Jim Seymour's December 26 column in PC Magazine offers a useful guide to upgrading Microsoft software (see below).
Libraries are eligible for the Texas Department of Information Resource's academic pricing, which is dramatically lower than most vendors can offer (2000 Server license is $91.60, plus $23 for the CD; Windows 2000 Pro or XP Pro are $52.30, plus $23 for a CD). DIR sales are contracted to SHI; see http://www.texas.gs.shi.com/Contracts/DIRcontracts.asp Bob Gaines ********* Excerpt from Seymour: Here's a quick checklist tailored to small and medium-size businesses that can't afford to hire high-dollar consultants (like me). This checklist can lead to a rational, affordable, needs-driven upgrade plan. � If your desktop PCs and notebooks are currently running any form of Windows 9x�Win 95, 98, 98 SE, or Me�move to Win XP as soon as you can. It's much more stable; the payoff is worth the cost and effort. Skip Win 2000 Professional and go directly to the modestly superior Win XP. � If your desktop PCs and notebooks are currently running Win 2000 Pro, don't think about upgrading to Win XP now. The gains aren't worth the trouble. � If you are in the midst of evaluating Win 2000 Pro for your desktops and notebooks, you face a tough call: Continue on the same path or start over by looking at Win XP? I suggest the latter, wrenching though that may be. Real-world gains of Win XP over Win 2000 Pro are small, and it seems almost a backgrade to switch to a product that is two years old. � If your servers are running any version of Win NT, you should move them to Win 2000. Again, the stability, reliability, and manageability gains are worth the pain. And you can plan to stay on Win 2000 for a couple of years before server versions of Win XP get interesting. � If your servers are running Win 2000, forget about any upgrades in the foreseeable future. Keep your Win 2000 Server installations updated with service packs for security and stability. � If your desktop and notebook PCs are running anything older than Office 2000, consider upgrading within the next year to Office XP. If you're running Office 2000, stay where you are; you won't find enough useful changes to justify an Office XP upgrade now. One of the ugliest things Microsoft has done is to try to demean the product licenses that come installed in new PCs by urging businesspeople to ignore those licenses and buy "real" licenses directly from Microsoft, thereby getting in on the Software Assurance Plan gravy train. Don't be muscled into this one. The old licenses are valid now and forever, and it's foolish to throw them away. --------------------------------------------- To unsubscribe, send to [EMAIL PROTECTED] Include in body: unsubscribe ctls-l For information on CTLS-L please visit: http://www.ctls.net/document/ctls-l.htm
