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The deafening silence and lack of feedback to questions on flash questions, can only mean one thing.
No flash questions !!!

Have you ever heard of interactivity. Students and trainees need to have new ideas reinforced. You are clearly more techie than educational in outlook. So very sad and an opportunity lost.

Techsmith you have blown it !
Credit card and pitch to the ICT manager of the College just been put away.

Goodbye.

@ Bruce. I posted this in one of the previous comments, but I thought it was worth repeating as it sheds a bit of light on how we made decisions.

As we were debating which features to put into the product, we asked almost a thousand potential customers a basic question:

"Would you prefer to get a subset of Camtasia Studio's functionality sooner, or wait for all its functionality."

The *resounding* feedback from all market segments was: give us something NOW.

So we set to work, with the help of our potential customers defining what had to be in the first release.

This will NOT be the only release of Camtasia for Mac. We see our software development as a conversation with our customers. That's why your comments are really valuable. I appreciate the passion and tenor of your comments. It helps us know what's important and guides us in future releases.

I can't say what's going to be in the next release, because we haven't had time for you to use the software and tell us what else you'd like to see. Getting that feedback is really important to us.

I've been at TechSmith and in the software industry for a long time. I can say that this is the most impressive version 1 software applications I've seen.

Troy Stein
Camtasia for Mac Product Manager

@ Bruce:

Since this is "Camtasia" for Mac and not "Camtasia Studio" for Mac, the lack of Flash quizzes (not confirmed, but I think we can safely assume) is not at all surprising to me. I'm just happy to get Camtasia for Mac at all (and without the hideous interface of the Windows version, which I also use).

Baby steps.

Adobe is working on Captivate for Mac - I assume that product might include the quiz functionality you're looking for. There's no announced release date though.

And for what it's worth, as a learner I usually find the trite types of quizzes that are thrown into screencasts to be more annoying than helpful.

The reason for the serious disappointment is that there is a distinct lack of serious e-learning software for Mac users and I just thought that Techsmith were going to step up to the plate with a gutsy offering, instead we get a Camtasia Lite for Mac.
I suppose eQuixotic has a point, granny's footsteps. We'll get there one day.

As for Captivate for Mac I'll believe it when I see it. There is so little RSS feedback for the project blog, I'm not convinced this will happen anytime soon and Articulate are incapable of doing anything Mac until Adobe gives them the tools.
That's why the promise of Camtasia was so tempting. Our High School students are simply not able to sit and just watch a screen. They are the Wii, X Box and PSP generation; if they don't interact, then it just doesn't go in.

@ Bruce. Thanks for the added insights and the background on your students. I'll grant you that we don't have quizzing.

But, please, there is **nothing** lite about Camtasia for Mac. There are features which are unique to the different operating systems and the unique capabilities of Camtasia for Mac are fantastic. I strongly encourage you to explore it on Tuesday.

Troy

@ Bruce:

I can't help but think you're overselling the quite-basic quizzing ability of Camtasia Studio in Windows just a smidge. Those rudimentary interactions really aren't *that* compelling. I have a hard time believing that high school kids are enthralled with basic-HTML-looking multiple choice questions. :)

As for Captivate for Mac, I've not seen it, but I have no reason to think it's not happening - and sometime soon. I spoke with one of Adobe's product managers at a recent eLearning conference and he was quite optimistic about the product appearing soon.

I'm far less worried about quizzing in Camtasia for Mac than I am about the visual tools. I own Camtasia for Windows and I've never been impressed with the visuals offered. From what we've seen from these Camtasia for Mac previews, I have high hopes for the Mac version. Combine superior visuals with a lower price, and finally we Mac users will looked upon longingly by our Windows-using eLearning comrades.

Now, as for Articulate... :(

Of course I'll give Camtasia for Mac a good looking at on Tuesday. I do appreciate what you chaps have done, just frustration and disappointment coming out. I had high expectations because most of what you do is pretty damned good. Snagit is excellent and beats most of the Mac based competition hands down.
We want an e-learning tool that the students can use to create training materials for other students. Our International Bac students are bright enough to create these presentations for others. It helps them to learn by being creative and others by observation. This may be a work around.

When you have your next features meeting, please consider a decent set of flash question tools like Articulate quizmaker ( only with super/subscript and chemical and maths formulae tools).
Let's see what Tuesday brings.

I have used Camtasia Studio (PC) for years with students, where they make a screen recording of websites they have built in groups presenting the features of a fictitious business (like an online version of Dragon's Den). They often make great screencasts, and I have them introduce themselves and their personal contribution to their group's work. They enjoy it, and we get a good summary of what they have done, with reduced plagiarism.

I must say I have repeatedly thought about buying a Mac, but keep coming back to the fact that the improvements in function a Mac offers don't represent sufficient advantage to do so. Camtasia for Mac, a complete rewrite to give precise editing control, and from what I can see (from the demos) gives great ease of use, may just be the thing that sees me buy a Mac!

I think that this version is just the start - and I look forward to the great features that I am sure will be added over the next few years.

If that were coupled with a new version of Screencast.com that made that product into a light footprint virtual learning environment (to compete with the many stuffed full and unattractive VLEs already out there) the combination really would be news.

Finally...Captivate for Mac....$99 OR $990? Which is more likely? Adobe's affordability has gone through the floor, and in our university we have cut back on Adobe licenses.