Science Interactive 5

Herald rating: * * * *

Roadshow/TV One

Review: Peter Eley

The history of this rather nice School Certificate crammer could form the basis of a plot for that cult show The Young Ones - you know, where four penniless students hole up in a crummy flat and do crazy things.

The story starts back in 1996 when two teenagers - science undergrad Charlie DeBock and computer whiz Craig Payne - met at Auckland University. They thought there was a gap in the education market and decided to produce a science revision program to fill it.

That was the easy part. As they were teenagers, banks refused to take them seriously, as did the IRD, which made it hard for them to register for as a business.

Then there was the matter of transport. They didn't own a car and had to catch a bus to marketing meetings, or rely on friends for a lift.

To save money, they burned their own CDs in a dingy Kingsland flat, but the floor was so shaky that if someone moved too quickly the CD misprinted and had to be ditched.

And when a retail chain finally showed an interest, Craig and Charlie realised the night before the big meeting that they hadn't got any proper packaging.

So they quickly ran something off a deskjet printer and glued it to an old software box.

About this time, the pair decided enough was enough, and contacted one of New Zealand's leading software distributors, Roadshow. As part of the deal, TVNZ Enterprises was brought into the partnership to help with marketing.

The result is the fifth version of Science Interactive, which despite its humble background has been used in 90 per cent of Auckland schools since 1997.

The latest version is a slick product which mirrors the School Cert science curriculum, with tutorials, worksheets and model answers a far cry from the DOS-based black-and-white version one which fitted on to a floppy disk.

Version 5 runs like a Web browser - a version of Internet Explorer is required - and seems to be bug-free.

While light on true multimedia content, it is solid, thorough and easy to use, and will suit those who prefer visual study to reading.

Peter Eley e-mail: peter_eley@herald.co.nz