Windows Vista and Office 2007

Windows Vista and Office 2007 were released officially to consumers this week (on Tuesday). Vista comes in 4 flavors (prices shown are from Amazon):  Vista Home Basic ($191.99 for full version, $98.99 for upgrade); Vista Home ($226.99 for full version, $152.99 for upgrade); Vista Business ($282.99 full, $191.99 upgrade); and Vista Ultimate ($378.99 full, $249.99 upgrade).  Amazon provides their own descriptions of the various versions.  Click here for the Microsoft Windows Vista site for further explanations.  Palomar is licensed for the Business version.  Our IS department has not yet released a rollout schedule.
To upgrade or not to upgrade?  Click here for a brief (3:35) audio analysis of the pros and cons of upgrading to Vista now by CNet editor Brian Cooley, as heard on American Public Media's "Future Tense."  In sum: Pros: Much better security, beautiful new interface, many media friendly features; Cons: XP is already a very good OS and Vista is just an incremental improvement, avoid the service pack syndrome and wait, get an OEM install rather than a do-it-yourself upgrade.
 With Office 2007 the story is different.  The new office interface is truly revolutionary and, once mastered, makes using the more sophisticated features in the Office apps much easier to use.  Once again, Palomar's IS department is not yet ready to support the new Office, and does not have a firm rollout schedule.  The programs are available in the Academic Technology computer labs, if you want to come play with them, and will be the default Office programs in our labs beginning with the summer semester.  Click here for the new Office Online web site.
Will Palomar faculty members and staff be able to purchase the new products through the Foundation for California Community Colleges at greatly reduced prices, as we did with Windows XP and Office 2003?  According to Steve Tuck, the FCCC customer relations lead, yes, sometime around April.  Steve said he expects the prices to be similar to the previous offerings.  Click here for mover information from the FCCC web site.  The FCCC does sponsor a site where students can purchase Office at somewhat reduced prices.