What "must-haves" did you see at BETT?

[enjay]

I was impressed by the Casio projector - didn't notice the LG one though, does anyone have details of it?

Also, somehow missed the EduGeek stand, which was careless of me. I thought I'd at least walked past everyone, but I guess not. I wonder who else I missed then?!

Freebie haul was rather poor this year - wife and I only got around 20 pens, 3 USB drives, Post-It notes, 1 stressball and 2 slinkies (retro!). Not sure if companies are cutting back or had just run out by Saturday. Obviously, that's not why I go though!

[dhicks]

It's a version of Windows 2008 Server designed to provide a legal software half of a nComputing/SoftXpand solution. Looks like HP maybe first out the gate with hardware to support it and both nComputing and Wyse were mentioned as possible future OEM's.

The current legal solution is to use Server 2003 / 2008 and a TS CAL for each workstation, or get a Windows license for each workstation, MultiPoint Server will hopefully just be a bit cheaper and/or an all-in-one solution more suitible to using with multi-seat hardware. LG were demonstrating a 10-seat NComputing classroom on their stand - those workstations they had set up there were all running off two desktop machines, with NComputing's client integrated into their monitors.

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David Hicks

[dhicks]

I liked the MASSIVE Panasonic touch screens one company had there!! - I was too scared to ask how much it was!

£4,500.

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David Hicks

[dhicks]

The price of Lenovo's All-in-One desktop PC was a bit of a shocker. The rep. reconed something around the £350-£400 mark.

Nice, but about average - there's several ultra-small PCs around that can screw on to the back of a monitor, giving you the same space-saving effect as an all-in-one.

The Microsoft Surface PC on Edugeek's stand was also very, very impressive.

Just can't justify spending £4,000 or whatever it was on one. £400, maybe. The content I saw demoed (shape puzzles, mazes, etc) can all be done with paper, or maybe by printing stuff on to magnetic-backed paper for that stick-to-the-table effect. £4,000 would buy you a lot of magnetic-backed paper, and enough for whole classes at a time, rather than a table that you can fit 70 fingers worth of people around at one time (figure is accurate - we ran tests :-))

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David Hicks

[tmcd35]

The current legal solution is to use Server 2003 / 2008 and a TS CAL for each workstation, or get a Windows license for each workstation, MultiPoint Server will hopefully just be a bit cheaper and/or an all-in-one solution more suitible to using with multi-seat hardware.

Server 2003 + CAL's is the obvious choice at the moment. By Windows licence for each workstation we are talking Full Boxed Product licences not Upgrade/OEM/Volume licence products - read very, very expensive. MultiPoint Server looks like the official solution we have needed to make this type of setup practicle.

[enjay]

I completely agree with David - MS Surface / Smart Table is a wonderful gimmick, but not worth the money compared to what else you could do with the same money. The various shape-sorting exercises I saw can already be done in Smart Notebook or PowerPoint, the only difference being the multi-touch, and its only a matter of time before the boards go multi-touch. 10/10 for wow factor; 3/10 for value.

In their defence, I can see uses for the Surface, just not in the classroom.

[tmcd35]

In their defence, I can see uses for the Surface, just not in the classroom.

Totally overpriced for use but - I'd like to play Generals on it

[dhicks]

Totally overpriced for use but - I'd like to play Generals on it

What we need to do is get one of those Smart tables, stick on one of those lenses from that 3D-without-the-glasses screen and we'll almost have that 3D holographic chess game thingy they play in Star Wars...

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David Hicks

[nut-ed]

A nice application for the smart table could be to run Asteroids or Space Invaders and install them in pubs... Doh!

[Sylv3r]

A nice application for the smart table could be to run Asteroids or Space Invaders and install them in pubs... Doh!

From what I seen / heard they wouldn't last very long in pubs... not in my locals anyway!

[Star]

So, I didn't make it to BETT and (because of pressure of work) my colleague didn't make it either. But since you guys did go, what things made you go "Oooh! Gotta have that" and will actually be in your budget proposals for next year? Cool stuff, hardware or software, whatever, would love to hear about it.

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Simon

Hi Simon, i saw a very interesting Flyer on Terminal Services Gateway - i am investigating this with the company in question, giving the students and teachers ablity to use their personal devices without compromising security..... this will be something we will be looking at next year....