Software Support Review

Software Support Review

When you request software that IT hasn't supported before, we can review the application to add it to our supported list. The software review might seem a bit more intense than a process that might be used for a home computer because we have to ensure compatibility, compliance and security for our campus enterprise environment. Here's what we do for software review:

  • We make sure the software doesn't compromise security. We don't want clients getting viruses from sketchy download sources.
  • We make sure software is legal. Licensing is a royal pain. Sometimes, software is licensed for free, but only for "home users". Just because you can download something for free doesn't mean it's legal to use it enterprise-wide at a university.
  • We make sure software plays nice with other stuff on the computer (ensure compatibility with the image). We have a whole lot of other stuff on our computers and we make sure new stuff doesn't break the old stuff (compatibility conflicts).
  • We make sure we support certain standards; we don't want to install eight different antivirus programs around campus, but rather one that works for everyone. The same is true for word processing, spreadsheets, presentation software, etc.

We always do our best to get this review done quickly, but it can take up to 90 days sometimes, depending on the software, the scope of the install, and our workload. Please plan ahead to make sure that we can support the software you need when you need it!