TimB

I can confirm, the free school license for Pro|DESKTOP does include home use by teachers and pupils for academic use. (Former PTC Academic Programme Manager).

Steve, I know of IT technicians who split the Creo install into three packages if that helps?

Steve, For network install we provide a product code you use to install a FlexLM license server which holds and issues up to 150 concurrent licenses dynamically. During install, Creo is simply pointed to the license server so can be packaged on as many PCs as needed. The latest information I have from schools using CC4 is the Creo package is too big for the standard RM package builder but a workaround is to copy the install folders to other PCs and create a shortcut to start Creo. Scripts must be enabled for Creo to Run and the default student profile has this disabled. In the six years Pro|ENGINEER and Creo has been used in schools, I have not had a single report of this causing a security problem and Becta, before their demise, were not able to give me any examples where enabling scripts had been a problem.

Take a look at PTC's new Creo. An easy to use ribbon interface, lots of new features including Freestyle modelling for the organic shapes product designers love and Direct modelling which has the same modelling strategy Google Sketchup uses. Best of all, users can switch between modelling tools without losing any model history and all this, plus training materials and curriculum projects is FREE! Creo is fully supported on Windows 7 and includes network licensing and installation. Click here to find out more

Take a look at Creo. Still FREE to schools, much easier to use, lots of new features inclduing Freestyle for product design and lots of tutorials and curriculum projects. PTC - PTC Academic Program for Schools

You can get support for installation and configuration here: PTC Academic Support Request Form - PTC.com or [email protected]

Creo is the FREE replacement for ProDESKTOP in schools. PTC's Creo suite of 3D modelling tools has all new Windows 7 ribbon menus and streamlined workflow making it the most versatile and one of the easiest to use 3D modellers. Key features are: All the power of Pro|ENGINEER parametric modelling but with all new ribbon menus making modelling much easier and faster. Freestyle sub-division modelling tools that make organic shapes really easy, a great tool for prodcut design. Creo Direct is an all new direct modeller where simple tools are used to create and modeify 3D gemoetry. A common data model allows the user to switch between modelling tools with no loss of data or model history! Full details are available on PTC - PTC Academic Program for Schools where teachers and students can register, download and install a fully featured FREE single seat licence. Schools can also get a FREE site license with network installation option when a teacher completes accredited training. A list of trainers in each region is on the web site. Tim Brotherhood - Curriculum Development Manager, PTC.

I am sorry if you interpret my comments as an insult, this was not my intention. I was simply pointing out there are different approaches to the conflicting requirements to protect IT infrastruture and educate pupils to act responsibly. I deal with schools around the world on a daily basis and this limited dataset would suggest UK schools have the most restrictive approaches to network security across the globe. The consequences of restricting pupil access to IT tools is limiting their ability to engage with industry standard software that is being used by design professionals around the world. How do pupils on courses that require programming/macros get on? Are they considered to be scripts and prohibited? We can keep children safe in school but what happens when they go home? Who is protecting them in their bedroom where the majority will be subject to little or no IT monitoring or protection?

Thanks to all the teachers and ICT support staff for their patience with us. The Wildfire 5.0 version of Pro|ENGINEER has many improvements and for anyone still using Pro|DESKTOP well worth upgrading. Attached is a document explaining the benefits. For the next Academic year we are consolidating all our resources into one web site that will use your existing ptc.com login. This web site will give accredited teachers access to our latest learning platform called PTC University - Precision LMS. This hosts over 400+ hours of software tutorials and over 200 hours of high school projects. From September teachers will be able to register their pupils in Precision LMS giving them access to all the materials including assessments. As we update the curriculum projects to Wildfire 5.0 they will become available as SCORM modules to upload into schools own learning platforms. Finally, we are offering the Schools University Edition of Pro|ENGINEER Wildfire 5.0 to any school that provides us with a case study of how they are using Pro|ENGINEER with pupils. This is a one year licence and includes full surfacing, NC manufacture, Finite Element Analysis and Manikin anthropometric analysis. In this offer schools will also receive CoCreate direct modelling and Mathcad for their school! Submitting a new case study each year will keep the licenses current for updates and new versions. We feel these changes will offer schools unparalleled free software and curriculum to help teachers enthuse pupils about STEM subjects and secure a steady supply of future designers and engineers. ProD to ProE top 10.pdf

The Wildfire 5.0 Schools Edition of Pro|ENGINEER is due for release in mid May. Accredited teachers are given access to the Teachers' Portal where they will be able to download the install CDs as soon as they are released. We are busy updating all the curiculum ready for the new academic year starting in September. These will also be available first in the Teachers' Portal. Tim

We know of many schools using this method successfully to allow Pro|ENGINEER and presumably other software that uses scripts to run. Preventing scripts from running for pupil profiles is confined to certain brands of network so I assume the brands that allow scripts to run by default are happy with this.

Hi, A workaround for the package CC3 package builder problem is to copy the install folders and desktop shortcut for Pro|ENGINEER onto the other machines. Note: This only works for the License server installation option and not the standalone option. Pro|ENGINEER needs to run scripts to work so amend the student profile to allow scripts, this is a sub option in allow access to C: prompt. Note: You do not need to allow students access to the C: prompt only the sub option to run scripts. Regards Tim

No offense intended, I was merely pointing out the different approaches in other countries. I would not suggest allowing pupils free access across a school network. My comment about paranoia was prompted by the small percentage of schools who prevent children from doing almost anything only for them to go home where the majority have totally unrestricted web access with no monitoring by parents. Our software is fully windows compliant and I assume Microsoft is happy with it because their designers use it to design and develop their hardware.

Hi, Based in the UK, I work for PTC developing curriculum and supporting schools. A school kindly let us know about this thread. You have described many of the challenges faced when installing Pro|ENGINEER on school networks and I hope to clarify the situation to help you manage our software on your systems. The current version of Pro|ENGINEER Schools Edition is Wildfire 4.0 M092. Accredited teachers can download the installation images from our Teachers' Portal. Security - The issue with pupil logins accessing restricted drives was reported to us in Wildfire 3.0 and developers fixed the problem when using File > Open but missed the browser route. We apologise for this oversight and assure schools our developers are working on a solution for the Wildfire 5.0 release for schools scheduled for May 2010. We hope this is timely for schools wanting to upgrade software ready for the new school year in September. There are two installation options. Standalone - intended for teachers and pupils to install Pro|ENGINEER at home. Each installation is licensed online and tied to the PCs network card MAC address. License Server - intended for school networks with Flexnet software holding 100 floating seats. The Pro|ENGINEER image can then be distributed onto other PCs. Some package builders including the one in RM's CC3 system refuse to build a package due to the size, circa 2GB. We have tried to discuss this with RM but had little success. Recently a school reported the package builder in CC4 works with Pro|ENGINEER. Where a package cannot be built it is possible to copy the install folders and shortcut to other PCs. Running Pro|ENGINEER - To operate, Pro|ENGINEER runs scripts so the user profie must allow this. Schools do not need to give pupils high level access. Pupil profiles can be edited on most networks to enable scripts. For example, on RM CC3 the enable scripts option is a subset of preventing access to the C: prompt. Note, it is possible to enable scripts without giving students access to the C: prompt. You may be interested to know that security on UK school networks is much stricter than in the rest of the world. PTC gets very few enquiries about security from the other 22 countries using Pro|ENGINEER in schools. Here we seem to be paranoid about protecting pupils rather than educating them about the potential dangers of the web and making them responsible for their actions. I hope this helps you install and manage Pro|ENGINEER installations on school networks. Please contact me if you need any further help. Tim Brotherhood Education Programme Manager - PTC [email protected]