ThinkTank 2007 Montreal 1 Enjoying the Vista from 20,000 MBs Myra Williams Manager, Mobile Computing Program Mark Miller Director, Academic & Research Computing

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal 2 High Points for Discussion Overview of Mobile Computing Program (MCP) –Brief history of MCP –Fall 2007 laptop model Image management –Freshmen – full software image –Upperclassmen – basic software image Student input –Form Factor Survey –Windows Vista Ultimate Pilot Program Open Discussion with Lenovo and Microsoft

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal 3 Rensselaer Overview Educates the leaders of tomorrow for technologically based careers Private institution founded in ,200 resident students – 5,000 undergraduate, 1,200 graduate 450 faculty, 1400 staff Schools – Architecture, Engineering, Humanities and Social Sciences, Management and Technology, Science

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal 4 Mobile Computing Overview Laptop required for undergraduate students Single standard high end T-xx model including software at an excellent price Students can purchase, lease to own, or bring own Laptop used inside and outside of class Over 6,000 laptops on campus

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal 5 Mobile Computing Program Evolution Voluntary pilot program (three years) 1998 Laptop highly recommended for incoming freshmen 1999 Required for all incoming freshmen present Full deployment, required for all undergraduates

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal 6 Fall 2007 Model ThinkPad T61 (What’s Different) Core 2 Duo T GHz CPU, 800 MHz Front Side Bus 2 GB RAM, 4 MB L2 Cache 15.4 in Wide Display, 1680 x 1050 Display Resolution 128 MB NVIDIA Quadro NVS 140M Video Card 160 GB 5,400 RPM Disk with Robson flash cache Media Card Slot Wireless a/b/g/n, Firewire (IEEE 1394) 9 Cell Battery, iClicker PRS Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal 7 Fall 2007 Software List Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate Microsoft Office Pro 2007 Microsoft Visual Studio.NET 2005 Maplesoft Maple - symbolic algebra program MathWorks MATLAB NX5 (Unigraphics) - CAD package National Instruments LabVIEW Bentley Microstation Cygwin MapInfo Professional Microsoft Internet Explorer 7 Adobe Premiere Elements Adobe Photoshop Elements Symantec anti-virus software suite and more!

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal Laptop-Integrated Courses Calculus Physics Freshmen Studies Next Generation Studio Biology Advanced Manufacturing Lab (AML) Introduction to Engineering Analysis Engineering Graphics and Computer Aided Design Laboratory Introduction to Embedded Control (LITEC) 8

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal 9 Fall Laptop Image New laptop each fall has full software image (~25 GB) New fall model configured primarily for freshmen Software properly installed, tested, and configured for the first day of class –Faculty can depend on working software the first day of class –Class time is not expended on software installation and configuration Standard image promotes easier troubleshooting and one fix for all Students can choose to uninstall software to free up disk space Students use software in unexpected and novel ways

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal Images for Older Laptops Updated software image for older laptops Very basic image - Windows, Office, IE, anti-virus Upper class students have a better understanding of their software needs Software is available on the network for download and installation Students select what software they need to install 10

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal High Hopes Students re-image their laptop -- 2,000 per year Will Vista features reduce need to re-image? Will new HAL technology enable a single image to work for all Vista ready laptops? Will imageX technology replace Ghost? 11

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal Student Input Form Factor Survey Four T60 models 14in standard, 14in wide, 15in standard, 15in wide Hard disk - size/speed trade off 6 cell battery, 9 cell battery Windows Vista Ultimate Pilot Program Volunteer students re-image their laptop with Windows Vista Ultimate Backpack Feature Discussions 12

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal 13 Ranking Features Laptop Size (screen size): 14in standard, 14in wide 15in standard, 15in wide Hard Disk: 100 GB 7,200 RPM, 120 GB 5,400 RPM, 160 GB 5,400 RPM Battery: 6 cell, 9 cell 164 Respondents (132 male, 28 female)

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal 14 Form Factor Survey Results Screen Size: All students clearly preferred 15in models, males clearly preferred wide, females preferred standard Hard Disk: All students preferred 100 GB 7200 RPM, males preferred fastest, females split between fastest and largest Battery: All students clearly preferred 9 cell battery, males clearly preferred 9 cell, females clearly preferred 9 cell Fall 2007 Model (what the adults decided) 15in wide screen 160 GB 5400 RPM hard disk 9 cell battery

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal 15 Windows Vista Ultimate Pilot Why? Student feedback on using Vista Student feedback on using Office 2007 Student installed application compatibility Voluntary participation and feedback T42, T43p, or T60 recommended models (1 GB) Vista, Office 2007, Visual Studio 2005, IE7, Maple, NX4, MATLAB No ThinkVantage tools “20 students”, 131 students participated

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal Vista Pilot Results 82 students provided 116 feedback submissions 539 Vista comments: 60% positive, 40% negative 110 Office 2007 comments: 80% positive, 20% negative Problems: wireless (VPN, 802.1x), slowness – startup/shutdown/sleep/hibernate, battery life, runs hotter 16

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal And the Winner Is? 119 unique student installed applications 94 successes (Firefox, iTunes, GAIM, Trillian) 15 problems (Chime, Worms Armegeddon) Final feedback from 56 students 49 still using Vista 43 recommend for Fall 2007 laptop (wireless) 17

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal Not Quite at the Summit ThinkVantage Tools for Windows Vista Access Connections (802.1x GTC) Windows Vista Licensing Unique Keys for Vista Ultimate Repair and troubleshooting

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal 19 Questions?

ThinkTank 2007 Montreal Open Discussion Lee Highsmith, Lenovo Steve Straub, Microsoft 20