[Opensource] Re: Interactive Whiteboard software lock-in

[Cameron Bell]

Good find Vik,
I find it amazing that a Government Dept has the foresight to think 
beyond the next tender and looks at the requirements of all stakeholders 
rather than mandating one supported model. Well done BECTA.
I can just see Ultranet being rolled out over budget, over time and 
Microsoft only or some other proprietary model. (Sigh)
Cameron

victor rajewski wrote:
> Have gone some way to answering my own question:
> http://www.rmap.com.au/web/This-is-RM/Media-Centre/?item=23
>
> On Tue, Mar 11, 2008 at 9:56 AM, victor rajewski <askvictor at gmail.com> wrote:
>   
>> It has only just occurred to me (a little late) that just about every
>>  type of interactive whiteboard has its own software system. And
>>  subsequently different file formats. (My main experience is limited to
>>  one vendor, so please correct me if there are vendors where this is
>>  not the case). The vendor our school uses (promethean) encourage
>>  sharing of resources through their website, and I assume others would
>>  as well, as the more resources are shared, the more the boards will
>>  get used, and the more demand there will be for them. But if someone
>>  using a smartboard has made a great resource and shared it, I can't
>>  use it on my activboard due to the proprietary file format - at least
>>  the promethean activstudio software doesn't let you run it on
>>  non-promethean boards. This makes for a great business strategy, but
>>  ends up disadvantaging the teachers who want to share more widely, and
>>  so is bad for the students.
>>
>>  So, my questions are:
>>  1) Are there any IWB vendors that do _not_ lock you into their
>>  software/file format - i.e. the file format is open, and/or the
>>  software is compatible with any IWB?
>>  2) Is there any open-source IWB software, and if not, what are the key
>>  features that would be useful in such? Are there any similar programs
>>  that could be appropriated/modified for the task?
>>
>>  vik
>>
>>     
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