May 2012 - Physics-Departmental-Computing

Re: [Physics-Departmental-Computing] Mathematica - toy pricing model
by David Colling 04 May '12

04 May '12

In a word "Yes" On 04/05/12 15:15, Julia Sedgbeer wrote: > Hi Dave, > > If we have a department-wide licence, will MSc students be able > to install Mathematica on their own laptops (while they are > registered students)? > > Thanks, > Julia > > On Fri, 4 May 2012, David Colling wrote: > >> Hi All, >> >> Thanks for the input as to who the people are. I have used the info to >> construct a toy pricing model. There are still 4 research students for >> whom I don't have a group and two people who no longer exist (left >> college) so currently these are a tax on the groups which already have >> licenses. >> >> I have taken the DTC and the MSc as separate groups because I guessed >> that they had their own funding somehow. >> >> I have taken the Departmental Contribution to be 20% and the >> contribution from groups that currently don't have any licence to be >> 5% - clearly both of these are arbitrary but not a million miles off I >> would have thought - but finally to be set by Kenny/HoGs. >> >> I have included the deduction that we will get back for the period >> remaining on the current licenses >> >> I have taken the list of groups from our webpages >> >> Anyway, have a look and see if there is anything grossly unfair in it. >> If there isn't I will hand this over Kenny and our job is done (well >> until the first of June when we need to changes license numbers). >> >> >> Best, >> david >>

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Mathematica - toy pricing model
by David Colling 04 May '12

04 May '12

Hi All, Thanks for the input as to who the people are. I have used the info to construct a toy pricing model. There are still 4 research students for whom I don't have a group and two people who no longer exist (left college) so currently these are a tax on the groups which already have licenses. I have taken the DTC and the MSc as separate groups because I guessed that they had their own funding somehow. I have taken the Departmental Contribution to be 20% and the contribution from groups that currently don't have any licence to be 5% - clearly both of these are arbitrary but not a million miles off I would have thought - but finally to be set by Kenny/HoGs. I have included the deduction that we will get back for the period remaining on the current licenses I have taken the list of groups from our webpages Anyway, have a look and see if there is anything grossly unfair in it. If there isn't I will hand this over Kenny and our job is done (well until the first of June when we need to changes license numbers). Best, david

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Mathematica rumbles on
by David Colling 03 May '12

03 May '12

Dear All, I haven't heard from Kenny that the Department is unhappy to bring this forward and so I am continuing in the assumption that they are. I have only had positive responses from the other groups so I suggest that we try to make this work for the 1st of June. I am going to suggest that the cost of the new licence is distributed between the department and the groups according to the following formula: Total Cost= x * departmental contribution + (1-x-y)*Sigma_group(#group/current total)+y*groups with none currently The values of x and y to be decided above my pay grade although obviously y should be close or equal to zero. I don't think that server licenses should be included but that we should count the individual machine and the network increments as the same. Otherwise we look like people who, at the end of the evening, are debating who had a dessert at price a and who had a pudding at price b while ignoring the fact that the whole meal was only £5 4s 6d Attached is the current set of licenses purchased as part of the current agreement. Firstly a big caveat - the ones marked as "Not in college directory anymore" are nearly all PG students. The first time I didn't find a person listed under staff I put this in and then copied it afterwards as most students don't have a group listed. Some do have room numbers but many do not. So PLEASE can you tell me which of these are students in your group. Hopefully we really can get this through by the end of the month. Best, david

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Mathematica - do we want to change the dates?
by David Colling 02 May '12

02 May '12

Dear All, As you know we plan to change over Mathematica licensing when the current license agreement comes to an end. The dat for this is currently 1st of September. However, there have already been people asking for Mathematica on the understanding that it is going get a departmental license - strange how it has now become vital to their research when it wasn't in the past - but I digress. So I have been looking at the option of bringing the date of the switch over forward and have contacted Wolfram and ICT. This is possible and we would get the remaining time on the existing licenses as a discount on the first year's fee. Kenny has agreed that the department will underwrite the new license until the split between the different groups and the department is worked out. So there is no financial reason not to go ahead (assuming that Kenny is happy for us to bring this spend forward). The only down side of this that I can see is that every current user would have to change their license key over in a period of three or four days before the current codes cease to work, but they will have to do this at some point anyway. If people are happy with this then I will see if we can change over on the 1st of June. PLEASE LET ME KNOW IF YOU HAVE ANY THOUGHTS ON THIS. I have asked ICT for a list of the current licenses bought via ICT as input into the breakdown of the cost splitting betweenthe research groups and the department. Best, david

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