Software- Windows 8
Windows 8 Enterprise at UMass Boston
Microsoft officially released its latest operating system, Windows 8, on Friday, Oct. 26th, 2012. Windows 8 is a version of the Windows operating system for use on personal computers, including home and business desktops, laptops, tablets, and home theater PCs.
While Windows 8 may offer new and exciting features over older Windows operating systems, Information Technology (IT) is asking users to wait before upgrading to Windows 8.
These pages will provide the UMass Boston community with information about the current state of Information Technology’s evaluation of Windows 8 Enterprise (the version used on campus).
Because IT is not quite ready to support the new operating system, we will continue to install and support Windows XP and Windows 7 on old or new computers until we fully support it in July 2013. Please be aware Microsoft will stop supporting Windows XP in April 2014; therefore IT will also stop supporting Windows XP at the same time.
Evaluation
IT staff have been testing Windows 8 for use on university-owned computers that run UMass Boston administrative applications and centrally provided productivity software since January 2013. We want to ensure that the end-user experience is a positive one. Thorough testing will help us determine when it is best to fully recommend, support, and deploy the new operating system to campus. We have tentatively decided to start supporting Windows 8 beginning July 1, 2013.
We expect that new releases of various software applications will be required before IT can support 8 on university computers in July 2013. In addition, departmentally-supported software will need to be evaluated for its compatibility and functionality with Windows 8. Some software vendors do not yet support their software running on Windows 8.
Software Compatibility
Moving the University community and University systems to the Windows 8 platform will require changes. Testing of anti-virus, VPN, Adobe, Office, firewall, statistical and other administrative applications will take place before full support can be considered. New releases of various software applications may be required before IT can support Windows 8 on University computers. As of March 2013, we have determined that the following software is compatible to Windows 8.
UMass Boston Licensed Software Windows 8 compatibility chart (as of March 2013)
| Microsoft Software | Compatible with Windows 8 |
| Office 2010 Suites | YES |
| Office 2007 Professional | YES |
| Office 2003 Professional | NO |
| Office 2000 Professional | NO |
| Office XP 2002 Professional | NO |
| Front Page 2003 | NO |
| Visio 2010 | YES |
| Visio 2007 | YES |
| Visio 2003 | NO |
| Adobe Software | Compatible with Windows 8 |
| Adobe Acrobat Pro X | YES |
| Adobe Acrobat Pro 9 | YES |
| Adobe Acrobat Standard 9 | YES |
| Adobe CS5 Design Std/Prem | YES |
| Adobe CS4 Design Std/Prem | YES |
| Illustrator CS3-CS6 | YES |
| Illustrator CS2 | NO |
| Indesign CS3-CS6 | YES |
| Indesign CS2 | NO |
| Photoshop CS4-CS6 | YES |
| Photoshop CS2 | NO |
| Adobe Flash Player 9-10 | YES |
| Adobe Reader 9- 10 | YES |
| Antivirus Software | Compatible with Windows 8 |
| McAfee 8.7 | NO |
| McAfee 8.8 (must have patch 3 or above) | YES |
| Statistical Software | Compatible with Windows 8 |
| SAS 9.0 | YES |
| SPSS V.19-20 | YES |
| Administrative Software | Compatible with Windows 8 |
| WISER | YES |
| BLACKBOARD VISTA | YES |
| BLACKBOARD LEARN | YES |
| Resources 25 | YES |
| HR DIRECT | YES |
| COMPUTRACE (Laptop only) | YES |
| Alert US | YES |
Hardware Requirements:
Before installing a fresh Windows 8 operating system or upgrading your old one to Windows 8, you should know the minimum hardware requirements.
- Processor: 1 gigahertz (GHz) or faster with support for PAE, NX, and SSE2
- RAM: 1 gigabyte (GB) (32-bit) or 2 GB (64-bit)
- Hard disk space: 16 GB (32-bit) or 20 GB (64-bit)
- Graphics card: Microsoft DirectX 9 graphics device with WDDM driver
Version of Window 8 and upgrading compatibility:
Windows 8 comes in four editions (namely, Windows 8, Windows 8 Pro, Windows Enterprise, and Windows RT ), and it is possible to upgrade from Windows 7 to Windows 8 with the user’s data intact. See this link for version details and upgrading compatibility. For all university-owned desktop and laptop computers; we will install the Enterprise version.
IT has tested the upgrading compatibility for the following versions of operating systems
| Old Operating System | New Operating System | Can it be upgraded? |
| Windows 7 Enterprise 32 bit | Windows 8 Enterprise 32 bit | YES |
| Windows 7 Enterprise 32 bit | Windows 8 Enterprise 64 bit | NO |
| Windows 7 Enterprise 64 bit | Windows 8 Enterprise 64 bit | YES |
Dell Computers that are Windows 8 ready (partial list):
If you have one of the Dell models that IT currently supports, this computer is Windows 8 ready hardware wise:
Desktops:
- Dell Optiplex 755
- Dell Optiplex 785
- Dell Optiplex 980
- Dell Optiplex 990
- Dell Optiplex 9010
Laptops:
- Latitude E5430
- Latitude E5530
- Latitude E6430
- Latitude E6530
For any other models not listed; please contact the IT service desk at 7-5220 or email to itservicedesk@umb.edu
Tentative support date:
Starts on July 1, 2013
(last updated on March 15, 2013)
