Licensing

Information Technology

It is very important that all computer users be aware of software licensing laws and the requirements of the University in this regard. The penalty, under law, for using unlicensed software is a substantial PERSONAL as well as corporate fine for EACH instance.

The software utilised by staff of ACU falls under one of five possible categories and it is the responsibility of all users to ensure that valid licensing arrangements have been undertaken in each instance. The categories are defined below. Please check your computer for compliance under each category and contact Help Desk on 7272 if you need any assistance or clarification.

1. Operating Systems

   All computers purchased by faculties or departments must have a valid licence for the installed operating system. This MUST be part of the initial purchase process but if not, please contact ITCS via Help Desk for assistance in acquiring a full retail licence which will be charged to your School/Unit. Also, please seek assistance if you wish to upgrade your existing operating system (e.g. upgrade from Win 98 to Win XP).

   
   
   
2. University Standard Software (SOE)

   The Information Technology and Communications Services keeps control of licensing for the ?standard? University software set and under the Mircosoft Campus agreement, certain software programs may be installed with no further licensing arrangements required by departments or faculties. The software covered by this agreement includes:

   • MS-Office Professional (Word, Excel, Outlook, Access PowerPoint, FrontPage)
   • VStudio.Net Professional Edition
   • Windows 32-bit Operating System Upgrade (win2000, XP)
   • Publisher

   Other Software in ACU's SOE include:

   • Lotus Notes * 
   • SPSS *
   • InoculateIT (Anti-Virus) ** 

   * This software is also available for staff members to load at home.

   **Inoculate is not available for staff to load at home under the current licencing agreement.
   
   
3. Other Allowable Software

   Some other software may be installed on campus machines if it is shareware or freeware, such as:

   • Netscape
   • WS-FTP95
   
   
   
4. Other Commercial Software

   Where faculties/departments require any additional software, it is the responsibility of the faculty/department to purchase the software and manage the licences.

   If a Faculty/department requires assistance in loading software for which ITCS doesn't have a site licence, ITCS will need to view the licence before our staff can assist with the installation of the non standard software.

   If you load any other commercial software onto your computer, you must be able to produce a licence for the software upon request (for audit purposes). The Head of School or Unit Manager is responsible for ensuring that a license is held on file for any software loaded on the school/unit?s computers, which is not covered by the campus agreement, above

   
   
   
5. Pirate / Unlicensed Software & Fonts

   It is very important that all computer users be aware of software licensing laws and the requirements of the University in this regard. The penalty, under law, for using unlicensed software is a substantial PERSONAL as well as corporate fine for EACH instance.

   For more information on software piracy:

   • What is Software Piracy?
   • Business Software Association of Australia
   • for specific software concerns, contact the software manufacturer.

   Fonts are software, too. In fact, each font is a short software program. Fonts are protected under intellectual property law and are subject to the same legal usage restrictions as other software.

   It is illegal to do the following:

   • Share or copy fonts beyond what the license agreement allows
   • Include a font copy with source files for output

   If you have unlicensed commercial software on your computer you have 3 alternatives:

   • Purchase a licence for the software (you are entitled to "academic versions")
   • Remove the software
   • Contact ITCS to remove the software for you.