving off XP anyway.

[localzuk]

Reading through the info for the Summer 2013 update, I noticed this:

 

Thats a bit quick, a lot of us are stuck with XP machines until they can be upgraded to Win7. And does that mean SIMS will not work on XP, or is not supported (2 entirely different things!)

 

By my reckoning we're going to need to upgrade about 100 extra PCs - not good!

 

From my understanding - it should carry on working for a bit, but if you have any issues and you're still on XP, they'll tell you to update before approaching the issue.

 

I believe they've been warning of this for a couple of years now.

[Sheridan]

We only took over SIMS internally last year, and I never saw any mention of XP Support dying in the previous updates (Spring 2013 and Autumn 2012)

 

We can upgrade a good few under existing licensing, but theres a lot of older kit (laptops) that would effectively need replacing. If I had my way we'll replace the lot, but with no budget its pretty difficult!

[FN-GM]

.Net 4.5 has no support for Windows XP. If (more like when) they starting changing code into 4.5 it simply wont work on XP.

@Sheridan Read the roadmap documents been in there for ages (well over a year).

Edited July 15, 2013 by FN-GM

[sted]

assuming the served side is ok for you could you not just buy x ts lics and run it as an rdp app would save fixing every pc when they inevitibly dont get the update and throw up incompatible database errors?

[FN-GM]

assuming the served side is ok for you could you not just buy x ts lics and run it as an rdp app would save fixing every pc when they inevitibly dont get the update and throw up incompatible database errors?

 

That will only help for a while, security update will finish in less than 12 months so you will have to upgrade the OS anyway.

[Sheridan]

Server is 2008R2 so thats ok for the time being. By the end of the summer around 80% of the 'important' PCs will be Windows 7, but the remaining 20% are staff XP laptops that use SIMS occasionally. About half of the student PCs in the suites will still be XP buts thats OK as they don't need to run SIMS!

 

As I came into the SIMS support abruptly I've only been reading the individual release documentation!

[sted]

That will only help for a while, security update will finish in less than 12 months so you will have to upgrade the OS anyway.

 

why if your running 2008r2 as a ts dosent matter wether you using xp/7/8/linux/ios/android on the client its running on 2008r2. Granted xp will have no support but if the pcs arnt being replaced then we will just have to deal with an eol'd os

[CAM]

A question to @PhilNeal: We have a lot of people asking about this. Clearly folks are not reading the roadmap on SupportNet or even listening to discussions here. Would it be permissible to post a copy of the roadmap clearly in the MIS forum loudly warning everyone about the death of XP support? I can see a lot of these threads appearing in the Autumn. Edited July 15, 2013 by CAM

[sted]

and i really still dont get why attendance cant be web based so it will run on owt as long as you have the password its just data into an sql database

[CAM]

Attendance is also linked to Behaviour Management, Curriculum Management, Timetable and other areas of SIMS.

[FN-GM]

why if your running 2008r2 as a ts dosent matter wether you using xp/7/8/linux/ios/android on the client its running on 2008r2. Granted xp will have no support but if the pcs arnt being replaced then we will just have to deal with an eol'd os

 

The client OS will not get any security updates. It will be a big security risk. If anything happens and you are using a vulnerable OS you might be in trouble.

[sted]

The client OS will not get any security updates. It will be a big security risk. If anything happens and you are using a vulnerable OS you might be in trouble.

 

true but when in cases you have been told that the pcs are to be run till they die and they arent capable of running win7 sensibly (512mb ram) what can you do

[FN-GM]

true but when in cases you have been told that the pcs are to be run till they die and they arent capable of running win7 sensibly (512mb ram) what can you do

 

Have you told them specifically about the problems it will cause? Other software will stop working as well, as XP is out of support they will stop considering compatibility with it. Similar to Windows 2000.

 

Its a shame your school doesn't vaule IT. Our last Windows XP client went out years ago.

[localzuk]

true but when in cases you have been told that the pcs are to be run till they die and they arent capable of running win7 sensibly (512mb ram) what can you do

 

If you continue to use them running XP after security updates stop, you'd not be complying with the DPA in my view - you'd be failing on principle 7 IMO.

[Rawns]

Think I first found out about Win XP support ending a year ago, maybe more? Since then we've tried to inform schools about it when we can. However as in most cases, there are always sites that 'miss' every piece of information about it, or there are schools that don't have a pro-active IT life cycle and are stuck due to lack of re-investment. From a LA support prospective, I'm sure we will see the occasional XP device after the cut off date. We will employ the usual 'best endeavours' stance, but at the end of the day, if it's broken due to XP, all we can say is upgrade and point out every pience of info we sent to schools over the past year to make them aware of this.

[ICTDirect_Dave]

We only took over SIMS internally last year, and I never saw any mention of XP Support dying in the previous updates (Spring 2013 and Autumn 2012)

 

We can upgrade a good few under existing licensing, but theres a lot of older kit (laptops) that would effectively need replacing. If I had my way we'll replace the lot, but with no budget its pretty difficult!

 

XP has had it's day unfortunately.

 

If you're stuck for budget, we can help you out with some rather cheap laptops running Win 7 Pro.

[Rawns]

true but when in cases you have been told that the pcs are to be run till they die and they arent capable of running win7 sensibly (512mb ram) what can you do

 

Ouch! Even with XP, running SIMS .net on a device with 512MB RAM must be a struggle!

 

Capita recently update their Hardware spec guide. While it's a rough spec sheet designed to meet all needs in various school sizes, 2GB is now the minimum recommendation for SIMS use, with 4GB recommended. Add FMS, Discover etc to the mix and the recommendation goes up!

[Sheridan]

We're stuck in the situation now where we've had little or no money for regular upgrades over the last few years, so we're left with a large amount of outdated kit. Theres not a lot we can do about it though - if the moneys not there you can't upgrade!

[Rawns]

We're stuck in the situation now where we've had little or no money for regular upgrades over the last few years, so we're left with a large amount of outdated kit. Theres not a lot we can do about it though - if the moneys not there you can't upgrade!

 

Sounds like a catch 22 situation. No money to upgrade your hardware, and the hardware you have won't run SIMS because it's out of date and running XP.

 

Maybe having a sit down with the bursa/SLT and explaining the current situation and how things will goes down hill if hardware is not addressed will result is some funding being scraped together?

[Sheridan]

I'm sure a lot of schools/colleges will still have a lot of XP kit in use - we can live with that for a while as long as the Staff (i.e SIMS) ones are upgraded. But this is the unfortunate effect of not having a regular, yearly refresh of equipment!