Campus Recommendation
In consultation with the campus technical community, IET has developed recommendations and support plans for Mac OS 10.6 and continues to examine its compatibility with other applications commonly used on campus. IET began supporting Mac OS 10.6 in October, and makes the following recommendations:

New Computers
New Apple computers are currently being shipped with Mac OS 10.6. Students, staff, faculty, and departments should be aware that according to Apple's licensing terms, downgrades to earlier versions of the operating system are not permitted. When determining whether to purchase a computer with Mac OS 10.6, IET strongly recommends that you review the results of the compatibility testing to find out whether the software applications and online services you frequently use are compatible with Mac OS 10.6.

Upgrades
IET sees no immediate need to upgrade to Mac OS 10.6; however, if you’re running a version of Mac OS 10.3 or older, you are out of compliance with campus Cyber Safety Policy, and we recommend you review the campus hardware recommendations and replace or upgrade your system’s hardware and/or software as soon as possible. When determining whether to upgrade from Mac OS 10.4 or 10.5, students, staff, and faculty should check with their departmental technology support staff and take into consideration the system’s hardware configurations and any installed software, which may of may not be compatible with Mac OS 10.6.
NOTE: Mac OS 10.6 does not run on older PowerPC- based systems such as the G4 and G5 Macintoshes.

If you are currently running Mac OS 10.4, you should plan to upgrade no later than the end of this academic year (July 1, 2010). Apple actively supports the last three operating system versions for about one year after a new version is released, and then the oldest is no longer actively supported.  Running operating systems that are no longer actively supported by the vendor on UC Davis computer networks is a violation of the campus Cyber Safety Policy. On July 1, 2010, IET plans to end support for Mac OS 10.4.

Before upgrading your operating system, you should back up your system.

Students
Students purchasing new Apple computers should purchase a system with Mac OS 10.6. Please check with your school or college to find out if it has specific recommendations.

Please note, Mac OS 10.6 requires Parallels version 4, and Endnote is still undergoing testing for this OS.

Faculty and staff
When purchasing a computer for personal or university use, UC Davis faculty and Staff should check with their departmental technology support staff to determine whether to purchase an Apple computer with Snow Leopard.

Please note, Mac OS 10.6 requires Parallels version 4, and Endnote is still undergoing testing for this OS.

Departments
When purchasing new computers for departments, technology support staff should review the results of the software application and online service compatibility testing to determine whether Mac OS 10.6will integrate into their existing infrastructure and work with frequently used services and software.

Please note that Mac OS 10.4 remains supported by IET and Apple, and an immediate migration to Mac OS 10.6 is not required to remain compliant with Cyber Safety Policy. However, IET is planning to end support of Mac OS 10.4 on July 1, 2010.

For more information, contact the IT Express Computing Services Help Desk at 530-754-HELP (4357), or email ithelp@ucdavis.edu.