University Times

Ever since Microsoft re-leased its much-bally-hooed Windows 95 two summers ago, people have been asking the University's Office of Computing and Information Services (CIS) when Pitt computer labs would convert to the new generation of Microsoft software.

Well, the conversion has begun — although Pitt actually will upgrade its public computer lab machines and Ubiquitous Network Access (UNA) faculty desktop PCs to version 4.0 of Microsoft Windows NT Workstation rather than to the more popular Windows 95.

Windows NT has the look and feel of Windows 95 but provides better security and reliability, CIS officials say. They point out that Penn State, Carnegie Mellon and other universities nationwide also have chosen Windows NT for their computing labs.

The upgrade will allow users to take advantage of new Internet features and enhanced software capabilities available in the latest 32-bit versions of software packages. Examples of this software include the "95" and "97" releases of Microsoft Office programs as well as the 32-bit version of the Netscape World Wide Web browser.

Pitt public labs and most UNA computers currently use Microsoft Windows 3.11 software. Microsoft has been marketing both Windows NT and Windows 95 as the successors to version 3.11 and earlier "3" versions of the Windows operating system.

The University's conversion to Windows NT will take about 18 months, according to CIS. A detailed plan of the conversion — which CIS is calling the NT Migration Project — is available on the World Wide Web at: http://www.pitt.edu/~cispat/ntmigration In general, the Windows NT upgrade will occur like this: Faculty desktop PCs in the UNA program All new UNA machines will be installed with Windows NT beginning in August. Existing departmental UNA computers will be converted as requested.

Current UNA users are not required to convert to Windows NT — yet. But CIS will stop providing support and software for Windows 3.11 UNA machines on Jan. 1, 1999. UNA users who have not changed to Windows NT by that date will have to make other arrangements to acquire software.

CIS public computing labs The first Windows NT machines in these labs will be available some time between November 1997 and January 1998. The last Windows 3.11 machines will be converted to NT 4.0 by August 1998.

Public computing labs at the regional campuses will be converted to Windows NT upon request by each campus.

CIS is testing various software and hardware components to ensure they will run in the Windows NT environment. As this information is collected, it will be posted on the NT Migration Project Home Page. CIS already has put together compatibility and incompatibility lists, which are available at: http://www.pitt.edu/~cispat/ntmigration/compatibility Windows NT requires a powerful complement of hardware components to run properly. CIS recommends a Pentium class machine with at least 32 megabytes of RAM and a 2 gigabyte hard drive.

Changes in the computing lab PCs may affect faculty course notes, curricula and required texts, CIS points out. To keep up on the Windows NT conversion, faculty and students are advised to consult the compatibility Web site.

To see what the NT environment will look like, consult the test machines in the Technology Evaluation and Consulting (TEC) Lab, B-3 Engineering Hall. These test machines will continue to change as a prototype is developed for both the lab and UNA machines. Currently, the test machines contain the Windows NT 4.0 operating system and Office 97, Delphi Desktop (NT Compatible Turbo Pascal), WordPerfect, Lotus 1-2-3, Borland C++5.0, Telnet and FTP clients, and Netscape 3.0.

Training classes on basic and advanced NT 4.0 concepts and functions will be offered beginning in September. All UNA faculty members receiving NT 4.0 machines or upgrades will receive individualized training when their machines are set up. This will begin at the end of the summer, according to a CIS news release.

"CIS is developing the UNA and CIS computing labs Windows NT 4.0 environment according to Microsoft's standard offerings; therefore, commercial books and classes can be used to learn about NT. There will be slight differences in Pitt's NT deployment, but the majority of the information read in a third party book or taught in a third party class will be applicable. CIS encourages faculty and students who will be using the new environment to begin taking a look at NT training materials. CIS will be updating all of its documentation to reflect the new operating system. This documentation also will detail any differences in standard NT and the way NT will work on UNA and lab machines. These differences will be few in number." CIS is running the NT Migration Project in collaboration with the Office of the Provost and the Executive Committee for Academic Computing.