Greetings,

In this week's update on the Mac OS X Leopard compatibility testing, I would like to focus on campus recommendations for adopting and supporting Leopard at UC Davis.

MAC LEOPARD INITIAL CAMPUS RECOMMENDATION

Apple's latest operating system, Mac OS X version 10.5, also known as Leopard, was released on October 26, 2007. It is now available in retail stores and at the UC Davis Bookstore.

In consultation with the campus technical community, Information and Educational Technology (IET) is evaluating Leopard to determine if the new system will have any major bugs or incompatibility issues with software programs and IT systems commonly used on campus. The results of this compatibility testing will be published in December 2007. In addition to this compatibility test, the UC Davis Leopard Recommendation Planning Workgroup will be developing a timeframe for adopting and supporting Leopard on campus. Updates and more information will continue to be provided on the UC Davis Macintosh Web site (currently under development).

RECOMMENDATION

Upgrading to Leopard:
Until more is known about Leopard's compatibility with UC Davis' applications, Information and Educational Technology (IET) strongly recommends that UC Davis community members wait to upgrade their campus-owned or home computers to Leopard. As with most new operating systems, early adopters could experience some application compatibility and hardware support issues. Note that Mac 10.3 and 10.4 are still supported by IET, Apple still supports Mac 10.4 and may continue to issue security updates for Mac 10.3, and both are compliant with the UC Davis cyber-safety standards.

Purchasing a new Mac:
If you are purchasing a new Mac system, it is important to note that Apple has discontinued manufacturing its previous operating system Mac OS X 10.4, also known as Tiger, and IET strongly recommends waiting to purchase new systems until December, when compatibility results will be posted and the UC Davis Leopard Recommendation Planning Workgroup has developed an appropriate timeline for adopting and supporting Leopard on campus.

Computers with pre-installed Mac OS X v.10.5:
If you already own a computer with a pre-installed version of Leopard, IET will be available to provide as much support as possible at this time, with more complete support available in the future as we complete our compatibility testing. For more information, contact the IT Express Computing Services Help Desk at 530-754-HELP (4357), or email ithelp@ucdavis.edu.

FURTHER INFORMATION

If you have questions about Leopard, we invite you to read about the new Mac OS X operating system at http://www.apple.com/macosx/. You might also review the UC Davis recommended system requirements (http://computerownership.ucdavis.edu/), stay informed about the status of our compatibility testing, and consult with your departmental IT Staff.

In December, once the campus Macintosh Web site is live, the compatibility results have been posted, and the UC Davis Leopard Recommendation Planning Workgroup has developed a timeframe for adopting and supporting Leopard on campus, we will provide you with an updated recommendation. If you have any questions or comments, please email ucdleopard@ucdavis.edu.

Regards,
Sarah
--
Sarah Robertson
IET Client Services, Software License Coordination (SLC) unit