Introducing Windows MultiPoint Mouse SDK 1.5 and Microsoft Mouse Mischief

This week, some of our MultiPoint team members are lucky enough to be attending BETT—the world’s largest education technology event—in London. Since we’re focused on creating new technology products that can make teachers’ lives easier, it’s always a fantastic opportunity to be able to talk to them directly about what they are looking for from technology in the classroom.

No matter where we are, there’s one thing we hear that’s always the same: educators the world over want access to affordable, secure, and easy-to-use technology that gives them the tools to increase quality and variety in delivering their curriculum. These tools can help them and their students to be better prepared for success in the real world. We listened to this feedback when developing our shared resource computing technologies, our MultiPoint solutions, which give policymakers, teachers, and students access to such technology at an affordable and competitive price point. Today, we’re introducing two new MultiPoint solutions—Windows MultiPoint Mouse SDK 1.5 and Microsoft Mouse Mischief.

Why? Well, for starters, publishers and education ISVs need a solution to help create new software that can harness the opportunities presented by shared resource computing scenarios. The Windows MultiPoint Mouse Software Development Kit (SDK for short) helps developers create interactive applications allowing up to 25 students, each with their own mouse, to interact on the same PC. It’s a simple but powerful solution that lets more kids use shared computing resources—and a great collaborative tool.

Today, we’re announcing the availability of MultiPoint Mouse SDK 1.5, available worldwide for download at www.microsoft.com/multipoint/mouse-sdk. Any education, casual gaming, or other ISV that would like to develop a product using the SDK can download it free from MSDN.

The MultiPoint Mouse SDK solution is also open to any and all partners who want to create new and compelling education content for students, and we’ve already seen numerous education publishers and ISVs developing solutions on the MultiPoint Mouse SDK around the world. Now, we’re happy to announce a couple of new programs built on MultiPoint Mouse SDK technology. Our partner Scholastic has developed Story Stage, an interactive and highly creative virtual puppet-based literacy application.

And our Russian content partner Noviy Disk is releasing the English version of Curriculum Curiosity, which draws on elements of creativity, construction and modeling, design and project work via five interactive workshops, encouraging teamwork and positive influence on communication skills development for young students.

Finally, to empower teachers to create their own content that can inspire and excite students, we developed Mouse Mischief—a new, free state-of-the-art MultiPoint-enabled tool that they can use to create interactive PowerPoint classroom presentations. With Mouse Mischief, students can use affordable, off-the-shelf USB mice as clickers to answer multiple-choice, yes/no, and matching questions – which teachers can insert in their presentations. A free beta download is available now at www.microsoft.com/multipoint/mouse-mischief, and a full version of Mouse Mischief is expected to be available in the first half of 2010.

So check out MultiPoint Mouse SDK and Mouse Mischief today, and help become a part of the future of personalized learning that’s possible through shared access computing solutions like these. We can’t wait to see what kind of new programs and solutions that teachers, developers, and students the world over come up with set loose to innovate with these free, powerful learning tools.

-Ira Snyder, General Manager, Startup Business Group