The College is working to provide support for the latest Apple and Microsoft operating systems, though their efforts are complicated by incompatibility with Dartmouth's proprietary software.
"The big issue for Windows XP and OS X is that there is some software we need for our network that doesn't run on them," said Bill Brawley, Director of Communications Services. Such software includes BlitzMail and the Kerberos authentication program.
Brawley was unable to provide any specific date for when the College might support the software, though he said that "different groups are adopting these systems at different rates."
Apple rolled out Mac OS X last May, and Microsoft released Windows XP in October.
According to Brawley, it is unlikely the Kerberos issue will be resolved soon for OS X, because the software "was developed by a consortium of other universities, but then it was abandoned" and new development stopped.
The Classic mode, which allows users to run applications that haven't been updated for Mac OS X, is useful for running BlitzMail and Kerberos, but the process saps many system resources, Peter Jenks '05 said.
Windows XP appears to have better support for the Kerberos software, though some glitches remain. Dartmouth lacks the resources to quickly correct the problems, Brawley said.
"The applications need to be entirely rewritten," said Ellen Young of Academic Computing.
According to Young, a group headed by Director of Technical Services Brad Noblet is working to develop a new version of BlitzMail. A source familiar with the project said that a version is being tested but is far from being ready for distribution.
"In some ways we might be closer on XP depending on what the deal is with that reported glitch in Kerberos," Brawley said.
According to Young, Windows XP "is less different than its predecessors. It's very similar to Windows 2000."
The new, more stable operating systems could potentially reduce the workload of Computing Services as the need for service and repair declines, Brawley said.
Young agreed, though she pointed out that "there's a learning curve involved" in the move from OS 9 to OS X. This was not true for previous software changes, "because they were just upgrades."
Brawley said that the trend might occur anyway as the College moves "towards standardizing administrative users on the Windows platform over the coming years, and as the machines become more uniform" it will be easier to troubleshoot them.
Windows XP Home, the consumer version of Microsoft's software, is not likely to be supported by the College, Young said, "because it has some of its networking capabilities turned off." The same is true of Windows ME.
Apple's Mac OS X is a complete overhaul of the company's 17-year-old operating system. Based on the UNIX platform, OS X boasts greater stability and customizability than prior versions.
According to a press release issued by Apple on Jan. 7 at the Macworld Expo in San Francisco, all of the company's new computers will ship with OS X activated by default. But the machines will also be able to start up into Mac OS 9, which is the latest version currently supported by the College.
Microsoft released Windows XP in October of last year. Their operating system combines the code of Windows 2000 with the multimedia and hardware features of Windows 98 and ME. Most new PCs now come with Windows XP.
