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Microsoft

OUCS Online Shop

A range of Microsoft products are available centrally via the OUCS online shop. In particular university staff who have an existing MS Windows license can obtain a free upgrade license to newer versions of MS Windows although there is a small charge for the installation media.

Kivuto / On The Hub

Under the terms of the Microsoft work at home agreement generally only staff are covered and each person is only allowed one copy of a given piece of software (for installation on a single machine).

As of November 2012 a further option has been introduced which allows staff and students to purchase Microsoft Office and operating systems under the terms of Microsoft’s work at home licensing. Payment is via credit card or PayPal.

Any request for support in relation to this deal need to be directed to support [-at-] kivuto [dot] com or toll free in the UK at 0800 098 8436.

Students

For students this is currently in a trial phase from 6/11/2012 - 6/12/2012 and for a further month at the start of Hilary Term 2013.

The offer is a 3 year subscription which means students get the current office (2010 for Windows, 2011 for Mac) and will get any new versions released in that three year window so long as they are a student. When they finish being a student they are allowed to keep the copy they have forever, but will have no more upgrade rights.

To purchase this software visit http://ox.ac.onthehub.com and use your university single sign on account details.

Staff

These versions are considerably cheaper than the student versions but don’t have any upgrade assurance period and MUST be removed from machines if employment with the University ends. You are just entitled to one copy of each although the university has been assured by its Microsoft partner that that one copy can be in addition to one you may have had from the online shop for work at home.

To purchase this software visit http://ox.ac.onthehub.com and use your university single sign on account details.

Dreamspark, Ultimate Steal and Express

Students may find it useful to look at the software available free at the Microsoft DreamSpark and discounted software available at the Microsoft Ultimate Steal.

Microsoft also offer Express versions of some products that are free to anyone (rather than just students although they are also listed on the DreamSpark site for students).

Dreamspark Premium (formerly Microsoft Developer Network Academic Alliance (MSDNAA))

A departmental subscription, running until 31/12/2012, to the Microspoft Dreamspark Premium (formerly Microsoft Developers Network Academic Alliance) is also available. Microsoft state Dreamspark Premium has two primary goals:

  • To make it easier and less expensive for academic institutions to obtain Microsoft developer tools, platforms, and servers for instructional and research purposes.
  • To build a community of instructors who can share curriculum and other learning resources to support the use of these technologies.

In order to download the Dreamspark Premium software you need to visit the Mathematical Institute Dreamspark Premium Software Center. If you are not already logged in to the departmental website, you will be redirected to a login dialog where you login with your usual maths credentials. Note that logging out of the Software Center does not (!) log you out of the Maths Website, which needs to be done separately (unfortunately Microsoft does not offer a feature to redirect back to our page on logout).

You should also first review the MSDNAA usage guidance and MSDNAA end user license agreement. In particular you may prefer to obtain software via the OUCS shop etc in some cases where a more general license exists. Note in particular the license restrictions include:

  • As a departmental license only formal members of the Mathematical Institute (i.e. staff employed through the department and students enrolled through the department on a formal course) may have access to software under this agreement.
  • The tools and technologies provided through the subscription may be used exclusively for academic instruction, academic projects, and non-commercial research only.
  • Department, Faculty, or Staff members who are not directly involved with teaching involving the Dreamspark Premium products may not install the software on their personal computers.
  • All users of software provided through Dreamspark Premium are prohibited from using the software for commercial purposes.
  • Microsoft Windows may only be installed to facilitate the use of other Dreamspark Premium software and technologies such as Microsoft Visual Studio for instruction or research - i.e. you cannot use Dreamspark Premium simply as a means of upgrading you MS Windows Operating system unless you are also using other Dreamspark Premium software for development, teaching or research work.
  • One user may install and use copies of the software to design, develop, test and demonstrate your programs. Testing does not include staging on a server in a production environment, such as loading content prior to production use.Your end users may access the software to perform acceptance tests on your programs.

Microsoft Examples of Acceptable Instructional and Research Use

A department may use the software and technologies provided by Dreamspark Premium to teach or conduct research on the concepts or theory behind the following:

  • Operating systems, using Windows client or server operating systems
  • Database structures and database administration, using Microsoft SQL Server
  • Programming languages and algorithms, using Visual Studio
  • Messaging or collaboration, using Exchange Server
  • E-commerce applications, using Commerce Server and/or Microsoft BizTalk Server
Last updated by Keith A. Gillow on Thu, 08/11/2012 - 12:37pm.
This page is maintained by Keith A. Gillow. Please use the contact form for feedback and comments.