Feature Article: Vista, Leopard, Office 2007, and Office 2008

Over the last few months, Campus Technology Services has continued the process of verifying the compatibility of software and hardware with the next generation of operating systems from Microsoft (Vista) and Apple (Leopard OS 10.5). We have also been evaluating the newest versions of Microsoft Office for the PC (version 2007) and for the Mac (version 2008).

We have identified a number of incompatibilities with VISTA. It is not planned to be installed on any new faculty or staff computers nor in the computer labs for this summer and fall 2008 semester.

We do plan on deploying Mac OS 10.5 (Leopard) operating system and have already been installing it on all new faculty and staff computers. Macintosh computers in our general access labs will be updated with Leopard over the summer timeframe. This includes the Mac lab in 211 Mahar, as well as the macs in Penfield, Snygg, Hart, Oneida, and Scales.

Microsoft Office 2007 for PC computers will be installed on all new faculty and staff computers and our general access computer labs starting this summer. There are some compatibility issues with sharing Office 2007 files with previous versions of Office. Anyone that does not have a version of Office 2007 should install the Microsoft Compatibility Pak available for download from our Software Downloads page.

Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac computers will be installed on all new faculty and staff computers and our general access computer labs starting this summer.

NY Alert Employee Portal

By now, most SUNY Oswego students have heard about and even received some campus notifications through the NY Alert system that the campus has subscribed to from the New York State Emergency Management Office. However, faculty and staff may not know that they also can sign up for notifications through the NY Alert Employee portal.

Faculty and staff can sign up for NY Alert through the SUNY System Administration web portal. You may choose to receive notifications via phone, email, and/or text messaging. Each individual decides how they would like to be notified. It is recommended that faculty and staff also list an off-campus phone and off-campus email address in case the emergency affects you getting to your office.

In the near future, a new feature will be added to the employee portal that will allow faculty and staff who have already signed up for NY Alert to review their contact information and make any changes as necessary.

Students who have not signed up for NY Alert can do so through the myoswego.oswego.edu web site under the Personal Information tab.

More information about SUNY Oswego's use of NY Alert can be found at the SUNY Oswego Emergency Information web site at: www.oswego.edu/administration/public_affairs/emergency/nyalert.html.

Student Help Wanted!

Campus Technology Services (CTS) is now hiring for the 2008-2009 academic year!

We are seeking SUNY Oswego students who enjoy working with and assisting others with computer related technology. There are positions for just about any skill level and most require no previous experience.

All of our student employment descriptions and online application forms are available from our Student Employment web site. To apply, fill out the online application form and return it to the Technology Support Center at 26 Lanigan Hall by April 4, 2008.

Space Usage Calendar

The Registrar's Office, Campus Life, and Campus Technology Services have worked on and released a new Space Usage Calendar. This calendar will allow you to view the schedules of certain spaces on campus for scheduling purposes. Pictures are also available for some locations including classrooms, advanced technology classrooms and computer labs. For easier viewing, some locations are grouped together and can be viewed by using the filters from the right-hand bar. Spaces can be viewed by day, week, or month.

The calendar can be viewed at http://events.oswego.edu/.

You can set a security question and answer for your email account. In the event you forget your password, you can regain access to your account by submitting an online form with the correct answer to the question you set.

To set up a security question and answer, go to the CTS Account Tools page at http://www.oswego.edu/admin. Login to the page, and click the "Security Question" link on the left side. Select a question from the pulldown menu and provide an accurate answer in the space provide. Click "Submit" to complete the process.

Notes from the Help Desk

CTS has been working on an exciting new service for our users. It is called remote desktop assistance. Remote desktop assistance is a service CTS will be offering as another means of assisting users with their computer-related technical issues. It would allow CTS staff the opportunity to request a desktop connection to a faculty or staff computer and, upon the user's approval, see their desktop and control their mouse in order to resolve a problem they are experiencing. As calls come in to the help desk that can potentially be resolved through remote desktop assistance, professional CTS staff will be asking permission from the user to connect to their machine remotely to resolve the issue.

Help Desk hours for the spring semester, effective Tuesday, January 22^nd are:

Monday-Thursday, 8am-9pm

Fridays, 8am-4:30pm

Saturdays, 12pm-4pm (phone service only)

You can reach us by phone at 312.3456, on location at 26 Lanigan Hall, or online at www.oswego.edu/help during normal office hours. We are online via our live chat service. Just go to our web page and use the web-based chat utility to ask our staff a technology-related question.

CTS workshops for the spring 2008 semester are coming to a conclusion. Workshops on Office 2003 to Office 2007, Backing Up Your Computer Data, OmniUpdate Forms, Intermediate and Advanced Excel, and Writing for the Web are still open for registration. The complete schedule and online registration is available from our main CTS web site at www.oswego.edu/cts.

Additional ANGEL workshops have been scheduled for April and May. You can review and register for them at www.oswego.edu/academics/angel.

Looking Ahead

The following are major projects CTS is currently working on:

• Web Server Upgrade: Core web applications are being upgraded to the latest versions. This includes Apache, mysql, PHP, and Perl. In addition, we are looking at updating other products installed on the web server that have become out-of-date, including some used by Public Affairs for making updates to the news area of the site. An implementation for the week after spring graduation is planned. A subsequent project to this will be installing blogging software to easily allow departments the ability to blog.

• Construction Projects: CTS is involved with several construction projects. We have been helping with the technology design of the Metro Center in downtown Syracuse and are involved in the discussions for the renovations of the science buildings.

• Communications Express Calendar Module: Communications Express has a personal calendar module that when installed and configured will show up as another tab within Communications Express. The calendar module will allow users to keep their own personal calendar, schedule single and recurring events, schedule meetings with others, share calendars and more. We are in the process of installing and configuring this module. We will then be testing it for functionality.

• Document Imaging is Not Dead!: After a short hiatus, our campus-wide document imaging project is back on the front burner. In an effort to improve efficiency and security as well as reduce the consumption of paper and printing/copying supplies, CTS along with partners in the Academic Affairs and Student Affairs is rekindling the original project proposal developed in November 2006. "Document imaging" is a generic term referring to a system that captures and stores digital copies of such things as student transcripts, letters of recommendation, and other documents typically delivered in hard copy form. These digital documents can then be accessed easier, faster, and more securely by numerous users as appropriate and can be integrated with systems like Banner. The original project proposal is still fairly accurate, but requires a few minor tweaks to account for advances in technology as well as changes in student and staff expectations over the last several months. With the approval of the final project proposal and initial budget, the project team hopes to pilot the system in the Admission Office over the next year. Upon completion of a successful pilot, other offices throughout campus will have the opportunity to consider going "paperless" or at least "paperlight".

• Improving Security and Convenience - You can Have Both: CTS is in the process of reviewing its identity management strategy that defines how students and employees access the various systems they are authorized to use such as email, calendars, MyOswego, and many others. The ultimate goal is to provide all users with "single sign-on" capability - enter your ID and password once and your security credentials are automatically communicated to whatever program you want to use. A significant component of a new identity management strategy for our campus will likely include the expansion of the use of Microsoft's Active Directory system. As planning progresses the appropriate governance bodies will have the opportunity to provide input to the final design.

If you have any questions related to any of these projects, please contact the Technology Support Center at x3456 or by email to help@oswego.edu.

Tech Tips

If your Windows XP fonts look ugly or too jagged, you may benefit from Microsoft's free ClearType technology. ClearType noticeably improves readability by smoothing the edges of desktop fonts.

Follow these steps to install ClearType:

1. Using Internet Explorer, Open the ClearType webpage at http://www.microsoft.com/typography/cleartype/tuner/Step1.aspx.

2. Check the box to turn on ClearType.

3. Follow the on-screen directions to fine-tune your font settings.