Free Microsoft Software - Microsoft Campus Agreement Extended
Campus Notes
Free Microsoft Software - Microsoft Campus Agreement Extended
The University of Arizona BookStores and the Office of the CIO have signed a one-year extension of the University’s Microsoft Campus Agreement (MCA), which provides free software for UA departmental servers, faculty, staff, and students. The new agreement, funded by the Office of the CIO and administered by UA BookStores, will be in effect July 1, 2015–June 30, 2016.
Under the new MCA, the faculty, staff, and server options remain similar to the initial agreement, however the student option has been modified, based on new offerings from Microsoft.
The University’s new Microsoft agreement includes the following:
Windows 10 operating system (OS) will be provided free to all current Windows 7 and 8.1 users who upgrade within a year of Windows 10 becoming available. Students may obtain their free Windows 10 upgrades directly from Microsoft.
The new MCA Student Advantage Program provides Office 365 Education, a cloud-based, online service that allows creation, editing, and sharing of documents on up to 5 PCs or Macs and other mobile devices including Android, iPad®, and Windows tablets. This program is available to all currently enrolled students, and may be used as long as the student is enrolled at the University of Arizona.
Major product releases, upgrades, and normal patching occur automatically via Office 365 for Education.
Students have access to free eLearning tutorials through the IT Academy.
Faculty and staff have access to the latest versions of Mac and PC Office Professional Plus, MS Visio, and MS Project, as well as access to IT Academy.
Faculty and staff are eligible for low-cost copies of Office for home use in addition to free Office 365 accounts.
Both Office Professional Plus and Office 365 Education deliver the same application experiences. However, Office Professional Plus is installed on a computer or desktop and Office 365 Education is an online subscription - accessible anywhere from nearly any device.
The MCA includes Core Enterprise Server products for all campus servers, and ability to purchase SQL and Systems Center server products for all campus servers at discount rates.
RESOURCES:
Information about eligibility and download details is available at the Arizona BookStores License Agreement webpages.
Faculty/Staff/Server:
http://uabookstores.arizona.edu/campuslicensing/staff/default.asp
Student:
http://uabookstore.arizona.edu/technology/campuslicensing/default.asp
More information about free and low-cost software available to the campus community is located at http://softwarelicense.arizona.edu.
For technical support or questions, please contact the 24/7 IT Support Center at (520) 626-TECH (8324) or go to 247.arizona.edu.
Michele Norin
Vice President for Information Technology and
Chief Information Officer
University of Arizona
Debby Shively
Executive Director
University of Arizona BookStores