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Important Sites & Software Submission News:
This bulletin has been prepared to give you an update on what's new in the Campus Computing Sites. We hope that by keeping you informed, you'll be better able to take full advantage of our facilities. Please feel free to share your ideas or concerns with us at any time by sending e-mail to sites.suggestions@umich.edu.NOTE: An UPDATE is available. Please read the Spring 2002 Sites News Bulletin Update.
Mac OS X: *Important News*
Campus Computing Sites expects to migrate from the current Macintosh
operating system to Mac OS X by Fall Term 2002. This means that currently
deployed course software may not be compatible; the configuration of the
lab software will be different, too. You may need to take some actions to
prepare for the change.
- Currently installed course software will not be automatically renewed and will be removed from Campus Computing Sites after the Winter 2002 term. This is consistent with Sites' established submission policy.
- Anything that isn't explicitly renewed will not be installed. Renewal is available online. (http://www.umich.edu/~sites/instrtech/software/)
- To submit software for Fall 2002, applications must be fully
functional and written to run natively on Mac OS X.
- If you plan to hold a class in a Sites Mac lab, you will want to familiarize yourself with operating Mac OS X first so you are comfortable using it in the classroom. After Spring Break '02, a "sneak peek" of Mac OS X with very limited functionality will be available at the Angell Hall computing lab (the "Fish Bowl").
Background: Apple Releases Mac OS X
As you may know, Apple has released their new, Unix-based operating
system called Mac OS X (pronounced "ten") last year. Beginning this month,
all computers sold by Apple will now have Mac OS X as their default
operating system. (http://www.apple.com/macosx/)
Campus Computing Sites is very excited about this modern, "industrial strength" operating system and are impressed with its exceptional stability, ease of use and beautiful new interface. We know, however, that the move to Mac OS X will represent a radical shift from the status quo and will require extensive testing and development prior to its deployment. There are still some missing pieces that will need to be in place before Mac OS X can be fully integrated into the University of Michigan Computing Environment (UMCE). Things like Kerberos authentication, printing and AFS access (your home directory) need to be worked out first.
Sites' Deployment Strategy
The strategy for migrating to Mac OS X in Sites is being modified
continuously and is subject to change. Much is still to be developed.
That said, we expect a limited rollout of Mac OS X by Spring 2002 (likely
the e-mail kiosks called "Cyberstations" in certain key locations). We
will use the Spring/Summer 2002 period to test the configuration on more
machines in high-traffic locations -- though we will not have an "all X"
lab at that point. However, by Fall 2002, we expect to have Mac OS X
fully deployed in all labs on all Macs.
Course Software and Instruction
Because the underpinnings of Mac OS X are now Unix-based, special
considerations need to be made if you have course software that was
written for "classic" Mac OS, especially if your software is more than a
year old. Many applications will simply not work on Mac OS X; others may
work but will either be unpredictable, make other programs unstable or
will be missing some functionality.
In submitting software for deployment on Sites' Macintoshes, you will need to assure compatibility with Mac OS X. Sites Mac will not install software that will make the computer unstable or whose functionality is anything other than what's expected from the product.
Many popular Macintosh programs have already been modified to run on both Mac OS 9 and X. Other applications have been completely rewritten to run natively on Mac OS X and can take advantage of all the new features, like increased stability, memory management and interface enhancements.
You may have heard that some old applications will run in an emulated environment called "Classic" within Mac OS X -- in effect, it's like running a separate, older operating system inside another, more modern one. While this is possible and perhaps even desirable for a home user, there are issues for an open lab environment like Campus Computing Sites.
In limited testing, Sites has determined there are considerable performance problems, security concerns and software conflicts (not to mention the necessity to essentially support two, distinct operating systems concurrently). Therefore, at this time, Sites Mac has no intention of making the "Classic" virtual machine available.
UNIX and Mac OS
There are numerous and popular UNIX applications that are being modified
to run on Mac OS X. They represent yet another type of software that's
new to the Macintosh world and are one of the most exciting developments
for Mac users in academic labs.
http://www.apple.com/downloads/macosx/unix_apps_utilities/
http://fink.sourceforge.net/
http://www.darwin.org/
http://softrak.stepwise.com/Softrak
Resources
The list of applications that are "made for Mac OS X" is growing
considerably. If you have course software deployed in Sites, we urge you
to find out if it will run natively on Mac OS X. These sites are helpful
to find out if your course software is Mac OS X compatible.
http://www.apple.com/macosx/applications/
http://www.versiontracker.com/macosx/
Conclusion
It's our goal to help you succeed in teaching effectively. This migration
to Mac OS X is considerable but there are terrific gains to be made. We
look forward to hearing from you -- we consider you a partner in our
endeavors. This is a key opportunity to have a direct effect on our
direction. If you have questions or want to voice a concern, simply reply
to this e-mail or write
sites.mac@umich.edu.
Send Comments to: sites-web@umich.edu