Ryerson students can download Microsoft Office 365 ProPlus for free now.
Initially, Microsoft had estimated that the suite would be available to Ryerson students by last December, but the implementation was still unresolved even until earlier this year.
The issue was that Ryerson University did not have a security and privacy agreement with Microsoft, like it does with Google, according to Brian Lesser, the university’s chief information officer. Unlike other universities like Queen’s University, McGill University and the University of Toronto, Ryerson does not use Microsoft as its email provider; hence the lack of an agreement.
If Ryerson students want to use the MS Office Suite for free, they need to accept Microsoft’s terms of use.
(Courtesy of Microsoft Office)
Office 365 ProPlus includes the frequently used Word, PowerPoint, Excel and Outlook, and has a limited OneDrive storage of 1 TB. According to PC Ninja, a website that helps “solve all computer problems and fulfill computer needs,” 1 TB can contain around 310,000 photos and 17,000 hours of music playing.
According to a 2011 study in the Journal of Computer Science and Technology, colleges and universities are breeding grounds for software piracy.
In the previous post regarding the MS Office Suite, a Ryerson engineering student said that “at this day and age I think basically everyone I know, including me, has an illegal version of Word and PowerPoint on their Macbook.” The student did not want to be named for legal reasons.
Free access to the suite has been available since Aug. 10 and students can use the programs until graduation or is no longer enrolled at the school.
A timid turtle that loves sweets, she loves broadcast and has experience in digital. She was recently a writer for W Dish.
