-----Original Message----- From: Michael Sweet [mailto:[EMAIL PROTECTED]] Sent: Friday, February 18, 2000 10:55 AM To: [EMAIL PROTECTED] Subject: Stanford's W2000 strategy This is a memo sent out across the Stanford campus from their Computer Resource Center. No big surprises. -M >1. Computer Resource Center Recommends "Go Slow" on Windows 2000 Upgrades > > The ITSS Computer Resource Center is recommending that Windows 95/98/NT > users go slow with plans to migrate to Windows 2000 *on existing > hardware*. > > The CRC staff has been testing this new operating system for several > months. The technical staff continues to find issues and "gotchas" on a > weekly basis which they do not want to spread to their campus clients. > The version of Windows 2000 that is shipping next week is a 1.0 version > (despite the "2000" moniker), and 1.0 versions of any software are > notorious for quick follow-on 1.01 "fixes included" releases. > > Having tested system conversions a number of times on a variety of > hardware, the CRC experience of time to perform this upgrade is between > one and three hours. Additional adjustments and tweaking after the > upgrade has often been required to get the upgraded system working > properly with existing peripherals. The future development of upgrade > tools may help with upgrade time (and costs), but right now it is a > time-consuming process. Additionally, there are identified hardware and > software incompatibilities which can complicate the upgrade. Use of > existing peripherals with a new Window 2000 system will often > require new > device drivers to be downloaded and installed. Some software > applications must be reinstalled after a Win 2000 system upgrade. > > This is a major system upgrade which should not be undertaken lightly. > > We encourage anyone who may be thinking of upgrading their existing > PC to > read the following information from Microsoft, > > http://www.microsoft.com/windows2000/upgrade/default.asp > > or visit our Web page > > http://www.stanford.edu/group/itss-crc/projects/public/w2k/bugs.htm > > For additional background, PC Magazine did a Special Report entitled > "Win > 2000: Who Should Upgrade" which you can read at > http://www.zdnet.com/anchordesk/story/story_4405.html. The pros and > cons > of upgrading are addressed in the report. > > The CRC is concerned about the time commitment and consequences of > upgrading systems this soon after initial release and cannot offer free > support through the ITSS Help Desk. If you decide to upgrade on > your own > before May 2000 and run into problems, the CRC staff will attempt to > assist you on a time-available basis at its normal desktop computer > charge-out price-rate of $72/hour. > > Please note that this support concern pertains to upgrades only, not for > new systems that come with Windows 2000 -- the Help Desk staff will work > with users who experience problems with Windows 2000 shipping on new > computers. Thankfully, in CRC testing, all the PC-Stanford applications > (Eudora, Netscape, Samson, PC-Leland) work with Windows 2000. > > The CRC staff will continue its testing efforts and will closely monitor > industry publications and mailing lists. It expects to have a clearer > picture of the issues by May 2000 and will issue an update at that time.
