Software Distribution

Microsoft Campus License
SPU maintains an annual subscription for popular Microsoft products under the Microsoft Campus License Agreement program. SPU faculty, staff and students are all covered under this agreement, which provides licensing for professional versions of Microsoft Windows, Office (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Outlook, Access, Publisher) and Visual Studio software products.

Current students can install this software on their primary personal computer (a desktop or a laptop), plus if they have a second computer that they personally own and use, they may also install the software on that device.

Current faculty and staff are covered under "work-at-home-rights" for this software and can install it on personally owned computers that they use for SPU educational or business purpuses. Use the "80/20" rule to determine use patterns (80% of the use should be for institutional purposes).

Under this agreement licensees are authorized to "install and use" the software. The University makes the software media (the actual software code) available in several ways. Faculty, staff or students may purchase one copy per version of each product in the form of a CD, or they may use the SPU Download Center to obtain some of the Microsoft products over the network.

SPU currently provides Microsoft products for purchase to current students, faculty, and staff members. CDs for Windows Vista Ultimate ($20), Office 2007 for Windows, Office 2008 for Mac, and Visual Studio.Net 2005 ($30) are available for purchase at the CIS HelpDesk. The price is $15 per title (unless otherwise noted above), limit one title per person. Please do not lose your disks as they are not replaceable. Payment options consist of cash or check only - no debit or credit. Please be prepared to present your student, faculty, or staff ID card at the time of purchase.

Some Microsoft software is also available as an installable archive through the SPU Download Center. Items available through this site do not come with physical media and are limited to two downloads of each program per person. Currently Microsoft Office 2007 Professional and Microsoft Office 2008 for Mac are available from the SPU Download Center. Other Microsoft titles must be purchased in CD format from the CIS HelpDesk.

We generally distribute the most current versions of each product. When new versions are released it may take several weeks before official Microsoft media is available for resale or downlaod.

Microsoft Office 2007 Professional
Office 2007 includes Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook and Publisher. This software will upgrade previously installed versions to the current release. If you have a 60 or 90-day trial that came with your computer you will need to uninstall it before installing the SPU licensed copy. This license allows for installation on two personally owned computers – a laptop and a desktop.

Microsoft Office Mac 2008 Professional
Office 2008 for Macintosh includes Word, Excel, Entourage, Powerpoint and Virtual PC. Previous versions, including trial copies, must be removed before installation.

Microsoft Windows Vista Ultimate
Windows Vista Ultimate is the most complete edition of Windows Vista. With all of the built in features in Ultimate, users have the ability to smoothly shift between play and productivity. We recommend that users do a clean install on a computer that meets the minimum specifications required by Microsoft.

Visual Studio 2008
Visual Studio is an integrated development environment for Windows platforms. The current version supports C, C++, C#, J# and Visual Basic. This software is only recommended for Computer Science students.

Remove duplicate or trial versions of Office and Visual Studio before trying to install the SPU licensed versions. We recommend that you perform an clean install to Windows Vista Ultimate when installing the SPU licensed versions.

The CD versions of these products have an activation code that must be used as part of the installation process. You are allowed to install the software on up to two, personally owned and used computers. At times it may be necessary to reformat your hard-drive or purchase a new computer that will require a new activation code. You must contact Microsoft Technical Support at 1-888-571-2048 for assistance with the product activation codes.

After installing any of these new products it is recommended to your immediately go to the Microsoft Update Site to make sure all of the patches and updates are installed.

Accounts and Passwords ( user credentials to log in to the SPU Download Center)