By Kristina Jarvis
Ryerson has launched new virtual applications to allow students access to programs they need for school off campus.
“Instead of creating a bottleneck [in limited access], you can access the applications from anywhere,” said CCS manager of technical support, Intel group, Larry Lemieux.
The virtual applications program, which began as a pilot project in March, allows students to access Microsoft Office 2007, and several Adobe programs like Dreamweaver and PhotoShop, in addition to math simulators Maple and Matlab.
The program was created by US-based company Citrix, who specializes in virtual-based applications. Ryerson students have to download the Citrix client to access the virtual software.
Stephen Marsland, a field sales manager at Citrix, said that the program was designed to be “lean” and easy for students to use.
“It’s similar to cable TV,” Marsland says. “It gives them the flexibility to do their work anywhere, and they are able to access it anywhere.”
While the university said it is only available for Microsoft systems, Marsland said students can obtain the Mac version from the Citrix website.
While the university has launched an awareness campaign with lighted billboards in the Library many students said they haven’t heard of the offer and some said they wouldn’t use it anyway.
“I wouldn’t use it because I have other sources of applications,” said Ahron Train, a first-year computer engineering student.
— with files from Samantha Martin
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