Summary
In late January 2007, Microsoft released their most recent operating system, Windows Vista. FAS Information Technology (FAS IT) has completed a comprehensive testing and review process to determine the supportability of Vista as well as its compatibility with existing FAS IT-supported applications, including applications provided by external vendors. A significant number of FAS applications were determined to have either limited or no compatibility with Vista.
At this time, FAS IT recommends that users avoid installing or running Windows Vista on a departmentally-owned system. Windows XP with Service Pack 3 continues to be the officially recommended Windows operating system for all FAS departmental computers.
Supportability
For users who choose to install and/or run Windows Vista, FAS IT will offer support for the following business-class versions of:
- Business Edition (32-bit only)
- Enterprise Edition (32-bit only)
- Ultimate Edition (32-bit only)
In keeping with our previous policy for Windows XP, FAS IT will not provide support for the Home editions (Basic and Premium) of Windows Vista on departmental computers. The inability of Home editions to authenticate against Active Directory/NT Domains will prevent the use of many FAS services, particularly the FAS printing system (PaperCut). Additionally, due to a lack of driver support, FAS IT will not provide any client-level support for 64-bit versions of any Windows Vista edition.
FAS IT also strongly recommends that users who choose to run Windows Vista do so by purchasing a new computer that has one of the three business-class versions of Vista pre-installed by the original equipment manufacturer (OEM). FAS IT will not assist users with installation of retail copies of Vista on departmental machines, nor can FAS IT guarantee the resolution of any problems that occur as a result of loading and/or running Windows Vista.
Hardware Recommendations
Microsoft recommends 1 GB of system memory for running Windows Vista. FAS IT testing has concluded that 1 GB of memory should be considered a minimum. For acceptable system performance, FAS IT recommends at least 2 GB of memory. See below for links to various vendors' hardware requirements and recommendations. Users should also be aware that 32-bit versions of Windows Vista will not recognize more than 3.12 GB of system memory.