Two large software upgrades were installed last weekend for SpartanWeb. According to Jon Albrecht in the IT department, these are routine installments, one of twenty to fifty upgrades every year. This necessity inconvenienced some students, like freshman, Jen Levine.
“It was an inconvenience not being able to access school information.”
Albrecht explained that larger updates such as these are usually done every two to three years but that these installments were so large that it required a whole weekend of shutdown. Most upgrades require a shorter shutdown time and are usually done in the middle of the night or early morning. However, some students don’t seem to notice the shutdowns either way.
“I usually don’t use SpartanWeb, just my school e-mail,” said freshman Samantha Kreloff.
The IT department on campus decided to install these upgrades during one weekend because it minimizes the downtime for users, instead of doing one each weekend. These updates are required in order to make new features useable for the public, which often balances out anyinconvenience incurred by SpartanWeb users during the updates themselves.