UW System has negotiated a three-year license for Microsoft products, which includes “Work at Home Rights” for some faculty and staff of the University.
Who is eligible for Work at Home Rights?
Only permanent faculty and staff who are assigned or share a campus computer in their office are eligible for Work at Home rights. Ad-hoc or adjunct faculty and limited term employees (LTE's) are not eligible.
What does “Work at Home Rights” mean?
“Work at Home Rights” means that you may use the software on your home computer only for purposes related to your work as a UW employee. Under this program, you do not actually own a license for the software on your home computer. You only have work at home rights to some of those products that you have installed on the computer in your office. If you leave the employment of the University you no longer have the right to use the software and must delete it from your home computer. Also, at the end of the contract period, if the UW does not extend the license, you will no longer have the right to retain the software on your own computer and will need to de-install it.
Who pays? What is available? What does it cost?
Departments must pay for the CD sets from departmental funds. Ownership of the CD sets stays with the University, and they must be returned or destroyed when you leave the employ of the University. Listed below are the costs for the CD sets:
Office 2008 for Macintosh (Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Entourage) $ 8.00
Office 2007 Enterprise for Windows (Word, Excel, Access, PowerPoint, Outlook, Publisher) $8.00
Expression Web V2.0 for Windows $8.00
Project Professional 2007 for Windows $ 8.00
Visio Professional 2007 for Windows $ 8.00
What can I use the Microsoft products at home for?
Work at Home Rights only allow you to use the Microsoft products for work related to your job at the University. You cannot use the products for non-work purposes. You cannot allow other family members to use the Microsoft products.
What if I want to use Microsoft products for non-work related purposes?
You cannot use Microsoft products obtained under the work at home rights agreement for non-work related purposes. To be able to use Microsoft products for non-work related purposes, you need to purchase your own license and media for the products you want to install. Microsoft offers special academic pricing for some of their products, such as Office. Academically priced software is available locally through retail outlets including Best Buy, Connecting Point, or Office Max. Software is also available through the Wisconsin Integrated Software Catalog (WISC) site at http://wiscsoftware.wisc.edu/wisc/ (select the Faculty/Staff (Personal Sales) link. These academic licensed products allow you to do any non-commercial work on your home computer.
What are the system requirements to run the products?
Each software product has its own requirements. Most of the products will require at least Windows ME, 2000, or XP for the PC versions and MAC OS X for the Macintosh versions. These packages will not run on Windows 95, 98, or NT. For exact requirements for each package, you can use the Microsoft web site ( http://www.microsoft.com/products/info). From this page, select the particular product and navigate to links generally named “system requirements”.
What about Windows operating system upgrades?
The license agreement with Microsoft does not include work at home rights for operating system upgrades such as Windows 2000 or XP. Although these products are for sale from the WISC software site, they are only for departmental use on University owned computers. These Windows operating system upgrade CD sets cannot be used to upgrade personally owned computers. Since the Windows operating system is installed by CIT as part of the annual rollout process, departments would have little or no reason to purchase Windows operating system upgrade CD sets.
What about Microsoft software CD sets for sale on the UW-Madison WISC (Wisconsin Integrated Software Catalog) site?
Although Microsoft product CD sets are for sale from the WISC software site, they are only for departmental use on University owned computers. These products cannot be used to upgrade personally owned computers. Since Microsoft products are installed by CIT as part of the annual rollout process, departments have no reason to purchase Microsoft product CD sets from the WISC site.
How do I acquire the software?
The following procedure should be followed for ordering CD sets for the Microsoft products:
1. Faculty/staff fill out the Request Form, initial and sign the agreement, and submit it to their Department Chair/Director.
2. The Chair/Director approves the funding for the orders and submits the order to their Program Assistant.
3. The Program Assistant fills out the funding codes for the order and submits it to the Information Services Division (ISD) Office, CL 730.
What if I need technical assistance?
Information Services staff are not authorized to work on or provide advice for computers owned by faculty and staff. You can find information on system requirements, installation instructions and basic trouble-shooting documents on the wisc website.
More Questions??? If you have additional questions about the Microsoft “Work at Home Rights” contract please contact David Kieper, Ext. 2238, or email kieperd@uwgb.edu.