Daily Bulletin

Wednesday, November 5, 1997

UW will stop supporting Macs

There will be an open meeting Monday to provide more information for people who are faced with shifting from Macs to PCs over the next two or three years. It starts at 12 noon on Monday in Needles Hall room 3001.

Some paragraphs from the statement on "Macintosh Directions and Support" (which appears in full in today's Gazette):

Macintosh computers are no longer a long-term strategic platform for UW. In particular, Macintosh computers will not provide users with full access to the new corporate information systems (Oracle Government Financials, PeopleSoft student administration system, PeopleSoft human resources/payroll system, Cognos decision-support tools); they are unlikely to be supported directly in any institution-wide student computing environment; and, in addition, Information Systems & Technology (IST) must find ways to reduce the complexity for support that diversity creates. In light of the above, UCIST has decided to phase out Macintosh support. . . .

UCIST feels that our strategic direction is towards tighter integration of our computing platforms, and better support for a campus-wide student computing environment. Some Faculties are creating new PC-based labs as the demand for them grows, and they will likely migrate Macintosh labs to PCs in the long term. It is becoming increasingly difficult to continue support for multiple platforms. We must begin to address the complexity caused by diversity. This affects not only IST, but also Faculty and administrative computing facilities.

Windows 95 is almost as user-friendly as the Macintosh, and, with a few exceptions, all software that was previously available only on the Mac is now available for Windows 95. . . .

UCIST does not wish to imply that individuals or departments should immediately replace existing viable Macintosh systems; rather, they should be replaced as part of the normal business cycle in the department. Several administrative and academic areas have begun the transition. The key objective is to ensure an orderly reduction of IST support for Macintoshes.

Signing up for spring courses

All currently registered undergraduate co-operative students intending to enrol in undergraduate programs in May 1998 should preregister November 5-7, 1997. If you are thinking of changing faculties next term, you should contact the appropriate advisor of the faculty to which you wish to transfer. Preregister with your department/faculty advisor. Information regarding advisors, times and places, etc., is listed in the Course Offerings List. Course offerings lists and additional information are available from the department/faculty offices. The 1997/98 Undergraduate Calendars are available from the Office of the Registrar.

And before winter comes fall: the hard-copy version of this term's final exam schedule will be posted Friday, and the exam schedule should be on the Web by November 14.

In search of a graduate dean

Dr. Pat Rowe's second term as Dean of Graduate Studies ends June 30, 1999. Policy 44, The Dean of Graduate Studies, states in section IV.A.3., "a senator of professorial rank from each Faculty, elected by a vote within the Faculty." A reasonable gender balance should be maintained on nominating committees, whenever feasible.

Nominations are requested for the election of one Faculty senator from each Faculty (a total of six) to the Dean of Graduate Studies Nominating Committee. At least three (3) nominators are required in each case. . . .

Nomination forms and further information are available from the University Secretariat at extension 6125. Nominations should be sent to the Chief Returning Officer, Secretariat, Needles Hall, Room 3060, no later than 3:00 p.m., Friday, November 14, 1997. Elections will follow, if necessary.

Notes on Guy Fawkes Day

A sale of surplus UW property, which can include anything from obsolete computers to jewellery from the lost-and-found bins, will be held from 11:30 to 1:30 today at central stores, East Campus Hall.

Susan Birrell of the University of Iowa will speak today on "Ego-Tourism at 29,000 Feet: Everest, May 1996". She's talking about the disastrous expedition that killed eight climbers on the highest mountain in the world -- and that produced a best-selling book, soon to be a TV movie, along with much other media attention. "This presentation," says a note about Birrell's talk, "explores the narratives used to tell the story of Everest. How did the media make cultural sense out of this tragedy?" The talk starts at 1:30 in Matthews Hall room 1633.

An information meeting about the proposed Bell Emergis lab at UW will start at 4 p.m. today in Davis Centre room 1302.

WPIRG presents "Nigeria is Bleeding", a presentation by two dissidents from Nigeria about that country's human rights and environmental situation, tonight at 7 in Student Life Centre room 2139. Elizabeth Akano and Roseline Okosun "will cover various aspects of the situation such as the complicity of Royal Dutch Shell and Shell Canada, the complacency of the international community and the racist aspects of Shell's treatment of African peoples," WPIRG says. The group is also organizing "an information picket of Shell in Waterloo" next Monday. (There's much about the issue on the Web: a Sierra Club protest site, Shell's own site.)

Sarah Klassen appears tonight in the Mennonite Authors Reading Series at Conrad Grebel College. Author of Journey to Yalta, she'll read at 7 p.m. in Grebel's chapel.

Municipal elections across Ontario are to be held Monday. Tomorrow at 1:30 p.m., the Federation of Students hosts a forum (in the great hall of the Student Life Centre) for some of the candidates, those running for mayor of Waterloo and for the Ward 2 city council seat. (Ward 2, "Northwest", is the one that includes the campus itself.) Waterloo voters also get to vote for three people who will sit both on city council and on Waterloo Region council, but candidates for those posts aren't part of tomorrow's forum.

Staff and faculty who have been buying Canada Savings Bonds through payroll deduction can pick them up this month, and some of them are going to the wrong place to do it. In previous years, yes, bonds could be picked up at the cashiers' office; but this year they're at human resources, in the General Services Complex. (Reminder: the HR offices are not open during the noon hour.)

Finally, birthday greetings to Edie Cardwell in the school of urban and regional planning, for whom I'm told today marks a good round number.

CAR

Editor of the Daily Bulletin: Chris Redmond
Information and Public Affairs, University of Waterloo
credmond@uwaterloo.ca -- (519) 888-4567 ext. 3004
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