Librarians and CITs,
This message is for those campuses that have not upgraded to the Online or Enterprise version of Accelerated Reader also know as Renaissance Place - Accelerated Reader.
After a discussion with local Accelerated Reader sales representative, Joel Burdick, there isn’t an official end-of-life or end-of-support statement concerning the older network version of Accelerated Reader (or Legacy). Legacy refers to any of their AR 4.x, 5.x, and 6.x versions for Windows or Mac operating systems.
Campuses can continue to buy quizzes as well as yearly support for the version they currently have installed (AR 4.x,5.x,6.x) on the operating systems they are currently are running (Windows XP Sp1, Windows XP Sp2, Windows XP Sp3).
So long as the desktop application (AR) is supported (or working) on your computer’s operating system (XP), you will have the ability to buy newly published quizzes.
The key point in the vendor’s support statement is that they will not be making updates to the desktop application, so that if a campus starts replacing computers with newer operating systems (such as Windows 7 ) users may run into some issues. This does not guarantee you will see issues but there is always that chance.
Renaissance will not likely be making fixes to address their legacy or desktop application. Their technical support focus is currently their online/subscription service.
Considering that the network program may be a couple to several years away from possibly not working, campuses with the legacy versions installed should probably start to investigate alternative reading incentive programs.
Paul Lyda
Integrated Infrastructure Services,
Northside Independent School District,
(210) 397-8839
mailto:paullyda@nisd.net
You mean the desktop version is a couple years from possibly not working (not the network version), right?
ReplyDeleteJust an FYI, I have the online/Enterprise version of AR and LOVE it - way easier to manage than the desktop version and no quizzes to buy or install.