P. Baehler presented the latest CERN Windows roadmap.  He also demonstrated  how CERN tools could be run on a W7 machine, with past and present versions available either directly or in a compatibility mode.
S. Haas said that the users should be presented with a recommendation on whether to update to Windows 7 or not as many tools were still not officially supported by the vendors.  It was proposed that ELEC could make a request to extend IT XP support if absolutely necessary.

J. Evans raised the issue of running FPGA-vendor supplied third-party tools.  Many vendors would supply OEM versions of software e.g. Synplify, Precision that would run only with a particular FPGA tool version and with the vendors’ devices.  It was almost impossible to guarantee that these legacy versions could be run in the future as the required licences often were no longer delivered by the FPGA vendors.  He suggested that only fully supported tool versions be used so as to try and avoid future difficulties.