PC Support Services and the Computer Training Center are working together to bring the University community the new "Tech Tips" blog. This blog discusses some of the most frequently asked questions to the Technology Help Desk, as well as more general advise on how to make the most of the technologies available at Seton Hall University.
Check out the Tech Tips blog at:
blogs.shu.edu/projects/tech_tips/
In Monsignor Sheeran's charge to the University Sustainability committee this past year, he asked the University community to determine ways to become better stewards of the Earth and the resources at our disposal. As a response to this charge the Teaching, Learning and Technology Roundtable created a committee on digital sustainability, charged with determining how technology can be used to conserve energy and limit waste. To date printing has been free and unlimited to students and we have printed 3 million pages in the last academic year alone. The current printing policy promotes excessive consumption of resources and a mind-set incompatible with the University's goals of conservation and sustainability.
The Digital Sustainability committee, chaired by Richard Stern and Michael Taylor, faculty in the University Library and in the deaprtment of Political Science, with the support of the Faculty Senate IT Committee, has recommended that the University alter its printing policy to reduce unnecessary printing by limiting the amount of free printing available in the computer labs and the University Library and by encouraging the use of digital alternatives where appropriate.
In accordance with this recommendation, beginning August 31, 2009 full-time students on the South Orange campus will be allotted 400 pages and part-time students will be allotted 200 pages, per semester, at no charge. Printing above this amount will result in a charge of $0.05/page that will be deducted from the student?s Pirates Gold account.
For frequently asked questions about printing on campus please click here.
Seton Hall University has selected the 2009 laptop and tablet PC models for the Mobile Computing Program. The laptop model will be the Lenovo ThinkPad T500, featuring a 15.4" wide screen monitor and the ATI Radeon Mobility video card. The tablet PC model will be the Lenovo ThinkPad X200 Tablet with a 12" LED backlit screen.
Full sepcifications for the 2009 models can be found in the document:
2009 SHU Mobile Computing Standard Models.doc
Sophomore refresh will begin in mid April and continue through the end of final exams. All sophomore students who have registered for the fall semester are eligible to upgrade their current laptop or tablet computers before the summer.
Steve Landry, CIO
Summary: All new computers come with Microsoft Office 2007. This uses a different file format than previous versions such as Microsoft Office 2003 or Microsoft Office XP. Users of these previous versions of Microsoft Office will need Microsoft's Office Campatibility Pack to open and save files in the new Office 2007 format. This add on to Microsoft Office is available from the Microsoft Web site or from the SHU Technology Help Desk. See below for more details.
PC Support Services began Sophomore Refresh 2008. All sophomore students in good academic standing and who are registered as full time students for Fall 2008 are eligible to replace their current Lenovo ThinkPad T60 Laptop PC (or their ThinkPad X60 Tablet PC) with the latest model.
See this previous blog entry for details about the new laptops.
As of today, over 600 sophomores have already upgraded their computers.
Last night University IT Services successfully upgraded the Pharos Uniprint print management system to the latest version. This version supports Microsoft Vista as well as the new generation of card readers.
With this upgrade, PC Support Services is now able to activate the printers recently installed in the A&S Hall Public Computer Lab and the Nursing Lab. These printers will be on line following the Easter Break. PC Support Services also plans to increase the number of printers in the Information Commons in Walsh Library to six (from the current four), ensuring users can easily and quickly print during peak times (late afternoon and early evening).
With the upcoming distribution of laptop computers for current sophomores and incoming freshmen, Seton Hall University is making the move to the Microsoft Vista operating system and the Microsoft Office 2007 productivity suite.
Each of these products has some significant differences from the current Microsoft Windows XP operating system and the Microsoft Office 2003 productivity suite.
The University has selected the Lenovo ThinkPad T61 laptop as the standard laptop for Mobile Computing 2008. For the Tablet PC users, the University has selected the ThinkPad X61.
Sophomores who have preregistered for the fall semester can pick up their new laptop or tablet PC before they leave for the summer.
Read all about the specifications of the laptop and tablet PC after the jump
DRM travails are driving users crazy!
As the University plans to move to Microsoft Vista this summer, I've noticed the supposed stronger Digital Rights Management (DRM) of Vista may have some interesting unintended consequences. I use several subscription services for digital content, including Ruckus for music and Amazon Unbox for video. It seems that users of Vista sometimes find that content from these legal pay services conflict with one another. Microsoft's suggested solution is to delete all the licenses for the DRM protected content from your computer and renew the licenses. (See, for example, the article "Clearing DRM Store on Vista" in the Ruckus FAQ.)
But this is not as simple as it sounds. Many subscription services and pay sites won't simply renew the license for content I've paid for in the past. There are, of course, many programs out there that will strip the DRM from my content, but that would technically be illegal. The MPAA and RIAA should look at me as an ideal customer. I want legal content, and I pay for it from multiple sources. Is it so hard for the MPAA, RIAA, Microsoft, Ruckus, Amazon, and other subscription services to get together figure out how to make all my legally obtained (and paid for) content work? Has anyone else felt like the MPAA and RIAA's campaigns to ratchet up the use and enforcement of DRM may have the unintended consequence of driving users like me to strip the DRM from my legal content in order to make it work?
Steve Landry, CIO, Seton Hall University
