Update on Vista at MIT
IS&T now offers full support for Business-class editions (Business, Enterprise and Ultimate) of Windows Vista on new systems purchased with the Vista operating system. If you decide to buy a Windows Vista machine, IS&T recommends that you select a system bundled with the Vista Business edition. This version provides more functionality than the Home edition, and it is easy to upgrade from the Business to the Enterprise edition. Note that you can't upgrade from the Home edition to Enterprise, and that the Home edition can't be a member of the Windows domain.
IS&T will continue to support Windows XP and does not recommend that you upgrade your existing system to Windows Vista at this time. Migrating to Vista is a very involved process that requires a lot of preparation and preplanning. Detailed migration guidelines for DLCs and individual users will be provided by the Vista Release Team, vista-release@mit.edu, later this fall.
For full details on Vista support at MIT, go to itinfo.mit.edu/article.php?id=8544.
ACCORD: Teaching with technology
ACCORD is MIT's new Academic Computing Coordination group. It brings together the many educational technology service providers that support teaching and learning on campus. Participants include ACCORD's core group-the Libraries, the Office of Educational Innovation and Technology (OEIT), and Information Services and Technology--as well as OpenCourseWare and academic departments.
ACCORD recently revamped the Teaching with Technology web site at web.mit.edu/teachtech for easier discovery of services and additional resources for faculty and instructors. Services range from class management tools, to multimedia and digital documents, to learning spaces. To find out more, visit the Teaching with Technology web site or request a brochure by sending e-mail to accord@mit.edu.
Network upgrades
Through two recent upgrades, the capacity of MIT's connection to Internet2 has increased by a factor of four. IS&T boosted MIT's connection to the Northern Crossroads regional network from one gigabyte per second to 10. In turn, Northern Crossroads upgraded New England's aggregate connection to the Internet2 network from 2.5 GB/s to 10 GB/s. These network upgrades help facilitate MIT's global leadership in advancing knowledge and education in science and technology.
Collaboration has been key to these network improvements. MIT is an active member of both Northern Crossroads (www.nox.org) and Internet 2 (www.internet2.edu). Northern Crossroads is an informal affiliation of about two dozen New England institutions with a shared interest in advanced networking. Internet2 provides high-speed connectivity to research and education institutions throughout the U.S.
New Java User Group
MIT's Java User Group promotes the sharing of ideas and mutual support for Java developers and others who are interested in Java and related technologies. The group has monthly meetings featuring practical demonstrations of Java and Java-related tools. All members of the MIT community are welcome.
Upcoming meetings focus on the popular integrated development environments, Eclipse and NetBeans, and checking code with compiler plug-ins from CSAIL. To find out more or to join the Java User Group mailing list, go to web.mit.edu/jslate/www/javausers. For a list of all user groups at MIT, visit web.mit.edu/ist/usergroups.
Digitalk is compiled by Information Services and Technology.
A version of this article appeared in MIT Tech Talk on September 19, 2007 (download PDF).
