Sep 30

Microsoft has released updated information for ASU customers concerning the Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac volume license. Thanks to Shelly Sexton from Microsoft and Jon Finley from ASU for forwarding the information to the ASUMAC group:

We have a lot of confusion around which version of Office for Macintosh will be available for our VL customers in October. This should help clear things up.

Office 2008 for MAC Business edition is a retail product and will not be available to VL customers. The features and functionality WILL be rolled into Office for MAC R2 that will be available via the MVLS site for VL customers.

For the Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition content, the Volume Licensing (VL) customers do have/will have access to all of the bits, but it won’t show as an additional or new SKU to what they see today. The only thing that is not being released in VL, that does come in the Business Edition FPP box, is the coupon promoting the 30-day trial of the Business Productivity Online Suite (BPOS) that is available to VL customers today.

Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition in retail includes 2 discs:

Disc 1 – “Office 2008 for Mac” (now with SP2) includes:
Word 2008
Excel 2008
PowerPoint 2008
Entourage 2008
Messenger for Mac 7
Document Connection (access to SharePoint and Office Live Workspace)

Disc 2 – “Office 2008 for Mac Business Edition Extras” includes:
Entourage 2008, Web Services Edition
Remote Desktop Connection 2
7-hours of training from Lynda.com on disc
An installer that provides a new set of business-focused templates and clipart

For VL, we slipstreamed the recently released SP2 bits (equal to Disc 1) into the channel, and we added the Extras disc content (Disc 2) into the existing VL offering as well, so any of our existing VL customers and/or new customers will get all of the Business Edition content. The VL offering is still named Office 2008 for Mac, and it still retains the same SKU number. The 2nd disc will appear as Office 2008 for Mac Extras starting on 10/1. Customers can access the content through their MVLS account.

Sep 10

For those of you starting to deploy the latest version of Mac OS X, Snow Leopard, one of the reasons to hold back is how 10.6 will work with existing software. An online listing of compatible software is available, which may help determine if this is the correct time to deploy Mac OS X version 10.6:

http://snowleopard.wikidot.com/

Sep 09

The September 2009 ASUMAC meeting will feature a presentation by Apple Engineer Al Teran. Apple will be on campus to show and discuss the release of Mac OS X Snow Leopard (10.6). Come see what is new for the latest version of Mac OS X Client and Server. More info about Snow Leopard can be found on Apple’s site:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/

This months meeting will be held on the 15th of September at 10:00 am in Computing Commons 120. The meeting will also be online via the Adobe Connect/Breeze meeting service:

http://breezemeeting.asu.edu/asumac

Hope to see you there.

Sep 02

The MaxFixIt site, a site dedicated to offering help with all things Mac related, is now part of the CNET family. Whether or not you agree CNET offers pertinent information, the best new feature is the cost to access the information: free. MacFixIt archives were once available only to paid subscribers, but now the CNET acquisition allows MacFixIt content to be available to everyone with Internet access.

More info can be found on the CNET site:

http://reviews.cnet.com/macfixit/?tag=bc

Aug 25

Apple has announced Mac OS X 10.6, better known as Snow Leopard, will be available Friday, August 28, 2009. The latest version of the Mac OS X “cat” line is more of an update than a major upgrade, but is expected to help fine tune the existing 10.5 or “Leopard” Mac OS X version running on most of the Macs in production today. Please note Mac OS X 10.6 is intended for Intel based Mac laptops and desktops. If your Mac is PowerPC based (G4 or G5), the Mac OS X 10.6 installation will not work on the PowerPC based laptop or desktop.

More information about Snow Leopard can be found on the Apple, Inc. site:

http://www.apple.com/macosx/

http://www.apple.com/macosx/specs.html

Information concerning the installation of Snow Leopard can be found on the Macworld site:

http://www.macworld.com/article/142454/2009/08/install_snow_leopard.html

Aug 17

The August ASUMAC general meeting scheduled for Tuesday, August 18th in Computing Commons room 120 has been canceled. The next scheduled ASUMAC general meeting will be Tuesday, September 15, 2009.

Jul 07

The June 2009 ASUMAC meeting featured a presentation by Parallels National Channel Manager Jason Krilich. Jason discussed Parallels virtualization technology solutions for the Mac from the desktop to the data center, and how Parallels can be used to promote sustainability, reduce cost, increase efficiency and provide Windows only solutions to the ASU Mac community. Please click on the link below to view the video hosted on Vimeo:

ASUMAC General Meeting, June 16, 2009 on Vimeo.

More info about Parallels can be found at:

http://www.parallels.com/

(A special thanks to Jemal Leonard from Biodesign IT Services (BITS) for putting this video together for the ASUMAC site)

Jun 08

Unless you avoided your web browser today and/or TV news shows, you know the World Wide Developers Conference (WWDC) opened today in San Francisco. The traditional keynote address, without the traditional Steve Jobs welcome, was covered by numerous news outlets and blogs. For more info concerning the latest and greatest offerings from the folks based in Cupertino, CA, please check out a few of the well-known links covering the event:

Apple Developer Connection
Apple,Inc.
Mac Rumors
Apple Insider
MacWorld keynote coverage
Engadget WWDC coverage
Gizmodo WWDC 2009 coverage

Jun 04

Parallels – Desktop to Data Center

This months ASUMAC meeting will feature a presentation by Parallels National Channel Manager Jason Krilich. Jason will be on campus to discuss Parallels virtualization technology solutions for the Mac from the desktop to the data center, and how Parallels can be used to promote sustainability, reduce cost, increase efficiency and provide Windows only solutions to the ASU Mac community. Apple Engineer Al Teran and Higher Ed Account Executive Jeff Wolf will be on hand to help answer questions and provide information.

This months meeting will be held on the 16th of June at 10:00 am in Computing Commons 120. A video of the meeting will be posted on the ASUMAC site after the meeting is complete.

Hope to see you there.

May 18

Please note there will be no ASUMAC general meetings scheduled for May and July 2009 in CPCOM 120. The next two scheduled ASUMAC meetings will be held Tuesday, June 16th, 2009 and Tuesday, August 18th, 2009 in CPCOM 120.