In addition to ensuring compliance with governing University policies for the Acceptable Usage of Information Resources, the Registration And Protection Of Endpoints and Systems, and the Sanitization And Disposal Of Information Resources, CUIMC IT can only provide support for specified software programs and operating system versions, many of which are licensed by Columbia University and CUIMC.

General Requirements

• Federal law mandates that operating systems and software must not be used or copied without proper licensing.
• It is up to the user(s) and/or system owner(s) to be sure that software licenses are not used, installed or copied illegally.
  Columbia University as well as individual departments or groups may provide licensed software for use under specific conditions; typically this is only for the duration of the user's active affiliation with Columbia. 
• All third-party software applications that do not process or store information directly on the endpoint must undergo an IT software review prior to use. Please see section II.E. of Endpoint Procedures for full details.

CUIMC IT Support Requirements 

When contacting CUIMC IT Desktop or Service Desk staff for assistance all Computer Use requirements apply in addition to support information listed here.

Support or solutions cannot conflict with University, CUIMC or NYP policies, as well as owning department, group, school, manufacturer, vendor or CUIMC IT requirements and federal, state or local regulations.

• Beta or trial versions of any software or OS are not supported.
• Versions that are end of life are not supported.
  In almost all cases, software that is no longer supported by the vendor is not being reviewed for security risks or receiving patches.
• Recently released programs and versions cannot be immediately supported.
  Verification of compatibility with institutional resources must be performed first and can take an indeterminate length of time. This is due to the wide variety of programs, resources and external vendor procedures regarding availability of source code or other information that is necessary to determine compatibility.
• Proper proof of licensing is required for installation and support.
  • Violation of copyright via illegal installation or use of a program can affect all of those involved. This can include the computer owner, any software user(s), and other parties such as the owning department, computer technician and even the managing institution.
  • CUIMC IT does not hold or provide licensing information and media for software that has been purchased by departments, except for those using Managed Desktop solutions. Individuals or departments should check with their Department Administrator first for licensing information.
  • Information about University site licensed programs can be found on the Software Downloads page. Versions that are not listed on this page do not fall under site licensing.
• Trial, freeware or shareware versions not included in the list of CUIMC IT Standard Software are not supported. Reasons include:
  • Most software programs offered under a trial, free or shared license are not intended for business use, even in an academic setting.
  • Many of these programs have also not gone through a thorough vetting process for compatibility and bug fixes, do not regularly or reliably release security patches, or cannot be guaranteed to have the “staying power” of a program that requires full licensing.
  • CUIMC affiliates are able to select from a number of more thoroughly vetted software programs that often meet the same business or academic purposes.
• Licensing, installation media and related materials for non-standard software must be maintained by the user(s) or owner(s).
  Non-standard software cannot be installed or re-installed by CUIMC IT technicians without the user or their department providing all of the following:
  • Installation files or media:  The file(s) that actually installs the software program must be provided. Once installed, most software cannot simply be copied to another system but must run again from the installation package. This may be on disc, a network drive or other media depending on the method which it was purchased and received by the department or individual.
  • Proof of purchase/licensing: The software must have been properly purchased by the department or owner, and cannot be installed on more systems than what is approved under the original purchase. Licensing and proof of purchase must be available upon demand, and cannot be managed for a department by CUIMC IT.
  • Any required key or registration information: In almost all instances a license or registration key is provided when software is legally obtained. This is typically needed whenever the software is installed or re-installed in order for the program to run.