Backwards compatability

[longdogs]

Hi
I've downloaded ActivInspire, and like it a lot. However, it will be some weeks (months?) before school's software is upgraded from ActivPrimary 3, and in the meantime I can't see how to save an Inspire flipchart so I can use it at school (ie save as a v3 .flp file). Am I doing something wrong or is this not possible?

[Margaret Allen]

Hi

I am sorry to tell you that Inspire is not backwards compatible.....:eek:

Can I just ask why the delay for other upgrading :confused: for the rest of the staff?

[longdogs]

Hi

I am sorry to tell you that Inspire is not backwards compatible.....:eek:
That's a blow, and I'm surprised that it wasn't thought necessary.

Can I just ask why the delay for other upgrading :confused: for the rest of the staff?
Our ICT support and software installation is outsourced to our LEA. They will want to test it first to make sure there are no implications for the rest of the network setup. How long that will take is anyone's guess. Once they're happy with it, we'll then have to wait for a date for them to come and set it all up. There are also training implications for staff, as ActivInspire is sufficiently different to ActivPrimary that whole staff training will be needed before it can be introduced. Finding a suitable slot for that will be another delay. As I said, weeks, probably months. Until I can use ActivInspire at school, I can't do anything with it at home.

What's the position with having ActivPrimary 3 and ActivInspire installed on a windows network at the same time? Can they co-exist?

[Neil Calverley]

What's the position with having ActivPrimary 3 and ActivInspire installed on a windows network at the same time? Can they co-exist?

Yes they should be able to co-exist without any problems.


Neil.

[srchlc]

My district has no plans to upgrade until the summer. I will probably be the only person using Inspire. I make the plans for my subject and grade level so I have to save everything in Studio or my co-teachers won't be able to open anything. I very much wish that studio could open Inspire's charts.

Holli

[atlpaddler]

Thanks for asking this question - this was the very thing I was needing to know as well. I have upgraded one PC but not the one I design on so I could check it out and the first thing I tested was if I could port to ActiveStudio from Inspire as I make the flips for my team. A "save as .flp" would be very welcome. I wll hold off upgrading until the rest of the school is ready I suppose- who knows when :-/

[ryderkate]

I was also wondering why Inspire is not backwards compatible. I was using Inspire for a while but it is too complicated to share resources with others in my school that have not yet upgraded.

[atlpaddler]

I have somewhat worked around this by intsalling the upgrade to a different directory and leaving my ActiveSoftware right where it is. I have both running and it seems to not be an issue. So I can still design and check out flipcharts in ActiveSoftware, but open and use them in ActivInspire. Of course, this will limit you to ActiveSoftware features only, but you can add the features to your personal flipcharts once you open them in Inspire and still share them with your colleagues who have not yet upgraded.

[swvalley]

The question remains - well, two questions I guess.
1 - Why isn't INSPIRE backwards compatible?

2 - Is there any plan to make INSPIRE backwards compatible?


As I have mentioned, our district is in the middle of an Instructional Technology Integration Program (IT2). Each of our teachers is eligible for $1,250 in their June paycheck for "Using Activstudio with students incorporating multimedia and Activotes."

To date, we have 715 (of 1,500) teachers who have been checked off and ALL of this training has been done with Activstudio 3. For us to move to INSPIRE would confuse hundreds of our teachers who have been Activ hesitant (is that an oxymoron?) so I am begging our Instructional Technology team to hold off on INSPIRE as an enterprise solution. That's a lot of money to spend training people only to change the product five months later.
I have suggested that we do offer INSPIRE training next fall, but only to those teachers who have the interest and the tech savvy to go there.

I don't hold any grudges against Promethean for releasing a new version, I'm just bummed at the timing.

[skeletor916]

Thank you for asking this question, it is the same one I had. I also think it a bit strange that it is not backwards compatible. I wouldn't expect ActivStudio V3 to open ActivInspire charts as it is older software, but not having Inspire open Studio charts seem a bit weird. Am I also to understand that Inspire won't open flipcharts from Studio V3? Seems strange that anyone would want to lose all of the .flp resources available because of an upgrade to Inspire, right?

Edit: not to mention any previously saved charts from years prior....

[andyed]

Hi,

Am I also to understand that Inspire won't open flipcharts from Studio V3?

Inspire will open up all V3 flipcharts.

People are asking for V3 to open up Inspire flipcharts. The main problem with this is that V3 does not understand the new objects we have introduced, connectors for example, we would either have to make V3 understand that object or throw it away when you save as .flp

[Margaret Allen]

Because Personal Edition is freely available and therefore is actually independent of any Superintendents/ICTCordinators/LA Advisers etc etc - people can download Personal edition at home and "play" whilst remaining in their comfort zone at school with V3. We know that with some of you there is an issue about who decides when you can upgrade etc, but presumably that is the case of all of you in any school.

Maybe what is not clear is that this is not an "upgrade" this is a new piece of software. In the past we have "added" to the original code and so backwards compatability was feasible....

Gently out of my comfort zone here... but just wanted people to understand that we aren't being awkward - its the way it is! +wave+

[LisaD]

I haven't had any "major" issues opening up my .flp files in ActivInspire.

Lisa

[atlpaddler]

I've had no trouble opening Studio flips in Inspire. The backwards compatibility issue, I believe, is just opening Inspire flips in Studio as many folks design flips for other fraculty who have not yet upgraded and therefore cannot open Inspire dedigned flips.

[swvalley]

many folks design flips for other fraculty who have not yet upgraded ...

Freudian or intentional; those are exactly the folks I work about... the fraculty :)