Speaking of Performance Improvement...

So I just upgraded to one of Apple's new 27" iMacs. The i7-"cored" model I picked up has been sitting on my desk now for five days, and I've just managed to get most of it set up amidst my studies, work, and personal life. I can't wait to see how this thing works as a development machine. I've been using a self-assembled PC for the last four or so years and it finally wore out its welcome. This is my first true foray into Apple-dom at home or at work, and my next big goal is to get Windows into Bootcamp so I can run my copy of Adobe's CS4 Master Collection. Anybody know if it's possible to switch a Windows license to a Mac one? (tongue firmly in cheek)

I know Chris over at eQuixotic moved over to Mac some time ago and hasn't looked back, so I hope to follow that lead. Time to try any Mac-ready copy of development software I can find...

The Transition Continues Apace...

I've been in instructional design and development for just over ten years now, and for that span of time, the Windows PC was the platform for the best and most powerful apps. Chris over at eQuixotic has been keeping a very watchful and longing eye on the continuing but very slow transition of key development apps over to Apple's OSX. Chris covers ScreenFlow 2.0, the latest Mac-only elearning app, and other big "wins" like Camtasia, which just made the journey over this past September.

I think the time is ripe for me to make the switch to Apple. Their releasing of this bad boy makes my upcoming decision a bit easier I'm thinking. The Windows platform is still very robust and getting moreso, but as a designer/developer I would like a more integrated and simple workstation. The more apps that cross the divide the more the Mac is slated to become a very strong training development tool.

Captivate 4.0 Preliminary Review

Adobe recently released their latest rev of the now-popular e-learning 2.0 development platform, Captivate. In this latest version 4, Adobe seems to have answered a lot of criticisms many developers of training had for the still quite good version 3. I downloaded a trial copy of Captivate 4.0 the other night in order to see what the substantive changes are from 3.0. My early preview shows some great new features (especially the ability to export in the Adobe Connect format), as well as a revised interface that seems to operate more efficiently, and a bit more intuitively. One feature that is definitively not present in 4.0 though, is the ability to have multiple development files (.cp) open at once. You are still restricted to one file at a time.

Perhaps the biggest gripe I had with versions 2.0 and 3.0 of Captivate was that the program was a very heavy burden on my work PC. Of course, this shouldn’t surprise anyone who has used Captivate, or indeed Adobe’s other products like Flash and Photoshop. Captivate surely is a heavy program for good reason. However my complaint dealt more with the stability of the software over a long day’s worth of development. Captivate 2.0 caused me quite a bit of consternation on some days. 3.0 was markedly better, however there were still times when the program would get locked into memory even after closing the application. Other times the screen capture facility would remain active in the system and interrupt program restarts because the re-opened app still thought it was doing something from earlier in my day.

But, my experience with 4.0 isn’t deep enough yet, so come back soon for a more complete write-up of Adobe’s latest.