http://computer.howstuffworks.com/spam.htm

This site is a good resource for information on how computers work. Articles include how the Internet works, how computer viruses work, how Web browsers work, and so on.

Stephen G. Landry, Ph.D.

"Exploring Literary Texts Through Virtual Worlds", by Mary Zedeck, Instructional Designer in the TLT Center, presented SHU faculty's use of the virtual world, Second Life. During the presentation Mary Balkun, Chair of the English Department, joined the conference from South Orange via Second Life.

"Storage and Server Virtualization at Seton Hall University", by Matthew Stevenson, IT Architect, explored how Seton Hall University was able to consolidate servers and storage to reduce costs and improve the management of a wide variety of applications through the use of virtualization, that is, running many different operating systems and applications on a single server or storage array.

In the past day we've seen a significant increase in the volume of spam that has come through the BlueCat Networks anti-spam appliance. University IT Services is working with BlueCat Networks to update the systems database to prevent this spam from coming through in the future.

Stephen Landry, CIO

With this upgrade, PC Support Services is now able to activate the printers recently installed in the A&S Hall Public Computer Lab and the Nursing Lab. These printers will be on line following the Easter Break. PC Support Services also plans to increase the number of printers in the Information Commons in Walsh Library to six (from the current four), ensuring users can easily and quickly print during peak times (late afternoon and early evening).

Each of these products has some significant differences from the current Microsoft Windows XP operating system and the Microsoft Office 2003 productivity suite.

Sophomores who have preregistered for the fall semester can pick up their new laptop or tablet PC before they leave for the summer.

Read all about the specifications of the laptop and tablet PC after the jump

Complete details regarding the University's Banner Project can be found at: http://www.shu.edu/project-banner/

The MS PowerPoint presentation outlining the status of the Banner Project and the technology infrastructure upgrades planned for the near future can be downloaded at: Download file

NOTE: This is a MS PowerPoint 2007 document. If you have MS Office 2003, you will need the MS Office compatibility pack for MS Office 2003 in order to open this document.

As the University plans to move to Microsoft Vista this summer, I've noticed the supposed stronger Digital Rights Management (DRM) of Vista may have some interesting unintended consequences. I use several subscription services for digital content, including Ruckus for music and Amazon Unbox for video. It seems that users of Vista sometimes find that content from these legal pay services conflict with one another. Microsoft's suggested solution is to delete all the licenses for the DRM protected content from your computer and renew the licenses. (See, for example, the article "Clearing DRM Store on Vista" in the Ruckus FAQ.)

But this is not as simple as it sounds. Many subscription services and pay sites won't simply renew the license for content I've paid for in the past. There are, of course, many programs out there that will strip the DRM from my content, but that would technically be illegal. The MPAA and RIAA should look at me as an ideal customer. I want legal content, and I pay for it from multiple sources. Is it so hard for the MPAA, RIAA, Microsoft, Ruckus, Amazon, and other subscription services to get together figure out how to make all my legally obtained (and paid for) content work? Has anyone else felt like the MPAA and RIAA's campaigns to ratchet up the use and enforcement of DRM may have the unintended consequence of driving users like me to strip the DRM from my legal content in order to make it work?

Steve Landry, CIO, Seton Hall University

Seton Hall University's IT services have been largely based on two systems: the Blackboard portal system to consolidate services and information for IT users at SHU, and the Lotus Notes email system. While these systems were state-of-the-art when implemented a decade ago, over the past few years these technologies have been overtaken by competitors. The University's new Banner administrative system provides the University greater opportunities to seamlessly incorporate institutional data and processes with our portal, messaging, and calendaring systems. To support the integration of the University's administrative system, portal, and email systems the University is piloting the implementation of the Banner portal system, called Banner Luminis, and the Microsoft Exchange email and calendar system. This pilot will give the University valuable feedback in how to support these new systems. If these pilot projects are successful, it is expected that the Banner Luminis portal and Microsoft Exchange email will be rolled out to the University community in August.

The DHCP servers are a crucial component of the campus network. They provide a unique Internet address (known as an IP address) to every computer whenever you log in to the campus network. This upgrade is one further step toward University IT Services' goal of providing redundant servers for key IT services, ensuring that service will not be interrupted in the event one server is down.

A team from Seton Hall University is attending the at Educause Learning Initiative (ELI) 2008 Annual Conference beginning today in San Antonio, TX.

Teams from Seton Hall University are presenting at the 2008 Educause Mid Atlantic Regional Conference (MARC) beginning today in Baltimore, MD.