Union College Supported Software and Hardware
Information Technology Services has standard computer configurations that are supplied to faculty and academic staff. There is a choice of platform (Windows or Macintosh) and form factor (desktop or laptop). If a laptop is chosen, there are additional policies that must be followed. A copy of the current Laptop Policy may be found here.
Supported E-mail Clients
The College e-mail servers run Microsoft Exchange, which provides Calendar, Contacts, Tasks, and other functions in addition to e-mail. Your e-mail messages and other data remain on the server until you explicitly move them to your local computer or delete them (and empty the Deleted Items). The benefit to this is that you will see the same e-mail messages regardless of where you access your e-mail (office, home or other locations).
ITS recommends that you use Microsoft Outlook or Microsoft Entourage as your e-mail client. We also support Apple's Mail program. For accessing your e-mail through the web (for example, while traveling) we recommend using Outlook Web Access which can be accessed through any web browser at http://umail.union.edu.
Additionally, our mail system supports IMAP clients (Eudora, Thunderbird, Outlook Express, etc.). Please realize, however, that ITS doesn't support these programs which is why we recommend you use one of the other programs mentioned above. If you decide to use an unsupported program, please recognize that ITS cannot provide help for an unsupported program. We will gladly help you move from an unsupported client to a supported client.
A comparison of the capabilities of the various supported e-mail clients is shown below:
Microsoft Outlook |
Microsoft Entourage |
Apple Mac Mail |
Outlook Web Access |
|
| Connection Type | exchange |
exchange |
IMAP |
web browser |
| Maintains Calendar on Server | Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Maintains Contacts on Server | Yes |
Yes |
No |
Yes |
| Maintains Tasks on Server | Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Maintains Notes on Server | Yes |
No |
No |
Yes |
| Uses Global Address List | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Archiving capabilities to Local Computer | Yes |
Yes |
yes |
No |
| Shows Mailbox Size | Yes |
No |
yes |
Yes |
| Junk Mail Filtering | Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
Yes |
| Operating System | Windows |
Macintosh |
Macintosh |
Both |
Supported Software Information
Technology Services makes many software applications available to the Union College community. Most of this software is installed in public computer facilities maintained by ITS. Much of this software can also be installed on other, College-owned computers.
Because the College can't afford to purchase licenses for every faculty, staff and student, ITS sometimes enforces licensing limits using network license servers which are generally only accessible from on-campus or via VPN.
If you have questions about software applications that are not listed on this page, please contact ITS at 388-6293 or send email to the ITS Help Desk requesting information.
The software is organized by general type of application:
| Program Name | Description |
Compatibility |
Licensing |
| Acrobat | Create, exit, and read PFD files |
Windows/Macintosh |
purchase individual license |
| Access | Database |
Windows |
campus agreement |
| Excel | Data analysis; spreadsheet |
Windows |
campus agreement |
| PowerPoint | Presentation |
Windows/Macintosh |
campus agreement |
| Publisher | Desktop publishing |
Windows |
campus agreement |
| Word | Word processing |
Windows/Macintosh |
campus agreement |
| Program Name | Description |
Compatibility |
Licensing |
| VirusScan | Anti-virus software |
Windows |
campus agreement |
| Virex | Anti-virus software |
Macintosh |
campus agreement |
| Windows Defender | Anti-spyware software |
Windows |
freeware |
| Program Name | Description |
Compatibility |
Licensing |
| Entourage | E-mail client |
Macintosh |
campus agreement |
| Mac Mail | E-mail client |
Macintosh |
included in operating system |
| Outlook | E-mail client |
Windows |
campus agreement |
| Program Name | Description |
Compatibility |
Licensing |
| Mac SFTP | Secure FTP |
Macintosh |
campus agreement |
| Mozilla FireFox | Web browser |
Windows/Macintosh |
freeware |
| Internet Explorer | Web browser |
Windows |
included in operating system |
| Secure SSH | Secure Telnet and FTP |
Windows |
campus agreement |
| Safari | Web browser |
Macintosh |
included in operating system |
| Program Name | Description |
Compatibility |
Licensing |
| ArcGIS | Analyze geographic data; create maps |
Windows |
purchase individual license |
| eViews | Econometric analysis |
Windows |
purchase individual license |
| Excel | Data analysis; spreadsheet |
Windows/Macintosh |
campus agreement |
| Mathematica | Mathematical modeling; numerical analysis |
Windows/Macintosh/Linux |
campus agreement |
| MATLAB | Mathematical and computational analysis |
Windows |
campus agreement |
| SAS | Statistical analysis |
Windows |
campus agreement |
| SPSS | Statistical analysis |
Windows |
campus agreement |
| Program Name | Description |
Compatibility |
Licensing |
| Audacity | Audio editing |
Windows/Macintosh |
freeware |
| Garageband | Music creation |
Macintosh |
included in operating system |
| iDVD | DVD creation |
Macintosh |
included in operating system |
| iMovie | Video editing |
Macintosh |
included in operating system |
| Pinnacle Studio | Video editing and DVD creation |
Windows |
purchase individual license |
| Photoshop | Image editing |
Windows/Macintosh |
purchase individual license |
| Photoshop Elements | Image editing |
Windows/Macintosh |
purchase individual license |
| Program Name | Description |
Compatibility |
Licensing |
| QuickTime | Audio and video player |
Windows/Macintosh |
freeware |
| Windows Media Player | Audio and video player |
Windows |
included in operating system |
| iTunes | Audio and video player |
Windows/Macintosh |
freeware |