Students make heavy use of online software catalog

Students from throughout UW System and the Wisconsin Technical College System schools ordered more than 2,000 software products in the opening days of the Wisconsin Integrated Software Catalog (WISC).

WISC is an innovative Web site that features online purchasing of a variety of software products licensed for the UW and WTCS. The first products available through WISC are from a Microsoft site license arranged by UW System.

The license, called the Microsoft Custom Enterprise Agreement, enables departments and students to obtain many of the latest Microsoft products at a fraction of the normal academic price. MS Office 2000 Premium Edition is $30. All other products are $25 each. Similar licenses for Corel WordPerfect Office 2000, Apple OS 9, Filemaker Pro, and other popular software vendors are also being pursued.

The license agreements do not require members of the UW campuses or WTCS to use the products.

The Microsoft license agreement covers the next three years, with an option to renew for a fourth year. Microsoft products included in the agreement are Windows 98 upgrade, Office 2000 Premium Edition, Office 98 Macintosh Edition, FrontPage for the Macintosh, Windows NT 4 upgrade, Visual Studio Professional and a limited number of additional infrastructure licenses including all upgrades over the contract life. Distribution of all products began Nov. 10.