Introduction

Welcome to the web site for the Higher Education Mac OS X Lab Deployment Initiative. Our goal is to simplify the task of installing and maintaining Mac OS X in a computer lab. We will find and document solutions to a host of challenges that commonly arise when deploying labs in a higher education environment. The result will be a roadmap for others to use as they plan to roll out Mac OS X at their institutions.

This web site serves as the primary means of communication and collaboration among those working on the project. We will also use the web site to publish the information we learn to others who are interested in the same set of topics.

Our project and web site are focused solely on deploying labs. If you're looking for more general information, see Apple's Mac OS X web site, www.apple.com/macosx/. To learn about the many advantages of Mac OS X in a Higher Education environment, see www.apple.com/education/hed/macosx/.

What's new?

The What's New page lists all changes to this web site along with project updates.

The next live webcast will take place Tuesday, October 26th, 2004 and will cover Wireless Security. A description has been posted on the Upcoming WebCast page.

Our last WebCast took place Tuesday September 21, 2004, and covered ADmitMac. It will be made available for on-demand viewing.

The FileWave WebCast from August is now available for on-demand viewing.

An extensive white paper on Mac OS X Application Management is available for immediate download. Topics include: licensing models, security considerations, reviewing and tracking of installations, missing Mac OS X applications and features, distribution tools, and deployment and distribution solutions.

RsyncX v2.1 is available on our RsyncX page.

Macosxlabs project t-shirts, mugs, mouse pads, lunchboxs and baseball caps are available at Cafe Shops.

New and updated articles from the Documentation section are listed here. We are looking for people to contribute documentation to the Mac OS X Lab project. If you are interested see above web page for details.

Why Mac OS X?

We're excited about Mac OS X and the benefits it brings to Mac lab administrators. For a discussion of why, see the Why Mac OS X section.

Who are we?

The team is composed of lab administrators from 25 higher education institutions. Representatives from Apple are also contributing significant technical assistance toward the project. See the About Us and Participants sections for more information.

What's a lab?

In the context of this project, a "lab" is a room with five or more university-owned, networked computers that share a common configuration. We will deploy pilot labs to test the deployment strategies we develop.

What are the topics?

We started the project by creating a list of topics that need to be addressed before we can deploy Mac OS X in a lab environment. For example, many institutions need to restrict who can use the computers or place limits on how much can be printed.

What have we learned so far?

We've learned a lot already and have begun to add that information to this web site. We have a good start at documentation, we have a database of our favorite tools for lab deployment, and the Resources section has a large list of books, mailing lists, and web sites where you can learn more.

How to get involved...

We often hear from people who are interested in participating in the project. We have no public mailing lists since there are already several good lists devoted to lab management. Instead, we've created a web-based discussion forum that's open to the public. Feel free to visit the forum and browse the rest of this web site using the navigation tabs on the left. If you have any questions or comments, please let us know by using the Contact Us page. Thanks!