Jolly Phonics, what a nightmare!

[danielson81]

Just wondered if anyone has been given Jolly Phonics to install on the network.

Firstly there is no MSI and it wont run off a network share, and finally it only works if each user runs it once with the CD in first.

I thought I had seen the last of this type of software years ago!

Here is the reply from them after the Business Manager sent them an email (below):


> Thank you for your email and sorry for the delay in responding to you.
>
> I am disappointed to hear that you are having problems with the CD-ROM.
>
> There could be two possible reasons:
>
> 1. I'm afraid for security reasons, the software has to be validated locally in each machine by running the software for the first time with the disc in the drive. Once this is done the disc is no longer required in the drive and the games can be accessed. I appreciate that this may not be an ideal situation, especially if the software has to be installed of large numbers of pc's at a school site. We are looking at ways to resolve this issue for the future.
>
> 2. If the school has multiple users on each computer, they may be asked to insert the disc even though the software has been installed and validated in the computer. If this is the case we are able to provide fix which can be downloaded from our ftp site. Please let me know and I can provide details.
>
> Kind Regards,
>
> xxxxxx

On 17 Sep 2009, at 10:46, XXXXXXX wrote:

>
>
> Dear Sir/Madam,
>
> We had a delivery this morning of our order number xxxxxx - Jolly phonics for the whiteboard.
> Our IT technician had begun to load it onto the schools machines and found that when he tried to start the program it required the discs.
> If we are paying for a site licence shouldn't the program be able to work on more than one computer simultaneously?
> If it will only work on one computer and have to have the discs then can we only pay for one licence instead of a site licence?
>
> Let me know what you think,
>
> xxxxxx
> Bursar

[Little-Miss]

ME!!!! grrr!!

[powdarrmonkey]

Yay, more top quality educational software.

[OutToLunch]

ISO image + Daemontools with a mounting script when the shortcut is run ought to fix it - not great that it does it but you get used to trying to work round things with school software! At least they've offered you a fix for the 'every user needs the cd in' part

[speckytecky]

Thankfully, my primary did not continue with this software but went for Rigby Star Phonics Fast Phonics First Online

Set as a homepage and once logged on a return seems to activate straight away.

[danielson81]

I am experiementing with an MSI I made of it using Wininstall LE, so far it installs fine when installed manually, but doesn't work when deployed via GPO.

[box_l]

I also have this daft software. Surely its not that precious to need this protection!

Anyway, it uses the equivalent of sonys "rootkit" protection.

I have to run them with encrypted "runas..." scripts as a local admin user.

I created a user in AD, add them as a local admin, then run the script. You have to use the Disc the first time and then you can run without... for a while...... then it wants to check you still have the CD.... and so on... Rubbish!

BoX

[bossman]

@danielson81:

Create Virtual CD and Mount using whatever is at your disposal link the shortcut to this using script etc and it should function correctly.

On RMCC3 just needed to create image in virtual CD database and shared it out with shortcut only thing then was it needed special permissions for the restricted user to run.

Useless piece of C**p though and I had to do all this for a demo which in the end the SEN told me it wasn't needed Hmmph! waste of my valuable time but then again that is what I get paid for.

[sted]

iirc it wont iso/or wont work as an iso as its copy protected quite well

[learning]

Hi all,

I would like to announce that Jolly Learning have now released version 3 of this software. You will be pleased to hear that it has been reprogrammed for easy installation over modern school networks and does not require the disc to validate it. There is also an msi file included. There are three files that are needed for a silent network install. On the first disc, you will need Install.msi and Jolly 1.cab and on the second disc, you will need Jolly2.cab. These three files must be brought together in the same folder for distribution. The software is compatible with both Macs and Pcs and has been updated for the latest operating systems.

[Little-Miss]

excellent!

[timzim]

I love a happy ending

[danielson81]

hooray!!!

[jsmit366]

Jolly Phonics for the Whiteboard is one of the most annoying programs ever to deploy to a server (F*#K)

[jsmit366]

Hi all,

I would like to announce that Jolly Learning have now released version 3 of this software. You will be pleased to hear that it has been reprogrammed for easy installation over modern school networks and does not require the disc to validate it. There is also an msi file included. There are three files that are needed for a silent network install. On the first disc, you will need Install.msi and Jolly 1.cab and on the second disc, you will need Jolly2.cab. These three files must be brought together in the same folder for distribution. The software is compatible with both Macs and Pcs and has been updated for the latest operating systems.

Awsome!! .... Would love a download link but!!!!