Windows 7 in schools

[f4rn4th]

Hi there =]

 

Right, we are in the process of putting in a suite of 30 machines. All of the computers in the school at the moment except 1 ICT suite are dual boot Mac with windows XP Pro 32-Bit.

 

I have been thinking about putting the new ICT suite in with Windows 7 BUT i am not sure whether we put 32-Bit or 64-Bit on them. I am not sure whether the 64-Bit version will have any conflicts with any of the servers which are running Server 2003.

 

I know there may be a few issues with the kids/pupils using Windows 7 but that isn't the issue.

 

If anyone has any views or comments please reply. I am more inclined to go 64-Bit as that appears to be the way things are going.

 

Cheers

[AngryTechnician]

The only major problem you are likely to run into is if you have older printers or other peripherals that do not have 64-bit drivers. If you're currently using Macs you're probably already familiar with the lack of driver support across different platforms - 64-bit is not much different to Mac support for a lot of manufacturers!

 

If you have any truly aged software that was designed for Windows 3.11 or DOS, that may not run on the workstations either as 16-bit applications cannot be run on 64-bit Windows, but those are luckily few and far between these days.

 

More on this here: http://www.edugeek.net/forums/windows-7/71980-32-64-bit.html

Edited March 21, 2011 by AngryTechnician

[Michael]

There's no real need for your workstations to run 64Bit as it's unlikely you'll need to address more than 4GB of memory. As above many educational software packages will only run on 32Bit, so it'll end up being more hassle than it's worth.

 

Drivers are the least of your worries to be honest. Windows 7 SP1 has a fantastic driver database and will install most devices for you. It doesn't make any difference if your server is 64Bit and workstations 32Bit (or vice versa), and you can quite easily setup 32Bit and 64Bit drivers on your Print Server.

 

If you do decide to install Windows 7, I would recommend you have at least one 2008 DC in your domain. This'll make managing things easier.

[zag]

64 bit is pointless really unless you have over 3gb of ram.

[FN-GM]

Might be worth pointing out the older aluminium iMacs dont have x64 drivers.

[SYNACK]

There is a point running it with less than 4GB RAM, 64bit is more stable thanks to stricter driver signing and dropping of the 16bit subsystem.

[sted]

There is a point running it with less than 4GB RAM, 64bit is more stable thanks to stricter driver signing and dropping of the 16bit subsystem.

 

and its a good way of weeding out some really pants software

[Michael]

There is a point running it with less than 4GB RAM, 64bit is more stable thanks to stricter driver signing and dropping of the 16bit subsystem.

 

Although I do agree with this statement, in practice you can spend a fortune buying new software just to run on a new operating system. I don't really consider this good value for children's learning.

[SYNACK]

Although I do agree with this statement, in practice you can spend a fortune buying new software just to run on a new operating system. I don't really consider this good value for children's learning.

 

We had practically no software that would not run under it so for us it was not a big deal. Also consider how much this old software could be costing you in increased support burden and costs to buy older gear and software digging yourself a bigger hole for the future. Things die, its part of life and given the generation cycle of pcs your keping your 400 year old decrepid software on life support can't be an economic way to proceed in the long term.

[zag]

Until micrsoft make windows 64bit only you will just be beta testing it for them

[f4rn4th]

There's no real need for your workstations to run 64Bit as it's unlikely you'll need to address more than 4GB of memory. As above many educational software packages will only run on 32Bit, so it'll end up being more hassle than it's worth.

 

Drivers are the least of your worries to be honest. Windows 7 SP1 has a fantastic driver database and will install most devices for you. It doesn't make any difference if your server is 64Bit and workstations 32Bit (or vice versa), and you can quite easily setup 32Bit and 64Bit drivers on your Print Server.

 

If you do decide to install Windows 7, I would recommend you have at least one 2008 DC in your domain. This'll make managing things easier.

 

I have also noticed that Windows 7 appears to have a brilliant database of drivers, why the hell microsoft couldn't do this in any other of their operating systems is beyond me. Maybe they've actually started to figure out what they should be doing. IT's taken them long enough.

 

I think to be safe windows 32-Bit would probably be better. Personally i prefer 64-Bit, thats what i have on my dual boot mac at the mo.

[DrCheese]

I have also noticed that Windows 7 appears to have a brilliant database of drivers, why the hell microsoft couldn't do this in any other of their operating systems is beyond me

They did... It's just that since XP was the main OS for nearly 7 years after release, it didn't have support built in for anything newer than it's RTM date. 7 would end up the same if it was left as long.

[f4rn4th]

They did... It's just that since XP was the main OS for nearly 7 years after release, it didn't have support built in for anything newer than it's RTM date. 7 would end up the same if it was left as long.

 

Yeah i guess so, it did pick up a few things in windows xp. It had a lot of digitally assigned printers and printer options. But none of them were ever much use, it was all old kit that has long been dead and buried.

[squeeky]

i would like to point out that windows 7 and 2003 probobly wont go together that well due to the changes in GP etc. I would consider upgrading your server aswell to keep a reasonable level of compatability

[sted]

i would like to point out that windows 7 and 2003 probobly wont go together that well due to the changes in GP etc. I would consider upgrading your server aswell to keep a reasonable level of compatability

 

they play together quite happily you just need to install rsat on a win7 pc to edit win7 only policies

[mthomas08]

they play together quite happily you just need to install rsat on a win7 pc to edit win7 only policies

 

Pretty much.

 

Although we get away with it here and left the policies alone, just put windows 7 and all was well. There will be a few niggle things to tweak - I actually need to go back and recheck the win7 policies (I did them and killed the start menu)...

[Michael]

We had practically no software that would not run under it so for us it was not a big deal. Also consider how much this old software could be costing you in increased support burden and costs to buy older gear and software digging yourself a bigger hole for the future. Things die, its part of life and given the generation cycle of pcs your keping your 400 year old decrepid software on life support can't be an economic way to proceed in the long term.

 

I agree all valid points, I still come across some 16Bit applications today and I agree they are irritating. Sometimes though there are some applications which may run absolutely fine on XP for example, but not Windows 7 and it's been discontinued (for whatever reason). Web applications are definitely the way to go, as generally speaking they're platform independent. In the past two years especially, I've noticed a lot of companies discontinuing products and converting to a web interface.

 

It makes a lot of sense, as schools/businesses can use Windows, Apple, Linux and eventually Google OS to name a few.

[synaesthesia]

I've said it before and will carry on saying it - it's a farce that anyone is still using 32bit operating systems and has been for the last 10 years at least. XP was going to be 64bit only. Then Vista was. 8 is certainly "supposed" to be 64bit only and I really, really hope it is.

I will argue to anyone until I'm blue in the face that if their software isn't able to run in 64bit windows then they shouldn't be making software - period.

 

There are going to be exceptions, for instance there's a good few 16 bit applications still floating round and certainly a few DOS programs to boot. People don't like change, which people like Microsoft know full well when trying to peddle their latest OS.

 

The network I'm designing currently is entirely 64bit throughout and I'm just about to start the software testing phase. If we are going to move to Windows 7, I'd rather it be 64bit for the sake of future upgradeability - it wasn't long ago that "we'd never need more than 640k - we'd never need more thant 256mb of ram - we'd never need more than a gig of ram" etc. 3GB in the days of Photoshop CS4 (CS5 is 64bit only, worth pointing out!) video editing, sound manipulation, digital microscopy, etc isn't a huge ask and it's not difficult to see how many machines are being shipped with x64 out of the box.

Of course the bonus with OS's like Windows 7 is that it won't hurt to use a mixture of 32 and 64bit machines - I'm already thinking along the lines of sticking with 32bit in the ICT suites and going 64 for the media suites.