Software, Hardware and Education Deals

SOAS Software licenced for home use - Software available at educational discount - freely available software - Hardware discounts - hardware maintenance - staff loan scheme

This page contains information about hardware and software deals available to you either free of charge or at a discount.

SOAS-licenced software

You must log in before you can access the SOAS-licenced software on this page: log in here

Software available at educational discount

Arrangements have been made for you to purchase the following software at discounted educational prices, for which you need to contact the vendor:

Title	Operating system	Description	Vendor
Microsoft	Windows	Office Pro, Visio, OneNote, Project	http://www.studentoptions.com/
EndNote	Windows, Macintosh	A Reference and bibliography manager for essay and thesis writing that integrates with Word. SOAS has EndNote installed on its computers but if you want a copy for use on your own computer you must buy an educational licence. Forms are available from the Computer Support Desk, room 103.	EndNote Web site
Macromedia Studio 8	Windows, Macintosh	Dreamweaver Web site editor, Flash interactive media creator, and Fireworks Web image creator for £80	http://www.macromedia.com/uk/resources/education/

Freely available software

We have tried the following freely available software and found it to perform well. You may find it useful for your own work:

Title	Operating system	Description	Vendor
Firefox	Windows, Macintosh OS-X and Linux	Web browser	http://www.mozilla.org/
Thunderbird	Windows, Macintosh OS-X and Linux	email client supporting POP3 and IMAP protocols	http://www.mozilla.org/products/thunderbird/
Cyberduck	Macintosh OS-X	FTP and SFTP file browser and copier	http://cyberduck.ch/
WinSCP	Windows	SFTP file browser and copier	http://winscp.net/eng/index.php
Open Office	Windows, Linux, Macintosh, Solaris, FreeBSD	An excellent set of Office applications - documents, spreadsheets, presentations	http://www.openoffice.org/
Audacity	Windows, Linux, Mac OS-X and Classic	An audio editor that also rips MP3	http://sourceforge.net/projects/audacity
The GIMP	Windows, Linux, Mac OS-X	Image manipulation program. Not as powerful as Photoshop, but it is free	http://www.gimp.org/

Hardware discounts

Staff and students can obtain educational discount on hardware and software purchases from local suppliers on production of their SOAS ID card. Staff can purchase from SOAS suppliers Dell and Apple for their personal use at the same prices as the School. Contact the IT Department Executive Officer on 4980 for further details.

If you want to buy a laptop computer, try Dell. There are also special HE prices for Hi-Grade laptops.

Hardware maintenance

SOAS IT Department does not support non-SOAS equipment, but UK Higher Education has appointed Xenon as its approved hardware maintainer. Staff and students can take out a maintenance contract on their IT hardware under the same deal. See the Xenon Web site for details or contact Louise Hill with enquiries.

Loan scheme

Staff can apply to the School for an interest-free loan towards the purchase of a computer - contact the Payroll section, phone: 5040, for further details on the Scheme.