Phase 6: Completion

The deployment of the "Open Area - Mac OS X Only" configuration in the various labs has yielded critical operational and maintenance information as well as valuable user feedback. Both have raised issues regarding our deployment that must be addressed before the transition to Mac OS X can be considered complete.

First and foremost has been Hard Disk Maintenance. Radmind has proven to be an effective tool in maintaining all of our OS X machines. Before we can complete the transition, however, the transcripts used to guide its operation must be restructured and streamlined. This will simplify the process of installing updates and minimize the effect of any mistakes made during these updates.

In addition, while the number of OS X native applications is rapidly increasing, it is not yet sufficient enough to replicate the wide variety that is available in the current Mac OS 9.x environment. The availability of native software is vitally important before the OS 9.x environment can be retired as we are not installing Classic. Users of our open area OS X machines have already expressed mild frustration that certain applications, that have yet to be ported over, are not available.

At some point, we would still like to offer patrons full authentication services including roaming home directories & disk space and print accounting. This is not as critical as the other issues and may be made available once the transition is complete.

Timeframe - The current plan calls for the completion of the deployment with the possible exception of authentication services by early 2003.