November 26, 2012 – REMINDER: In September 2012, SPSS de-supported SPSS 18; therefore, version 18 will be removed from the license server on December 31, 2012. Please make plans to transition to a newer version, 19, 20, or 21, by this date and back-up your data.  You may request a newer version by sending a request to the OIT Service Desk at itsd@ua.edu.  Users are encouraged to register at http://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/support/ for access to the SPSS Knowledgebase and other technical resources.  If you have questions regarding the decommissioning of SPSS 18, please email OIT Software Licensing.

The Office of Information Technology and the College of Commerce and Business Administration are pleased to announce a new enterprise agreement for SAS Education Analytic Suite (SAS).  SAS is now available to academic departments, faculty, staff, and students on personal and university-owned machines for teaching and research purposes at no charge to the end user.  Simply login to the download site, accept the terms and conditions, and download the software to your machine.  More information, as well as a link to the download site, can be found at http://oit.ua.edu/oit/services/software-licensing/sas/.

 

October 18, 2012 – SPSS 21 is now available for use on University-owned computers for teaching and research purposes only.  To request the upgrade, please e-mail the OIT Service Desk at itsd@ua.edu.  If you require an administrative license, please contact OIT Software Licensing at software.licensing@ua.edu.

In September 2012, SPSS de-supported SPSS 18; therefore, version 18 will be removed from the license server on December 31, 2012. Please make plans to transition to a newer version, 19, 20, or 21, by this date and back-up your data.  You may request a newer version by sending a request to the OIT Service Desk at itsd@ua.edu.  Users are encouraged to register at http://www-01.ibm.com/software/analytics/support/ for access to the SPSS Knowledgebase and other technical resources.  If you have questions regarding the decommissioning of SPSS 18, please email OIT Software Licensing.

Newly enrolled departments participating in the Adobe Acrobat TSL are now eligible to install Adobe Acrobat XI Pro on university-owned faculty/staff and computer lab machines.  All participating departments are eligible to upgrade from version X to XI.  Please note that due to the only recent availability, OIT has not finished testing the compatibility of Acrobat Pro XI with other applications.  Any known issues will be posted as our Known Issues blog as the information becomes available.

•  If your department is a past participant and already has the software installed and running, no action is required unless you would like to request the upgrade.  To request the upgrade, please follow the instructions for your college or department provided below.

•  If your department is a new participant, please follow the instructions below to request the software:

• Departments with OIT desktop support – Please enter an IT Service Desk ticket by emailing your request for Adobe Acrobat Pro XI to itsd@ua.edu.  Your OIT support tech will contact you to coordinate installation.

• Departments with non-OIT desktop support – Please contact your IT Administrator.  IT Administrators can request the media and keys by emailing the IT Service Desk at itsd@ua.edu.  The IT Service Desk will verify your department’s participation and then contact you when the media is available for pickup.

 

Advancement – The upgrade will be managed by OIT in coordination with the Advancement Services IT group.  Users will be contacted prior to installation and should not enter an OIT Service Desk request.

Arts & Sciences – The upgrade will be managed by the OIT in coordination with eTech.  Users will be contacted prior to installation and should not enter an OIT Service Desk request.

Athletics – The upgrade will be managed by the Athletics IT Office.  Please direct any questions or service requests to the Athletics IT Help Desk, or call 348-3645.

C&BA – To request the upgrade, please follow normal procedures for C&BA technology requests.

CCHS – The upgrade will be managed by the OIT in coordination with the CCHS IT group.  Users will be contacted prior to installation and should not enter an OIT Service Desk request.

Communication & Information Sciences – To request the upgrade, please follow normal procedures for CCIS technology requests.

Continuing Studies –The upgrade will be managed by the CCS IT staff.

Education – The upgrade will be managed by Education Technology Support Services.  Education users should call 348-2445 to schedule the upgrade.

Engineering – Please send an e-mail to the IT Service Desk at itsd@ua.edu requesting the upgrade.

Nursing – The upgrade will be managed by the Nursing IT group.  Please direct any questions to Thomas Little.

Social Work – The upgrade will be managed by the OIT in coordination with the Dean’s office.  Users will be contacted prior to installation and should not enter an OIT Service Desk request.

Financial Affairs - To request the upgrade, please follow normal procedures for Financial Affairs technology requests.

All others – Please send an e-mail to the IT Service Desk at itsd@ua.edu requesting the upgrade or contact your technical support group.  You will be contacted by a technician to schedule the installation.

 

For more information about the Adobe Acrobat TSL, please visit http://oit.ua.edu/oit/services/software-licensing/acrobat-pro/.

For a list of participating departments, please visit http://oit.ua.edu/wp-content/uploads/2010/09/Adobe-TSL-Participants-2013.pdf

Microsoft will release Windows 8 on October 26, 2012. OIT has been testing this version for compatibility and has found that there are a number of significant issues with software commonly used on the UA campus. Device drivers are also not yet available for many of the printers and other devices we commonly use. For those reasons, we are advising all faculty and staff to not perform Windows 8 upgrades or to purchase computers with Windows 8 installed at this time. OIT will continue testing and advise when this version of the Windows OS can be used without major issues in the UA environment.  Further details will be published on the OIT Known Issues blog as they become available.

October 10, 2012 – The University maintains a campus-wide agreement for the workstation management tool, Faronics Deep Freeze.  Licenses for Deep Freeze are now offered to all departments for use on University-owned or leased machines at no charge.  For more information about Deep Freeze, please visit the OIT Software Catalog.  To request Deep Freeze, please contact the technical support group for your area. If your technical support is provided by OIT, please email your request to the IT Service Desk.

Many of you have heard about the release of Adobe Acrobat XI.  Please know that we cannot order the new version until October 15.  For term site license (TSL) subscribers, I will notify you when the upgrade is available.

August 28, 2012 – The current Adobe Term Site License (TSL) for Adobe Acrobat Pro will expire in October.  Please follow the instructions provided below to renew or enroll your department in the Adobe TSL.  Participation in this agreement provides a non-perpetual, subscription-based license for the latest version of Adobe Acrobat Pro that can be installed on university-owned machines in participating departments.

Each participating department must complete the enrollment process no later than end of business on Friday, September 28, 2012.  The form will be available beginning Monday, September 10, 2012. To learn about the enrollment process and to access the enrollment form, visit the Adobe TSL Renewal (link removed) page.  Detailed information regarding the Adobe TSL can be found on the Adobe Acrobat Pro X page of the OIT Software Licensing web site.

June 22, 2012 – AutoCAD 2013 and other Autodesk 2013 products that are part of the Autodesk Master Education Suite are now available.  For information on licensing fees and how to obtain, please see the AutoCAD 2013 entry in the Software Catalog.

SPSS 20 is now available for use on University-owned computers.  You may request the new version by sending a request to the OIT Service Desk at itsd@ua.edu. For information regarding the University’s SPSS license agreement, please visit the SPSS 20 entry in OIT’s online software catalog.