Using Brown Software
CIS can provide software acquisition and support services for you and your Department. The sections below contain information about acquiring various types of software, software entitlement, and known software issues. CIS also offers software support and hardware support for both Windows and Mac.
Software Acquisition
Departmental - If your department is interested in purchasing software, we can coordinate the software license purchase and distribution for you. If you do not see the type of software you need from the links provided on this page, please email Software_Services at Brown.edu for assistance.
CIS can assist departments to collaboratively acquire and distribute specialized applications. Our goal is to pool multi-departmental software purchases where practical, negotiate discounts and reduce departmental costs.
Individual - Individual software purchases can be made through resellers such as Dell, Brown Computer Store or other retailers.
A description of the general types of Brown University software licenses is available here.
Downloadable Software
Faculty, Staff and Students - Brown University provides more than 150 software titles to Brown students, faculty and staff at no charge. A complete list of software is available on the Software Distribution web page.
Known Issues
Off-Campus Use/VPN
All Brown software may be accessed using the VPN. Please be aware that extremely large software packages will take a long time to download over VPN.
CIS will investigate the cause of problems and seek possible solutions. Please notify the Brown Help Desk at 863-HELP (email: help at brown.edu) if any of our downloadable software fails to perform satisfactorily while using the VPN.
Access/Entitlement
Access to Microsoft Office software is limited to Brown faculty and staff only. Eligibility for Microsoft Enrollment for Education Solutions (EES) software is detailed in the Microsoft section below.
ArcGIS
ArcGIS is limited to download by Brown faculty and staff only and must be installed on Brown-owned computers. Students may use this software in Brown University public computing clusters and labs on campus.
FileMaker Pro Software: Upgrade Considerations
- TCP/IP should be used be used for sharing databases.
- Before upgrading, be sure to back up your databases.
Join the FileMaker Users' Group by visiting: http://listserv.brown.edu/archives/filemaker-l.html and clicking on "Join or Leave the List..." You will be prompted to create a unique Listserv password that you will use to login along with your email address.
Microsoft Software
Faculty and Staff: Microsoft EES Software - The EES Agreement is an annual licensing program for higher education institutions. Brown University's agreement covers faculty and staff who are employed by Brown University only. Hospital-based faculty and staff may not be eligible. Some software titles covered under the EES include Windows XP Professional, Office for Windows and Macintosh, Publisher and Virtual PC. Please see our Microsoft EES program details for further information.
Faculty and Staff: Microsoft Select Plus Software - Most Microsoft products are available for purchase at significant discount under the Select Plus program. Examples include Project, Visio, and Windows Server. Please see our Microsoft Select Plus program details for further information.
Students: Microsoft Student Software - Some Microsoft products are available for purchase at significant discount through the Microsoft Student Store and e-Academy. Examples include Office and Windows. Please see our Student Software page for further information.
Microsoft Office
CIS SUPPORTS Microsoft Office primary applications (Excel, PowerPoint and Word) and provides INSTALLATION ONLY SUPPORT for secondary applications (Access, InfoPath, OneNote and Publisher). Office is available to paid faculty and staff on the Software Distribution web page.
Problems?
If you have problems downloading, installing or using any CIS web-distributed software, please contact the Help Desk by calling 863-HELP (4357) or by emailing Help at Brown.edu.