We also have to look at the cost and compatibility of our mainframe and operating system upgrades in order to come up with total cost of ownership. The grading feature would be available by December. The Portal Committee is working on a proposal that lays out benefits and costs of portal implementations at different levels. Desktop Computing John Roussell and Randy Miller will work with Dan Crozier on desktop issues for this year. They will investigate the hardware, maintenance and overall total cost of ownership.
Computers are now available which are wired for management and help desk support.
With these a help desk person can actually see the desktop of the person calling in. This brings up sensitivity issues of someone being able to access a machine and the variety of reactions this could bring. However, software exists where the computer user would have to push a button to give the staff access to the desktop. Eventually, we may even have network storage of data rather than having data sit on someone's individual machine. This would make the desktop machines replaceable as a plug and go situation.