SMART, the company behind the Smartboard Interactive Whiteboard announced that their software “SMART Learning Suite” which includes the only program teachers probably ever used “Smart Notebook” can no longer be sold or used with other displays.
While this probably isn’t going to affect that many Irish primary school teachers since we’ve moved way beyond Interactive Whiteboard software, it seems like a step in the wrong direction by SMART. Given that the software isn’t that good, ultimately, it won’t make people go out and buy Smartboards. Surely, it would be a better option to sell the software for use on other boards and have some sort of get out clause to say that the software is intended for use on Smartboards and that they can’t take responsibility for how they work on other boards.
Anyway, I’m sure there was some reason for this move almost 15 years after IWBs hit the Irish market properly. To me, it seems like a rather odd move and not at all smart.