Wordshark and Numbershark

[finlay]

We have been using these server-based titles at some of our sites for a number of years now, due to licensing and other reasons we are looking to see if there are any web-based alternatives that people are using out there?

[Bev]

They are both available online now.

[finlay]

I'm afraid they aren't, Wordshark has some of its content in the cloud, but Numbershark is not available web-based and there aren't any plans to do so.

[Bev]

Oh, how annoying.

I know we had to upgrade ours a few years ago, and when I looked at the website I thought it was showing that it had moved online.

[dhicks]

Numbershark is not available web-based and there aren't any plans to do so.

 

Any indication how firm those plans are? A quick look at Wordshark's website suggests around 10,000 schools using the software, which is a pretty good sized market - a subscription of, say, £100 per year per school would be £1,000,000 total revenue. It's the sort of thing you'd think a small development team (2 or 3 people) could target for creating a nice up-to-date web-based version. Are Wordshark just lacking in expertise / motivation / developers to do so, or are there other factors?

[finlay]

From the horse's mouth:

"We are still developing Wordshark Online, for example development is underway for an updated secondary course to be added. It is hoped this will be in for the start of the new academic year.

As a small company we do not have the capacity to develop a Numbershark Online. We do keep note of such requests and should demand for this increase in the future then it may be reconsidered but currently there are no plans."

[sippo]

Both use flash. We binned it years ago for that sole reason. The end users had to find alternatives.