University Software Licensing - About Us

The mission of the University Software Licensing (USL) Office is to help provide the University community with needed computer software in the most cost efficient manner possible. To that end, we negotiate with software publishers and resellers and enter into contracts to help reduce the costs of specialty and popular software products.

There are several ways in which software is licensed. Much of the software offered by USL is under what is called a 'site license'. This means an fee is paid for the initial license, annual renewals and maintenance. Under this model, the cost of the software is shared among those departments or individuals using it.

Another common licensing method is 'contractual licensing'. Under this model, the University commits to purchase a given amount of a software publishers product(s) over a set period of time. This allows us to purchase software as orders are received, but at the quantity, discounted price.

University entities can realize dramatic savings through our licensing programs because of the type of contracts and the fact they do not usually involve the retail, 'shrink wrapped' packaging.

For example, an office needing five copies of a product only needs to purchase 5 licenses, one set of installation media, and one documentation set. The savings under this type of program can be up to 60% less than the 'educational pricing' available from resellers.

USL welcomes inquiries from programs and departments and strive to meet individual software licensing needs as they arise.

All of the software sold through the Software Licensing Office is done via Interdepartmental Requisitions and is for FSU owned computing devices only. Software from User Services is not available for sale for personal use.