| Saturday, June 17
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Purdue offers software discounts for students |
George Wyncott, Jr. said students have the right to purchase computer software at a discounted price, as long as they don't do dumb things with it.
The software information manager for Information Technology Architecture and Emerging Technology said the software is available in the BoilerCopyMaker Center in the Purdue Memorial Union for Purdue students, as long as they don't abuse the privilege.
"Students should not distribute the software to friends and relatives, or use it for anything other than its intended purpose," Wyncott said.
Wyncott said each of these different products are associated with a specific vendor.
"We have a number of different vendors for Purdue computers, as well as individual computers," he said. "Price adjustments will be made sometime this summer (based on the cost of the licenses for the software, physical media cost, maintenance, cost for time and BoilerCopyMaker Center staff wages), but it won't be a whole lot."
The prices for the software are adjusted each year.
Some of the types of software offered include Adobe ($173), Autodesk ($36 to $53), Microsoft Office ($13) and Microsoft Windows XP Pro ($12).
Wyncott said it is a great advantage for students because they are able to use high-powered software at a reasonable cost and gain experience for when they depart from college.
On June 2, the Board of Trustees approved the Microsoft Campus Agreement Renewal, which means that for the next three years, discounted Microsoft products will be available to students.
Wyncott said there are many misconceptions about Microsoft.
"Students assume Bill Gates is doing this out of the kindness of his heart, but the University pays Microsoft over $1 million a year to participate in the program," he said. "The only thing the individual student pays for is the actual cost of getting the software to them."
He also said additional Microsoft products will be available through a different agreement late this summer or in the fall. The prices for Microsoft Student Select, Visio, Encarta, Project and OneNote will be higher because the University does not pay for them upfront, but students will still pay less than the retail price.
Barbara Pitts, software information manager for the contracts and licensing group, said there is also a student loaner segment, which includes SAS, JMP and MAPLE.
These statistical analysis programs are free to students for 24 hours, long enough for them to check them out and download them to their computers.
She said students should know that the loaner segment operation will be moving to South Campus Courts, off of Harrison Street and across from Lynn Hall of Veterinary Medicine, sometime mid-summer.
"There a lot of folks who take advantage of the program and we want to make sure they know it will be in a different location because the current space is needed for some other function," Pitts said.
Both Wyncott and Pitts encourage all students to e-mail their questions to itap-licensing@purdue.edu.
By Andrea Thomas |
posted by ^%&^
@ 8:55 AM
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