SUBJECT:

Administrative Computing Recommendations

Over the past few months I have received numerous requests from campus
departments for ACT's recommendations regarding personal computer hardware
and software for administrative computing purposes.

Given the decentralized nature of the campus and the wide variety of our
computing needs, it is not necessarily desirable or possible to impose
common standards. However, since there seems to be significant interest, I
have decided to send out this message with the understanding that the
specifics mentioned henceforth should be regarded only as general
recommendations and should be evaluated based on individual departmental
and user needs (e.g., this message does not address the Macintosh
environment.)

Given all these caveats :) we currently recommend the following:

DESKTOP HARDWARE:   Pentium processor (166MMX MHz or higher)
              with 64MB RAM, 4GB+ Disk drive, 17" monitor
OPERATING SYSTEM:   Windows 95 or Windows NT Workstation 4.0
E-MAIL:          Eudora Pro (or other popmail system such
              as Outlook)
WEB BROWSER:      Netscape Communicator 4.0 or Internet Explorer
4.0 WORD PROCESSOR:   Word 97
SPREADSHEET:      Excel 97

These recommendations are intended for those of you who are planning for
upgrades or acquisition of new computers. Existing hardware and software
with older or lower-powered systems may work just fine with UCSD
applications.

It should be noted that our recommendations will surely change over time
given the rapid evolution/mutation of the technology. Therefore, we will
do our best to issue periodic revisions to this notice.

I hope that you will find this message useful for your planning purposes.
If you have any questions, please feel free to contact me at my
eharel@ucsd.edu email address.

Thank you.

Elazar C. Harel Assistant Vice Chancellor - Administrative Computing & Telecommunications (ACT)