YAK ‘N SACK UPDATED SCHEDULE

The April 19th Yak ‘n Sack scheduled for the RRHEC has been moved to May 11th at 12 noon.

For an updated schedule of all meetings, please visit the Yak ‘n Sack website at http://www.austincc.edu/pres/yak.php.

NEW WINDOWS 7 OPERATING SYSTEM

The new Windows 7 operating system for PCs was released in October of 2009.  Since then, IT and IRT staff have been hard at work performing installations and upgrades on several test machines.  Staff have been documenting procedures for migration and support; and working to address the common issues that will arise with a wider-scale move.

With the opening of the new campus in Round Rock, Austin Community College will be making its first large-scale commitment to this new operating system.  All staff and faculty PCs for Round Rock will be running Windows 7.  Professional Development is in the process of finalizing training for new staff who will be making the switch from Windows XP or Vista.  As well, technicians have a set of procedures to follow to move data from older machines for employees transferring to the new campus.

Beginning in September of 2010, ACC will only order PCs with Windows 7 installed, and will not place orders for Windows XP or Vista after that date. Windows XP sales will be discontinued in October 2010.  We recommend that all departments examine the software they use and make sure that they are prepared for the move to a new operating system.  Most software vendors will have a strategy for their support of Windows 7.

At this time, we do not plan to make a large-scale conversion to Windows 7.  Instead, we will use ACC’s three-year replacement cycle to phase-in the new operating system between now and September 2013.  This does not, of course, preclude a department from using departmental funds to upgrade to Windows 7.

If you have questions about this change, please contact Stan Gunn, Associate Vice President of Information Technology or Richard Smith, Associate Vice President of Instructional Resources and Technology.