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Software License

Software License Information

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Many software applications are of sufficient popularity that the University can benefit from economies of scale. NACS for many years has negotiated and managed such bulk and site licenses on behalf of UCI, and as a participant in a UC-wide licensing effort.

Recently, NACS has improved the Web site devoted to communicating to faculty and staff the software packages which can be acquired at a discount or on other special terms.

The web site (http://www.nacs.uci.edu/licenses/) includes general-purpose software licensing information (FAQs, a glossary, and links to UCI servers which distribute licensed software) as well as a new software license database. The database can be browsed by software category, manufacturer, title, and other characteristics, and also provides a free-form search function.

We are very interested in fine-tuning this service to meet the needs of UCI faculty and staff. Please send us your feedback.

Mathematica

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During Spring quarter, faculty, research staff, and graduate students from a number of schools and departments attended a training workshop on the use of Mathematica, a comprehensive symbolic and numerical mathematics software package. The workshop was hosted by NACS and presented by Dr. Hooshang Tahsiri of California State University, Long Beach. With Mathematica, users can perform a single task — like analyzing data or solving a tricky differential equation — or develop an entire solution, prototype, or application.

The workshop coincided with the new, two-year license agreement with Wolfram Research, Inc. for the use of Mathematica at UCI. The software can be installed in computer labs, as well as desktop systems. Faculty who purchase a Mathematica license for their campus computer can, at no additional charge, acquire a license to use Mathematica on their home computer.

Under this agreement, Mathematica can be licensed for any computer owned or leased by the University and installed in a University-owned facility at the UCI campus. There is no distinction between usage for instruction or research. Automatic upgrades, free faculty home-use access, and expanded technical support make this program a good value for UCI. To request more workshops or obtain pricing and information about the latest version of Mathematica, please contact NACS.

UC-Wide Software Licensing

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In order to take advantage of the collective acumen, knowledge, and bargaining power represented by all campuses of the University of California, the Office of the President (UCOP) sponsors a university-wide Advisory Group on “Technical Acquisition Support” (TAS). This group includes representatives of all 9 campuses, the Lawrence Berkeley National Laboratory, Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory, and UCOP. It communicates regularly by a mailing list hosted at UCI, with monthly conference calls. There are also occasional face-to-face meetings, often linked with events such as the annual UC Computing Services Conference (held this past week at UCSD).

The range of computer products and vendors on which the group consults is broad: Apple, Claris, Cisco, Digital, Eudora, Maple,Microsoft, Netscape, Oracle, SAS, Sun, and Sybase, to name a representative sample. There is no special funding for TAS-based acquisitions; rather TAS serves as a forum for determining whether there is adequate interest and funding available on various campuses to make a system-wide agreement feasible for a particular product or with a particular vendor.

News about products currently covered or under consideration for coverage is communicated through the channels most appropriate for the particular product. In many cases, this is via the UCICSCG@UCI.EDU or UCICSCG-INTERNAL@UCI.EDUComputer Support Coordinator mailing lists. Other mailing lists (e.g., UCI-SUN, MS-SELECT, UCI-STAT-SOFTWARE, UCI-SYBASE, etc.) are also used as appropriate. These mailing lists also represent a good way to bring acquisition issues up for discussion at UCI and in the UC TAS process.