NewsLab

The College of St. Scholastica has recently upgraded its computer hardware.

 CSS Director of Technical Services Lowell Larson coordinates with the IT Department on campus and said that the CSS community has made abrupt changes with the computer hardware on campus.

"This year was much more different because of the introduction to Windows 7,” Larson said. “All the lab and classroom computers were replaced."

Larson said that usually "approximately half of the lab computers are replaced every year on a rotating schedule so that none of the lab computers are more then two years old.”

This is a more cost effective solution than a major upgrade every five years, Larson said.

Some questions may arise as to why the IT department chose to skip the Windows Vista operating system. Larson explained that "there were too many issues with the Vista OS,” and IT chose to run computers licensed for Vista with the XP operating system.

Essentially the computers were of Windows Vista quality but IT chose to use a different operating system. Larson also disclosed information about the introduction of a massive upgrade to the network bandwidth here on campus.

Larson stated that in the near future bandwidth will double what is currently utilized on campus. The bandwidth increase is being installed due to the increasing amount of internet use on campus and by the school’s growing population.

Larson encouraged students to report any problems they have with lab computers to the help desk.

Larson also spoke briefly about Google Mail and the effects it has on the faculty on campus.

"Faculty and staff had the most trouble transitioning to Gmail, but I’m surprised personally by how many people liked it in such a short amount of time,” Larson said.