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• IT Services & Support

Information Technology and Resources

Microsoft Vista, Windows 7 and Office 2010 at JCU

The JCU university-wide position on these products is as follows:

Windows Vista and Windows 7

Windows XP continues to be the supported Windows Desktop Operating System on staff PC desktop and laptop computers at this time. ITR are continuing to monitor the uptake of Vista and Windows 7 in other Universities. Where it is necessary to run Vista or Windows 7 on a staff desktop/laptop or a postgraduate's computer ITR IT support staff will support this environment as best as they can.

If Vista or Windows 7 is installed IT Support staff cannot be responsible for software installed on that computer that is not compatible with Vista or Windows 7, the same will apply to hardware that staff/postgraduates attach to computer running Vista or Windows 7.

Currently StudentOne, FinanceOne and Alesco will not operate on a computer that is running Vista or Windows 7 as its Operating System.

ITR recommends that staff do not use Vista or Windows 7 until university-wide support is available and that in the interim any new equipment delivered with Vista or Windows 7 will be reimaged with Windows XP SP3 if Windows is required.

Note that ITR provides the Patch Management service campus-wide to ensure that relevant security updates are applied automatically to all computers running a Microsoft Windows Operating System including Vista and Windows 7. We can no longer offer this service for those Windows Operating Systems that are no longer supported by Microsoft.

Vista has been installed onto the computers located in the General Access and Teaching Labs (GATCF) and the Library on both Townsville and Cairns campuses.

ITR have installed a Vista and Windows 7 licensing/activation server, which means staff will not have to activate their Vista or Windows 7 installation at Microsoft's Site

Office 2010

Microsoft Office 2010 has recently been released for Windows based computers/virtual environments. This version of Office will not be supported at JCU until all applications that interface with products such as Word, Excel, PowerPoint and Outlook have been validated to work with 2010. Eg MiraPoint ConnectR is currently not compatible with Outlook 2010.

Backward Compatibility of Office 2007 Applications

2007 Word, Excel and PowerPoint now support a new file format (Office XML Format). This means that you will not be able to natively open documents that have been saved in Office 2007 format from your Office 2000, Office XP or Office 2003 applications. If you receive files that have been saved as an Office 2007 document this will be an issue for you.

To overcome this problem Microsoft has released a Compatibility Pack. After you install the Compatibility Pack, you will be able to use your existing version of Word, Excel or PowerPoint (ie versions Office 2000 and later) to open, edit and save files that were produced in Office 2007.

Please note: You must have the latest high-priority Office Updates installed on your computer/laptop before you install the Compatibility Package. Please check with your IT Support person if you are unsure as to whether you have the latest Windows Office updates installed.

You can download the Compatibility Package from the Microsoft Download Centre.

For information on how to install and use the Compatibility Pack go to the Microsoft Help and Support site.

For Information about the new Word, Excel and PowerPoint file formats go to the Microsoft Office Online Products site.

Access Users

Office Access 2007 has a different database format to older versions of Access. Access 2007 now uses .accdb format (not the .mdb file format of previous versions) A database file in the new Access 2007 format cannot be opened or linked with earlier versions of Access.

The Compatibility Pack does not address this issue. Visit the Microsoft Office Online Products site for more information.

JCU Walkabout Wireless Support

Limited support will be provided for students wishing to connect Vista and Windows 7 laptops to the JCU Walkabout Wireless network.

MFD Printing

Printing to MFDs from Vista and Apple MacOSX10.6 has been tested and is working. We have not validated printing to MFDs from Windows 7.