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<font style="font-family:'Courier New';font-size:10pt;">It has only just
occurred to me (a little late) that just about every<br>
type of interactive whiteboard has its own software system. And<br>
subsequently different file formats. (My main experience is limited to<br>
one vendor, so please correct me if there are vendors where this is<br>
not the case). The vendor our school uses (promethean) encourage<br>
sharing of resources through their website, and I assume others would<br>
as well, as the more resources are shared, the more the boards will<br>
get used, and the more demand there will be for them. But if someone<br>
using a smartboard has made a great resource and shared it, I can't<br>
use it on my activboard due to the proprietary file format - at least<br>
the promethean activstudio software doesn't let you run it on<br>
non-promethean boards. This makes for a great business strategy, but<br>
ends up disadvantaging the teachers who want to share more widely, and<br>
so is bad for the students.<p>
So, my questions are:<br>
1) Are there any IWB vendors that do _not_ lock you into their<br>
software/file format - i.e. the file format is open, and/or the<br>
software is compatible with any IWB?<br>
2) Is there any open-source IWB software, and if not, what are the key<br>
features that would be useful in such? Are there any similar programs<br>
that could be appropriated/modified for the task?<p>
vik<p>
<p>
</font><font style="font-family:'Arial';font-size:10pt;">What about
PowerPoint?? I realised you're still locked into a file format. At least it's a
more common/familiar one. It's not as slick or dynamic as the 'Smart' etc
software, but you can annotate in slideshow mode - 03 & 07 versions (which
I don't think the OpenOffice equivalent can do just yet), and you can embed
video and flash animations. Then if you need to resize or move something you
just flick back into edit mode.<p>
<p>
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