Inspiration Software Launches Essential Tool for Visualizing, Thinking, Organizing and Learning

New Inspiration 8 Offers Expanded Visual Capabilities, Increased Support for Writing, New Resources for Curriculum Integration

PORTLAND, OR — Feb. 1, 2006
Inspiration Software® today launched Inspiration® 8, the new essential tool for visualizing, thinking, organizing and learning. Designed to offer one convenient place for students to successfully plan, research and complete projects, Inspiration 8 expands the ways students and teachers can use visual learning to improve achievement across the curriculum. The new and enhanced capabilities help students develop a deeper understanding of difficult concepts and build stronger critical thinking skills.

"Inspiration 8 represents a decade of feedback and creative ideas from thousands of educators on the types of visual learning tools that best meet the unique needs of education," said Mona Westhaver, president and co-founder, Inspiration Software. "We think that the expanded visual capabilities, increased support for writing and wide variety of curriculum resources make our newest version of Inspiration an indispensable tool for building thinking, writing and comprehension skills."

In addition to enhancements to popular capabilities, such as the RapidFire® tool for quick brainstorming, template wizard for creating custom templates and Site Skeleton® export for fast Web site creation, Inspiration 8 new capabilities help students and teachers:

• Discover more ways to engage and learn visually with video and sound integration capabilities and a keyword symbol search.
• Jumpstart assignments, gather research easily and streamline projects using curriculum templates, drag-and-drop actions and enhanced transfer and export tools.
• Write with more clarity and accuracy using the Word Guide, an innovative dictionary/thesaurus and an automatic spell checker.
• Access complimentary Inspiration Web Resources for more than 1 million additional symbols, more than 50 Curriculum Packets and on-demand training videos.

The new online Curriculum Packets available with Inspiration 8 help teachers effectively integrate visual learning techniques as they address multiple student learning styles. Each comprehensive online Curriculum Packet includes standards-aligned supplemental instructional units for high school level language arts, social studies and science.

Through a special introductory offer available until June 30, 2006, schools or districts that own any volume licenses of Inspiration 7.0 and above can save 10 percent off their regular district cumulative volume license upgrade price when they upgrade to Inspiration 8. Single license upgrades are $29.95. Inspiration users who purchased their software after Nov. 1, 2005 are eligible for a complimentary upgrade. Under regular pricing, single copies of Inspiration 8 are $69 and upgrades are $39.95. Pricing is available for volume purchases and volume upgrades. More information about purchasing Inspiration is available at www.inspiration.com/order/index.cfm or by calling 800-877-4292 to talk to an Inspiration Software product specialist or to find a local education software dealer.

Educators interested in previewing Inspiration 8 can download a free, fully functional 30-day trial copy from the Inspiration Software Web site at www.inspiration.com/freetrial.

The first version of Inspiration developed specifically for education debuted nearly 10 years ago and today is used by more than 12 million students worldwide and in more than 60 percent of U.S. school districts. More than 85 of the nation's school districts, including four of the largest — Boston Public Schools, Broward County (Fla.) Public Schools, Clark County (Nev.) School District and the School District of Philadelphia — have Inspiration licenses for every instructional computer, making it easy for every student and teacher to use the software as a core instructional tool.

About Inspiration Software, Inc.
Recognized as the leader in visual thinking and learning, Inspiration Software, Inc., develops and publishes innovative software tools that inspire learners of all ages to brainstorm, organize, plan and create. With more than 15 million users worldwide, the company's award-winning software is revolutionizing visual learning in education — inspiring students to develop strong thinking and organizational skills and improve their academic performance. Founded by Donald Helfgott and Mona Westhaver, the company's mission is to support improvements in education and make a positive difference in students' lives by providing software tools that help students learn to think.