Quick Summary - What's missing?

[kbenson]

I downloaded ActivInspire this weekend and attended training on it today. Overall, I'm very impressed. Everything seems so much easier to use. I have been waiting for the ActivExpressions to be integrated with my normal flipchart authoring environment (previously ActivStudio) so I'm really excited to see this capability in ActivInspire.

I'm the technology integration teacher for a building that has ActivBoards in every classroom, so I'm pondering how to roll this out. My question is what is missing from this version? So far I know that the following are not present

the ability to search the resource library
page turn effects
ActivMarker.
I can live without #2 and #3 above, but # 1 is a show stopper. I read that #1 should be available in the version due out in July. When/how are others planning to roll out ActivInspire to the rest of their faculty?

[rgrondin]

Insert From Scanner. One of the most productive tools, and one that my novice teachers get excited about. This is a show-stopper for me.

[dkootman]

There are also several other features missing, but I wont go into detail, as its not necessary.
As mentioned above, more features (and bug fixes) should be available as patches/updates come out. Our engineers and product managers are aware of the concerns of our teachers and have been receiving feedback to work with. Please make sure that you have the current version so far by going to Dashboard> Configure>updates

[Louise Chew]

activmarker is there on windows.
You cannot access it through inspire though, go to start/programs/activsoftware/activinspire & activmarker will be an option

[kbenson]

Thanks. It is reassuring to know that Promethean is working on the various missing pieces. I feel more comfortable when I have it in my hands, so that I can proceed with the ActivInspire professional development I have planned for August.

I'm glad ActiMarker is available (even it if not on the dashboard).

[Westlake]

Notes and Pointers
Hilary

[kbenson]

OK. I can live without Notes and Pointers. They are nice but not a show stopper for us.

[itotto]

Speed
At least on a Mac, Inspire starts too slowly, is sluggish to handle, eats up a lot of CPU, resulting in a much reduced battery life on a laptop.

OS integration
This looks like a poor port of a windows software. Also standard OS windows (color chooser e.g.) are no longer used. :mad:

Guide lines
This is meant for good looking presentations - check out what Keynote does!

Graphics quality
PNG display is very weak, :( PDF doesn't show at all. :confused:

Compatibility
There is no export to ActivStudio. Copy/Paste between them does not work.

I wish I hadn't shown my colleagues yet...

Regards,
Torsten Otto

[mr_grumpy]

Speed
At least on a Mac, Inspire starts too slowly, is sluggish to handle, eats up a lot of CPU, resulting in a much reduced battery life on a laptop.

On Linux as well, especially with Text boxes: I start typing, go get a coffee, come back and maybe 20 letters have appeared. (I don't have a hugely fast laptop, though.)

I'm new to the SmartBoards so I don't know what Studio can/can't do. But when I think of things like PowerPoint (horrible as it is) the things I'd like to have are a default slide for each page, and a default heading place holder. There's no sense of themes or so on in the system.

And, I like the resources that come with the system but to make my own really nice ones, seems like a lot of work. So I just live with the soft blue flipcharts that come in the Resources bundle.