IET posts results of Windows 7, Snow Leopard compatibility tests

The campus has finished testing Snow Leopard (Mac OS 10.6) and Windows 7 to assess how well the new operating systems work with common applications. The results and recommendations deserve a look by anyone at UC Davis who is thinking about buying a new computer or upgrading their current machines.

Some highlights for people who use or intend to buy Apple computers:

  • Students should purchase a system with Mac OS 10.6, and check with their school or college for any specific recommendations.
  • Faculty and staff should check with their departmental technology support staff to determine whether to buy a system with Mac OS 10.6.
  • Information and Educational Technology sees no immediate need to upgrade to Mac OS 10.6, but if you run a version of Mac OS 10.3 or older, you do not meet campus Cyber-safety standards. You should review the campus hardware recommendations, and replace or upgrade your system's hardware and/or software as soon as possible.
  • If you run Mac OS 10.4, you should plan to upgrade no later than July 1, 2010, or sooner if Apple stops releasing security updates for OS 10.4 before then, because at that point OS 10.4 will no longer meet campus Cyber-safety standards and IET will stop supporting it.

Some highlights for people who use or intend to buy PCs:

  • Students should buy a system with the Windows 7 Home Premium edition or better, and check with their school or college for any specific recommendations.
  • Faculty and staff should check with their departmental technology support staff to determine whether to buy a system with Windows 7, and which version to select.
  • DaFIS, the campus financial account system, does not support Windows 7, so if you need to use DaFIS TP (transaction processing), do not upgrade to Windows 7. (Upgrades are not planned until after summer 2 010; please go to the DaFIS site for more information.)
  • Microsoft and IET continue to support Windows XP and Vista, so an immediate upgrade is not needed to satisfy UC Davis Cyber-safety standards.

Find complete Snow Leopard results on the campus Macintosh site, and find Windows 7 results on the Microsoft site. Please direct questions to IET's Software License Coordination unit at software@ucdavis.edu, or the IT Express Computing Services Help Desk at (530) 754-HELP (4357).