The Universally Available and Maintained Software Subcommittee proposed
the following
as a CTAG recommendation. CTAG adopted the recommendation, subject to the
addition
of cost information (see below) on May 24, 2000:
Recommendation:
That the College acquire the following software to be installed on all
College public-access
computers, and on all departmental and faculty/staff computers where its
use is appropriate
and requested. Further, that within the software categories listed,
technical support staff concentrate on providing top-quality support for
the recommended
software rather than on supporting alternative packages. Finally, that CIT
monitor
adoption of this software suite and its success at streamlining
communication between
computer users, and at streamlining software support and purchasing,
recommending
changes as necessary.
Category
: Office Productivity.
Recommendation
: Microsoft Office.
Rationale:
Word processing, at least, will be used by almost everyone on campus;
other office
tools (spreadsheets, presentation software) are less widely used but come
as part
of most if not all office packages. High use means there will be high
dollar costs
to equipping everyone, and high support costs to helping them all; adopting
a single package
rather than several alternatives concentrates purchasing power for the best
deals,
and focuses technical support people to serve large numbers of users.
Microsoft Office
is the overwhelming favorite among current users on campus, and is
certainly technically
ample.
Cost:
$28,050, estimated as the current cost of acquiring 427 PC licenses
(Office Pro 2000)
and 267 Macintosh licenses (Office 98).
Category
: Web Browsing.
Recommendation
: Netscape and Internet Explorer.
Rationale:
Web browsers are also heavily used on campus. Netscape is the strong
favorite, but
Internet Explorer has a following. These are the only two contenders in
terms of
ongoing support from manufacturer and ability to handle a full range of Web
content.
Cost:
Free.
Category
: E-Mail.
Recommendation
: Eudora, Outlook Express, and Netscape Mail.
Rationale:
These three e-mail packages account for almost all current use at Geneseo.
All "speak"
the protocols needed at Geneseo, and have on-going support from their
manufacturer.
Cost:
Free.
Category
: Virus Protection.
Recommendation
: Norton Antivirus.
Rationale:
Virus protection needs to be aggressively kept up to date, dictating a
single package
that can be centrally administered, rather than several alternatives. An
earlier
CTAG recommendation dealt with other elements of virus protection in
detail.
Cost:
$10,000 to $20,000 (per earlier CTAG recommendation).
Discussion:
This recommendation establishes an initial suite of universally available
and maintained
software for the College. This recommendation is based on nearly unanimous
support
for universally available and maintained software in a College-wide survey
conducted by CTAG.
CTAG recommends a small initial suite, to allow the College to gain
experience defining
and using universally available and maintained software before committing
to a more
ambitious suite. However, we do expect the suite to evolve as the College
gains that experience, and we specifically expect "evolution" to include
adding new categories
of software. Software that may soon be appropriate to add includes
calendar/appointment
management, database, Web authoring, and remote login.
In defining this suite, we considered it from three primary points of
view: popularity
of particular packages (i.e.
, likelihood they would really be used universally), technical features,
and cost.
Information about the popularity of software categories as well as of
individual
packages came from the survey mentioned above. We suggest that future
evolution of
the suite similarly consider all three points of view, and software
preferences of a broad
range of users.
Finally, we note that "universally available and maintained" does not mean exclusively available and maintained -- there will always be individuals or groups that need software other than what is in the suite, and it is not in the College's interest to prevent them from using such software. If several groups need similar software, many of the benefits of universal availability and maintenance (e.g. , volume purchasing, wide-spread installation, experienced support staff) can be achieved if those groups work together to define a package or small number of packages that meet their needs and that CIT can support. We suggest that CIT actively try to identify such groups and bring them together.