Everette Mills's questions

Background: I am part of a team that provides volunteer tech support to a local non profit. We are in the position to obtain a grant to update almost all of our computers (many of them 5 to 7 year old machines running XP), provide laptops for users that need them, etc.

We are considering switching our users from PC (WinXP) to Macs. The technical aspects of switching will not be an issue for the team. We are in the process of planning data conversions, machine setup, server changes, etc regardless of whether we switch to Macs or much newer PCs.

About 1/4 of the staff uses or has access to a Mac at home, these users already understand the basics of using the equipment. We have another set of (generally younger) users that are technically savvy and while slightly inconvenienced and slowed for a few days should be able to switch over quickly. Finally, several members of the staff are older and have many issues using there computers today. We think in the long run switching to Macs may provide a better user experience, fewer IT headaches, and more effective use of computers.

The questions we have is what resources and training (webpages, Books, online training materials or online courses) do you recommend that we provide to users to enable the switchover to happen smoothly. Especially, with a focus on providing different levels of training and support to users with different skill levels.

If you have done this in your own organization, what steps were successful, what areas were less successful?

I am working (volunteering) with a small non profit that currently has 7 desktop computers and 4 laptops. I am facing a new problem and not sure how to proceed.

This non profit has a number of guest users/visitors, which would like to connect to the wifi network to be able to get internet access, but they dont want an "open" wifi access point. They want user level authentication.

Here are the basic requirements:

1. Each user would be given a user name (preferably there email) and password
2. The secretary of the organization can easily add or remove users to the list; this is to facilitate guest users as they arrive and level.
3. Employees dont have to login to the system, they are automatically logged in.

I know how to create a secure system that uses certificates to auto login the employees, but what system do people recommend to manage guest access to the wifi network? With the critical point being the user management has to be drop dead simple!