Easy Grade Pro 4.1 users . . . does EGP launch OK for you?

I didn't even know EGP 4.1 was available. Their webpage (http://easygradepro.com/) has said for awhile now that 4.1 client-side software would be available in "3-4 weeks."

When I inquired about it (June 3, 2011)...

Here was their reply (June 3, 2011)...

So, now I'm still running EGP 4.0.3 with Snow Leopard 10.6.8 and Rosetta. I guess I need to find another grading program that I like so well so that I can upgrade to Lion.

I'm in the same boat; I'll have to use the grading feature in Moodle until Orbis gets it together. I really like EGP a lot, and it's sad to see it's icon in my dock with a little circle and line through it.

The original install disk came with both a PC and Mac version; I suppose it's possible to load the PC version into a virtual machine. I may try that if I get stuck, but it sounds like a pain in the dupa to me.

I've been holding off upgrading to Lion because my fear was that 4.0.3 wouldn't work and I wasn't sure when we might actually get a version that would work. I guess I will wait until I know for sure that Lion and Easy Grade Pro can coexist.

I wrote them today (22 July), and they wrote back. If, indeed, 4.1 is a Universal app (that means Intel and PPC, right), hopefully Lion will recognize it as an Intel app. I would absolutely LOVE it if someone tests it and writes back. $28 is a couple of hours' work for a teacher!

Thanks for being the guinea pig here, JB -- I'm sure many of us are anticipating your report.

Mike

I phoned EdLine today to ask them if Easy Grade Pro 4.1 worked with Lion and the lady replied that they were still testing the product. How much time does it take to test your own product? All they need is a Mac with Lion installed. Surely, they must have a Mac lying around in their organization. Unbelievable!

She then mentioned that if I purchased the product and that it doesn't work on Lion, that they will refund me the money. In other words, we have to do the testing of their own product.

I will come back in the next few days to see if JB has had any success with this; otherwise, I'll bite the bullet and purchase it and let you know.

Hi all,

I placed an upgrade order for 4.1 in the first week of July and it just arrived this morning. I don't have Lion installed, but System Profiler DOES list Easy Grade Pro 4.1 as a universal binary (32 bit) and the 4.1 manual stated that you no longer need Rosetta.

I did a quick test and disabled Rosetta under Snow Leopard and EGP 4.1 launched just fine (EGP 4.0 prompted me to install Rosetta). If you were waiting on this program to make the jump to Lion, get the EGP upgrade. It ships via FedEx Ground.

Enjoy.

Okay, I bit the bullet and got the downloadable version of 4.1. I haven't tried it on Lion yet (I still have to clean up a couple of thousand files that only MS Word 2004 will read!), but I've come across one major deficiency compared to 4.0.

The "Read Me" that accompanies the program states:

* Closer Edline Support. Since Edline offers superior ways to post reports for parents and to transfer data from school administration programs, Easy Grade Pro's emailing, XML Gradebook Export and Website/HTMl reports have been replaced by Edline solutions. See www.edline.com for more information on Edline and information on EGP Web.

Translation, unless your board subscribes to the Edline "solution," you have lost the ability to post student marks to your web page. I tried to see how far I could get with the new "solution," and it doesn't seem to work anyway -- I was unable to get anything in the preview pane even in early stages of setting up a report. I'm trying to figure out this particular meaning of the word "superior"...

I have purchased and installed Easy Grade Pro 4.1 on Mac OS X Lion today. It works well; however, as you've mentioned Mike, the emailing functionality has been removed from the software. Instead, one must upload the students' reports to the Edline website and is only accessible by teachers, students and parents if the school board has purchased the Edline website and portal for their school.

Of course, this has nothing to do with their desire to offer us a "superior way to post reports for parents"; instead it is meant to sway us into buying not only Easy Grade Pro but also the much more costly and profitable portal.

We all know that many schools won't have the means to purchase the Edline Solution. Meanwhile, the end-users, the teachers, will end up with a newer version of a software that does less than the older version. And somewhere, someone is paid to make those brilliant decisions...

Charles

I have Lion installed on a most recent generation of MBP and I had been emailing Easy Grade Pro support about their issues of compatibilty 4.0.3 with Lion.

They informed me just last week that the 4.1 version is downloadable through esellerate but with no discount for upgrading, and they charge a fee for downloading the application as well! I had no choice since I am not living in the US, and my EGP is useless as I am in the middle of a teaching semester, so I had to bite the bullet.

Well, to my huge disappointment, the website and email reports feature is gone.

The only online functionality is through edline! The website help and FAQs do not indicate this change as links on their website about features of 4.1 take you to pages that do not make a distinction between 4.0 and 4.1 so there are instructions on the website about the internet reports:

http://www.orbissoft.com/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=258:intern et-reports&catid=43:help-contents&Itemid=117

But these must only be for 4.0 because 4.1 does not have that feature.

If they are not bringing these internet features back, this application is largely useless as that is one of the main features I decided to stick with EGP instead of moving to another app with Lion. If they do not include this feature later, then I am going to ask for a refund. That's a lot of money for a DOWNGRADE to not really "superior" application.

I emailed them regarding this, and I will update as I hear back from them.

Here is an email that I got from the developer regarding the other internet functions from the previous version that are not in version 4.1.

NICE!

We are no longer actively supporting Internet features within EGP other than integration with Edline. However, if you would like to continue to use these on your own you may still activate them in the program by holding down the Option key and clicking on File > Internet/Edline or the @ tool on the tool bar.

Thank you for contacting technical support.

This news would probably have been sufficient induce me to upgrade. Unfortunately, thanks to the tanking economy, my contract for the fall has not been renewed, so I'll have to wait until I have a job again before buying it. It won't do me any good if I'm flippin' burgers.

Hey Milonius,

Thanks a bunch for sending the email and for sharing the reply. Great to know the web options are lurking under the surface and are just a keystroke away.

Regards,