Michael

I use GUI also. A Hyper-V setup makes some sense as you can RDP as required. If it's a physical instance (not with the Hyper-V role), less so. It would probably appeal to web hosts a lot more, but then again Linux dominates this area quite considerably.

I voted yes, but alternatively you can get HDMI to VGA/audio converters powered by USB.

Read into it as you interpret it, I can't comment any more for legal reasons. It's well know all LAs have been under scrutiny for sometime for a variety of reasons.

It's not a matter of rebeling, it's all about a proper procurement.

I beg to differ I'm afraid. Especially the case in Birmingham, it all appears to be 'pro SIMS' and nothing more.

If you turn into an Academy, you have to buy your SIMS license direct from Capita. I suspect given modern trends, a lot of schools are going down the Academy route for numerous reasons, so I suspect all SIMS 8 licenses will be with Capita direct and support from Capita, the LA or a third party. It probably isn't viable for LAs to buy SIMS licenses as they did in the past even if it were possible. One of the benefits of an Academy is being able to procure and use systems/solutions of their choosing rather than what the LA recommend or suggest. This is how it should have always been. You can apply this rule to anything if you think about it.

MSIs are available here. Scroll down, bottom left.

As I've mentioned before, the stumbling block will be that the interface is totally different in SIMS 8 (quite rightly as it should be), so the license from 7 > 8 really isn't the issue, but because end users will realise it basically is a new product/new design, this should prompt all schools (whatever shape or size), to shop around and look at other solutions. Some establishments will think it's the best deal and others will not, but then that's the whole point of procuring given it's such an integral part of a school. The only real difference this time around, is by the time SIMS 8 is properly out, a lot of schools will have already changed... (I've seen this happen a lot more recently), but also they'll be more clusters or groups of schools rather than just one. This is why I think Capita should release a Secondary/Primary version at the same time, otherwise a typical MAT for example wouldn't even consider it. You're going to want to procure for the whole MAT and not just some of it. This has been my main criticism/observation looking at other cloud MIS systems in the past - being Primary only, it really makes no business sense at all. Even your typical legacy MIS system does both Primary/Secondary. Very much a backwards step.

Self signed certificates for the purpose of 'talking' to an external provider won't work as it won't be trusted. A real certificate from a CA is required for this and for the sake of £35 for three years, I really don't see it as a problem.

As above, there are two considerations - - Firstly the SHA1 algorithm has been depreciated since deploying/installing the May 2017 Microsoft Updates - Secondly, most/all certificates in Birmingham were issued by Link2ICT and are due to expire next month (end of June 2017) So you have two choices - - If you don't require API or external access to e-Portal, simply change your e-Portal shortcut to read: http://10.x.x.x:8080/eportal/ for all users. Replace the IP with your MIS server's internal IP. - If you do require the API or external access to e-Portal, log a call with Link2ICT for a new certificate. This costed me £35 for 3 years and I requested the certificate to be registered to misportal.schoolname.bham.sch.uk rather than schoolname.misportal.net which Link2ICT will no longer allow schools to use. To do this, on your MIS server launch IIS, highlight the server name (at the top of the left column), double click Server Certificates (in the middle), then on the right select 'Create Certificate Request' In the Common Name field, specify misportal.schoolname.bham.sch.uk then fill out the other fields as appropriate. Leave the service provider as Microsoft RSA and change the bit length to 2048 bit. Send the TXT file to Link2ICT. In the meantime, create an alias such as [email protected] rather than your real e-mail address to receive the T and C's for the certificates. Once you receive the certificates, in the same place as above, select 'Complete Certificate Request' locate the file and specify misportal.schoolname.bham.sch.uk as the friendly name. On the left select 'Default Web Site' then on the right select 'Bindings'. Select https, choose 'Edit' and select misportal.schoolname.bham.sch.uk from the drop down list. Click 'OK' and then 'Close'. Now select 'HTTP Redirect' and change the URL from https://schoolname.misportal.net/eportal to https://misportal.schoolname.bham.sch.uk/eportal As a recommendation, restart IIS and restart Facility/e-Portal services. Now change/update user shortcuts to read https://misportal.schoolname.bham.sch.uk/eportal That's it for another 3 years!

Just curious if there's no back end, how would new customers upload files and a copy of the database? Makes absolutely no sense. At the very least they should provide another method - either ZIP the data and encrypt the file or even burn it to disc and send it recorded post. Either way, it's making a relatively small issue an incredibly difficult one to solve.

The strategy of these large corporations towards IT personnel just doesn't stack up. In the context of BA, I'm speculating their datacenter must be in the UK somewhere, so it makes sense to have key personnel close by too. We live in the age whereby it's easy to manage vast amounts of systems/data from a distance, so I can understand why it looks attractive to outsource services abroad; but there isn't a solution to when systems go wrong, especially when it's something physical. BA no doubt spend a healthy amount of money on its IT operations - without it the business just won't function, and the losses can be catastrophic when it goes down. You'd think that with a business the nature of BA, they'd be separate datacentres in two physical locations or more which logically would have avoided problems such as a power surge. I'm not convinced the issue was solely power related, but then we probably never will find out for sure.

Migration for free isn't the issue, but there's always the cost of the license, support and training as with any system.

Probably just a very hefty migration fee, training fee and hosting fees - Capita are a business, they're not going to give it away for free completely.

Question is, why would you want to use it?

But it's not a good comparative Arthur. That means Windows 7 will be supported for 11 years and Windows 10 only 2/3 years at a time. Microsoft need a bit of a reality check I'm afraid. There's no chance big corporations are going to upgrade every 2/3 years. I know that's what LTSB is for, but realistically this should be the scope for all versions regardless.

I'm afraid it doesn't - Windows 10 (any version) is infinitely better than Windows 7 SP1.

I just think a lot of schools/trusts moving to SIMS today will soon be bit on the backside when they realise new licenses and new training will be required in a relatively short space of time. There's absolutely no chance the current interface will be possible on a tablet or phone. Why do I say this? It's not unheard of schools using their MIS provision for more than 10 years.

It's too long winded, and Microsoft's upgrade policy is just too narrow. Unfortunately releasing a whole new OS every time to get a new feature is just poorly thought out. It's just ironic that Windows 7 is still being supported after the first edition of Windows 10... makes absolutely no sense at all!

So the question is, how are you guys performing upgrades? Last time I tried 1507 > 1511 it took nearly 2 hours for one device! It's actually quicker/cleaner to re-image the device in my experience, unless Microsoft have improved the process?

I was led to believe each version of Windows 10 would be valid for 5 years in terms of support.

You know exactly what I mean! You can't compare an OS to an MIS.

Best advice I can offer is setup a test workstation and tweak away. You'll soon realise what you want to change or lock down.

I'm more amazed the fact a school wants to migrate from a legacy system to another legacy system in the first place, despite the fact it could be discontinued in a matter of years!?

What's unclear is why many websites claim that Windows 10 wasn't targeted, yet Microsoft did release a patch in March 2017 for it also. Apparently the latest 1703 is immune, but I'm not sure if that's true either!?