Licences

Policy, licence types and costs

A lot of software can only be used (either within the University or at home) if a licence is purchased for it. The University of Groningen aims to standardize software packages and dovetail with existing software with the same functionality as much as possible.

The Software Advisory Board [Softwarekamer], which issues advice on software-related matters, has compiled a basic UWP software package.

Faculties and departments that wish to purchase or phase out software that is not part of the basic package must always contact the CIT Servicedesk. The requeste will then check with the Software Advisory Board whether the software can be purchased or phased out University-wide. The faculty or department will decide if the request for the desired software should be made available via the RUG network.

Installing illegal software on University systems is not permitted Users of illegal software are personally responsible for its installation and/or use.

It is also forbidden to violate the software and copyright licensing conditions that apply to the software and data installed on the University computer systems. In addition, it is not permitted to access or distribute software or data without permission from the copyright owner of the relevant software or data. Software use at the UWP workstations is monitored. More information about the rules with regard to using the University computer systems can be found in the University of Groningen Acceptable Use Policy (AUP) .

Licence types

• Campus licence
  A licence for University-wide use of a software package. Advice about purchase, extension and phasing out is provided by the Software Advisory Board. The University of Groningen Management Council is responsible for decision-making with regard to payment of campus licences.

• Faculty/group licence
  A licence for the use of software by a specifically defined group. Advice and decision-making with regard to purchase, extension and phasing out is the responsibility of the relevant faculty or department.

• Individual/single user licence
  A licence for the use of software by individual people. Advice and decision-making with regard to purchase, extension and phasing out is the responsibility of the relevant of the faculty or department.

• Trial licence
  A trial software licence is a licence to a functionally limited version of commercial software application (‘payware’), which can usually be freely distributed by the licensee. Trial licences can usually be used for a limited number of hours. Software with a trial licence may not be used in production environments, and CIT will therefore not offer such applications via the UWP menu.

• Freeware / open source
  Freeware and free software/open source are two different categories. The rights included in freeware are strongly limited compared to those of free software/open source. Whereas users of free software/open source can make changes to the software, freeware only means that the software is free of charge and can be freely distributed – freeware may not be changed. This type of software can be requested via the standard request procedure for Software.

Costs

• Campus licences
  The licence fees for software purchased University-wide on the recommendation of the Software Advisory Board are paid by the Software Fund. Costs for making software available via the RUG network are paid from the central budget.

• Faculty and individual licences
  The fees for faculty and individual software licences are charged to the relevant faculty or department of the basis of the actual costs. In addition, CIT charges the costs for making the software available via the RUG network to the relevant faculty or department based on an offer.