Smart notebook with CTouch & Genee interactive boards

[boomish]

We are getting demo's of Genee tomorrow and C-Touch next week, we have been told Smart Notebook (yes all on 11.4) will run fine & as the staff won't move to anything else I wondered how others have been getting on using the old Smart software with these screens?

 

The Genee rep tells me their software will load notebook files as well as the screen running Smart Notebook anyone use it?

 

Also be nice to hear how people who have chosen Genee over Ctouch & vice versa are getting on with their new installs?

 

We are a small school replacing all of our projectors so be nice to try and get it right first time, so would appreciate any advice.

[snagrat]

It'll work but you know you will need to buy a Smart Notebook license to be legally allowed to run it?

[witch]

We were told the Genee boards work with Smart and Promethean software. I can only confirm the latter - but they work fine with ActivInspire so it is likely that they work with Smart too

[tmoon-mint]

As above I was under the impression you would need to purchase a licence to run it on non Smart hardware.

[GuyJD]

I wouldn't have thought you'd need the license if you are still using 11.4, you've already bought the license with the Smart board you had it on previously.

[localzuk]

I wouldn't have thought you'd need the license if you are still using 11.4, you've already bought the license with the Smart board you had it on previously.

 

The old license only allows you to run it on SMART hardware. To run SMART Notebook on anything else, you need a new license.

[snagrat]

I wouldn't have thought you'd need the license if you are still using 11.4, you've already bought the license with the Smart board you had it on previously.

 

You haven't bought the license, you bought the hardware.

 

License is always required of running Smart on any other interactive hardware

[GuyJD]

Cool, learn a new thing every day.

 

I would have thought it would be covered by the same EU laws as Microsoft oem licensing.

[BenQ_Royce]

Cool, learn a new thing every day.

 

I would have thought it would be covered by the same EU laws as Microsoft oem licensing.

 

~as mentioned by others, your existing Notebook licence is only for use on the original SMART hardware, replacing that you'll need a new licence.

 

though as many of the third party screens available are cheaper and often with better spec, it's worth comparing.

 

FWIW BenQ now also offer Oktopus software that converts and runs legacy SMART files.

[JATSO]

The whole smart licensing setup has become a joke

 

Looked at Alphateach and the Genie Touch both seemed impressive but the cost of a screen runs in at £2K -3K+

So we purchased 4 x SB680 at about £800 each and and 3 year smart licence advantage.

Edited May 3, 2016 by JATSO

[boomish]

Thanks for all the replies about the license, yes I wondered about using it with 3rd party boards. But how well does Notebook run compared to the native software ? be interested how people have got on actually using it, thats the main point do these boards work ok with the software. Last think I want to do is buy cheaper boards that are slow & laggy.

[CyberNerd]

We were told the Genee boards work with Smart and Promethean software. I can only confirm the latter - but they work fine with ActivInspire so it is likely that they work with Smart too

 

Hi @witch - how much did you pay for the Promethean ActivInspire licenses?

[BenQ_Royce]

Last think I want to do is buy cheaper boards that are slow & laggy.

 

cheaper doesn't necessarily mean worse. a lot of effort has been put into making the screens suitable for a wide range of demands that may include, depending on brand, 20+ point touch, over-the-air updates, built in Android, low blue light panel, extra connectivity, Wi-Fi, software suites, anti-bacteria hard glass, wider range of sizes, RFID sensors, multiple pen colour recognition, hand gestures, I could go on.... but hopefully you get the idea that's it's more than just a screen to replace an interactive whiteboard.

Edited May 3, 2016 by BenQ_Royce

[Clevertouch_Rob]

As @BenQ_Royce has pointed out, you really need to try a screen and see what works best for you, and your various requirements such as legacy software etc.

[witch]

Hi @witch - how much did you pay for the Promethean ActivInspire licenses?

 

Sorry, we have a site-wide licence for the whole school as every other room has Promethean boards

[snagrat]

Sorry, we have a site-wide licence for the whole school as every other room has Promethean boards

 

Isn't this the same as Notebook then in that it needs to be licensed? Or at some point you actually did buy ActivInspire?

[CyberNerd]

Isn't this the same as Notebook then in that it needs to be licensed? Or at some point you actually did buy ActivInspire?

 

That is my understanding - it can only be used on a Promethean board unless you have a user license: £525 ex per license according to Insight which makes the SMART quite a bargain.

[boomish]

cheaper doesn't necessarily mean worse. a lot of effort has been put into making the screens suitable for a wide range of demands that may include, depending on brand, 20+ point touch, over-the-air updates, built in Android, low blue light panel, extra connectivity, Wi-Fi, software suites, anti-bacteria hard glass, wider range of sizes, RFID sensors, multiple pen colour recognition, hand gestures, I could go on.... but hopefully you get the idea that's it's more than just a screen to replace an interactive whiteboard.

Thanks Ben & Rob,

I do understand what they do, we have 1 new Smart screen here I was simply wondering how people are getting on with screens other than Smart, trying a screen in a demo is different to actually purchasing one then using it on a day to day basis. So am looking for feedback from people that have bought & installed them . As much as a discussion on licenses is important it would nice to hear user feedback & opinions on Ctouch & Genee..

Edited May 4, 2016 by boomish

[boomish]

FWIW had the Genee demo today and it looked fab, Spark software looks very good, seems better & faster than Smart Notebook, but it works with both and is very responsive.

[ITtech35]

I've been informed that you can no longer buy smart licences to go with third party products, we currently have a mixture of smartboards and clevertouchs, and are stuck with what to do, then plan was to continue replacing old smartboards and buy a licence for each clevertouch however now it's not possible anymore.. what are other people doing? I would prefer to have the same software across school than changing from class to class!

[localzuk]

I've been informed that you can no longer buy smart licences to go with third party products, we currently have a mixture of smartboards and clevertouchs, and are stuck with what to do, then plan was to continue replacing old smartboards and buy a licence for each clevertouch however now it's not possible anymore.. what are other people doing? I would prefer to have the same software across school than changing from class to class!

 

Who informed you of that?

[ITtech35]

The company I regularly buy the licences from!

[localzuk]

The company I regularly buy the licences from!

 

Our supplier has clarified this. SMART will still sell licenses for SMART Notebook for 3rd party hardware, however they will not support it if anything goes wrong.

[snagrat]

Our supplier has clarified this. SMART will still sell licenses for SMART Notebook for 3rd party hardware, however they will not support it if anything goes wrong.

Who is your supplier as we have been told that this is not possible and you can no longer buy for non Smart hardware

 

You need a Smart hardware serial number to buy the software

[JATSO]

If you have smartboards already and all your school is 100% smartboard then you can upgrade the software even without buying new smart hardware, as localzuk said no support on other hardware. We went down this route and still use our SB560's