Contents
1. General Availability Information
Microsoft released Windows Vista as a standalone product or on new PCs on 30 January 2007. However, many third-party products require updating for use with Vista — in some cases updates are only just appearing. Caution is therefore strongly advised before upgrading to Vista in case you discover that you have mission-critical applications for which a Vista-compatible version is not yet-available.
Upgrade copies of Vista are currently available via the Microsoft Campus Agreement to:—
Students cannot make use of the Campus Agreement; they can purchase Vista using one of the options detailed on the Microsoft Student Licensing web page.
When Windows Vista is installed from media obtained under volume licensing agreements including the Microsoft Campus Agreement, it must be activated. This is different from volume licence editions of Windows XP and below, which did not require activation. For details, see the Activating Microsoft Windows Operating Systems page for information on activating Windows Vista.
3.1. Sophos Anti-Virus Software
The latest release of Sophos is Vista-compatible and is available to all University members via the software section of the OUCS Self-registration pages.
Version 5 of the Cisco VPN client is Vista-compatible and is available to all University members via the software section of the OUCS Self-registration pages.
3.3. TSM Backup/Archive Client
Version 5.4 or later of the TSM backup client is Vista-compatible - for download details see the TSM Client for Windows web page.
Endnote version 8 or later is largely Vista-compatible. For more information see the Endnote official support pages.
Versions of SPSS prior to version 15 are not Vista-compatible. Version 15 requires patching to make it Vista-compatible - see the SPSS official support pages web page for details (login as username:guest password:guest).
A useful list of Vista compatibilty for a number of other products is available at Liverpool University's web site.