Captivate for Mac?
Adobe’s Captivate, the demonstration and training simulation creation software, is moving into the final development stages of it’s third version. I had the privilege of being a beta tester, and I must say that it is really cool. It really is easy (and fun) to create interactive software simulations and demos.
But unfortunately the program is stuck on Windows, and there are currently no plans to bring it to the Mac. When I questioned the Adobe engineers about it they responded in a very polite, almost rehearsed way.
“Captivate is built from a program that ties deeply into the core Windows. To bring it to the Mac would require a total rewrite, something that we’re not sure we can justify at this point. If we had significant interest from Mac users, it’d be a different story”.
So what do you guys think? Is there interest in bringing Captivate to the Mac? I’m interested to hear your thoughts.
Rory on July 19th, 2007 at 5:23 pm
That is an interesting question that I’ve tossed around myself in the past. My day job has me designing and developing training in the corporate world, in the IT group. I can’t go more than a day or two without doing work in Captivate.
Unfortunately Mac have not penetrated the corporate market well enough to warrant that rebuild, so I understand their reasoning.
Would I like to see it brought over? Of course! Do I see it happening, not likely.
Tim on July 19th, 2007 at 7:56 pm
I still haven’t found a mac screencasting/training tool that I’m truly happy with. Captivate on the Mac has the potential to corner the Mac market.
Would ‘love’ to see it ported across.
Stephen Antonucci on July 19th, 2007 at 8:35 pm
I would love to see Captivate on the Mac. Porting this app to the Mac would bring Adobe new Mac customers.
Patrick on July 20th, 2007 at 12:21 am
Well, in my opinion, everything that is developed solely for WinDoze is a mistake. The Mac OS is clearly a superior operating system and development of any software on WinDoze should be developed for Mac as well. The reason for this is simple: more stable, better usability, and more and more people are coming to the Mac platform.
So, I would definitely use this software if was ported to the Mac :-)
pumpkin on July 20th, 2007 at 12:48 am
I DEMAND Captivate for Mac OS.
Ady on July 20th, 2007 at 3:44 am
Being in the education market, I really could do with Captivate for the Mac, otherwise it’ll mean the use of some poor alternative!
Nicolas on October 19th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
maybe not as good but what about : Screenium from apple ! !
Any Good
Nicolas.K
Tim G on July 20th, 2007 at 9:10 am
I do quite a few software demos for my customers and my own products. I tried Captivate on two separate occasions (v.1 & v.2), and, because it’s PC only, just didn’t get the results I was happy with. I use SnapzPro instead, which creates huge files compared to Captivate. Plus all of that narration…
If Captivate were available for Mac I’d be first in line.
Collin on July 20th, 2007 at 9:45 am
That would be amazingly helpful for the tutorials that I’m trying to make. I would love for this to come to the Mac.
shaz on July 20th, 2007 at 9:55 am
as an instructor in a college, the more demonstration etc, software of good quality there is available for me on the mac, the easier my job would become.
having to flip from OS to OS because one application is only available in windows, and vice versa is a chore (even if it is now easier).
chris b on July 20th, 2007 at 12:36 pm
Captivate for the Mac would be a welcome addition to my software bucket. It would save me one more trip over to my PC.
Anona on July 20th, 2007 at 11:46 pm
Camtasia is, I believe, doing a port of its app to Mac, not sure if it will have feature parity though.
Ian on July 21st, 2007 at 8:20 am
I would find this very useful as I work for a university. Me and several other staff are switching our work PCs for Macs so would find this very useful, especially if it integrated well with creative suite
Raven on July 21st, 2007 at 12:38 pm
Ooh, do I ever want it. ::sigh:: When did Adobe become such a Windows-centric company? I mean, between this and the kerfluffle over Universal builds of CS apps, I’m really starting to worry.
Phil on July 24th, 2007 at 7:09 pm
Let’s see…13 posts in 5 days. I think Adobe knows their market :)
Anyone use anything that even comes close in the Mac world?
John Brougher on August 1st, 2007 at 12:25 pm
Has anyone used Captivate over Parallels? It’s probably not a great solution, but it’d be an okay temporary holdover if you could make Mac screencasts by using Parallels, I’ve just never tried it.
Susan Taylor on August 7th, 2007 at 1:19 pm
I keep waiting and find it disheartening to hear they likely won’t bring it to the mac. As an educator it is something I wish would come about.
jackieB on September 16th, 2007 at 12:10 pm
I would welcome Mac Captivate. As an educator I really need its capabilities. I’ve read reviews of alternatives but none read well! However, as a Mac convert who would NEVER go back to a PC, I refuse to have anything Windows on my beloved mac. I’ve logged a request with Adobe (has everyone else?) but it is indeed disheartening to hear Captivate won’t be ported to the mac.
Jeffrey Kirkman on September 18th, 2007 at 3:12 pm
Absolutely Adobe should make Captivate for the MAC as so many designers and educators use Macs. I suspect, howevver, that with Intel Macs being more common and able to run Windows, we will see more and more companies opt to desgin only for Windows. It is really ashame as the Mac versions of such programs were always a touch above the Windows offering. Apple should really push for more content to stem this tide and to keep the unique nature of the Mac alive and well.
andyc on October 19th, 2007 at 8:20 am
Please can we have it adobe as soon as possible for the mac if you dont I amgoing to stopusing all your other products
Federico Lopez on October 30th, 2007 at 10:55 am
An e-learning explosion is near.
Captivate for Mac is a strategic move!
Susan Taylor on October 30th, 2007 at 11:45 am
As an educator of design I find it incredibly frustrating to see in this day that a program is not being produced to accomodate both mac and pc users. With more and more people seeing the value of the mac it is a crime to hear adobe cop out of developing a product that is so vital to education and especially now with the online learning. With the amount of focus adobe is putting on training and development in online settings it is truly disheartening to see them cross off the mac users as if it wasn’t important enough to warrant the development. I think, from what I see in the requests for a product to developed, it is astonishing that it is falling on deaf ears. And the request has been being made for years.
Cheryl on November 11th, 2007 at 1:06 pm
I would love to see Captivate or Camtasia for Mac. My guess is whoever gets there first is going to clean up. There are a lot of folks who would love to use either one on their macs.
Romolo D'Orazio on January 15th, 2008 at 12:28 am
i don’t know if it counts, but we could sign this:
http://www.petitiononline.com/capt4mac/petition.html
Also, even if the market does not require it strongly, and since we all use adobe products on a mac since 10 years, for once they could do something that does not bring immediate financial profit (but surely will in perspective since there is a hole in this field). And more, making customers happy have always been a good marketing strategy.
Romolo D'Orazio on January 15th, 2008 at 12:28 am
i don’t know if it counts, but we could sign this:
http://www.petitiononline.com/capt4mac/petition.html
Also, even if the market does not require it strongly, and since we all use adobe products on a mac since 10 years, for once they could do something that does not bring immediate financial profit (but surely will in perspective since there is a hole in this field). And more, making customers happy have always been a good marketing strategy.
Mike Stewart on January 25th, 2008 at 1:49 pm
Captivate for Mac is a no brainer. I have a Mac at home and work on windows at work. It would be nice to be able to practice at home on my Mac rather than staying in the office.
bhammel on February 19th, 2008 at 9:14 am
I work with the Admissions office at my university, and although I am a student, was asked if I use Captivate. I went on Adobe’s site and looked at Captivate 3’s features and was extremely excited to find a tool to help me create training materials for a program I have been working with. Then…No Mac version. Such a shame. I switched to Mac for everything but video games, purchased both CS2 and CS3 Master Collection…would definitely purchase Captivate if only it were available on the Mac OS.
I would have to say Adobe has misread their market report, as I think more people would want this product if they knew they could actually use it on a Mac.
Captivate for Mac would surely beat out a video camera focused on my screen…
Stephen on February 19th, 2008 at 11:05 am
Check out ScreenFlow just released from Vara Software for OS X. Also I spoke to the makers of Camtasia and they are working on a port for the Mac.
Brian on February 20th, 2008 at 6:23 pm
I will buy Camtasia or Captivate which ever one on mac first.
Stephen on February 20th, 2008 at 7:32 pm
Brian,
So buy ScreenFlow it is only $99 and has about 90% of what Camtasia has and is available right now.
http://www.varasoftware.com/products/screenflow/
Camtasia is $299 and is not on the Mac yet.
bhammel on February 21st, 2008 at 10:03 am
I was just looking at ScreenFlow which looks like it will be sufficient for creating some simple training videos. I will post my thoughts about the product after utilizing the application.
I asked Vara about licensing – I was wondering how many “machines I could put ScreenFlow on with a single license purchase. (I asked because I use two Macs and Adobe Software allows installation and use on up-to two machines at one time.)
This was their response:
“It is licensed for one user on one machine. If you want to use it a new
machine, by strict letter of the license you have to uninstall it from one
computer and start using it on the other computer.”
$99 isn’t a bad price though.
Michele on March 3rd, 2008 at 4:09 pm
Because I teach Apple products on a Mac, I use Snapz Pro X but would cross-over if you offered a Mac version of Captivate. I believe this is a much needed app for Mac users. Currently, Snapz Pro X’s features are limited.
Stephen on March 3rd, 2008 at 4:31 pm
I have been using ScreenFlow to do Mac training. It has about 90% of what Camtasia offers with probably better video performance at one third the price. It is excellent for a version 1.0 product. Vara Software has already made some improvements in the 1.02 update. To tell you the trues Camtasia and Capivate would have be fantastic on the Mac for me to now switch and pay the high price.
Camtasia is supposed to be on the Mac this year, unless they come out strong it may be already too late for them as Vara will probably have a 1.5 release by then.
Doifel on March 29th, 2008 at 7:42 am
Well we can still use iShowU. I think it’s far better than Snapz X Pro.
Sean Tierney on March 30th, 2008 at 5:18 pm
Screenflow is an excellent tool for making screencasts (like Camtasia) but it’s not a Captivate substitute. Captivate (formerly Robodemo) allows you to make interactive tutorials and even produce scorm-compliant eLearning materials. It allows you to control elements like the cursor after the capture and handle events. It’s a much more engaging experience designed to first teach and then quiz the user- something that a movie just can’t do. I would love to see Captivate ported to Mac.
sean
Joe on May 27th, 2008 at 2:06 pm
I have a Mac-pro and a PC sitting next to each other on my desk. The only reason I still have a PC next to my Mac and not in the recycling pile is because I have to use Captivate. Dear Adobe, port Captivate to the Mac, or eat my poo.
Robert K. on June 4th, 2008 at 8:23 am
NEED TO HAVE CAPTIVATE FOR MAC!!!! Someone asked before if Captivate will work over Parallels. It works great except it will only record what is on the virtual machine screen and not the Mac OS. C’mon Adobe, even if you had to make just a beta or limited run of these to test the market, give it a shot. Camtasia is doing a Mac version and I will get that. But it does not have as many smart features especially for educators or ID. Let’s go with this Adobe!!
me on June 12th, 2008 at 2:57 pm
YES!! You are killin’ us here .. pretty please develop and release Captivate for Mac as soon as possible!!! I wrote ‘please’, right? What else can we do to expedite this as an application we can use in 2008?!!!
We cannot stand using Parallels to run Windows (blech!) for this one app .. Dreamweaver, Flash, etc. is all on a Mac so why hold out on this?
Again, please get right on this for your loyal throughout the years fans like me and our group and millions of others … thank you ..
will keyworth on June 13th, 2008 at 5:42 am
OH GOOD GOD YEEEESSSS! PLEASE CAPTIVATE FOR MAC!!!!!
John Angus on July 5th, 2008 at 4:47 am
Adobe must have a very good idea of the number of Adobe media-oriented packages (CS bundled and unbundled, etc)that they have sold into education, and they should have realised that most media-oriented faculties favour macs – for reasons both serious and occasionally mythological. Education is a big ‘corporate’ market these days and they must know that, surely.
Globally there is not a single educational institution that is not seeking to gain efficiency and currency through e-learning initiatives. In this context it is archaic and incomprehensible to me that Adobe aren’t providing Captivate or similar for both windows os and mac os.
There has to be a hidden agenda behind this omission – maybe they hope to hog for themselves the on-line tutorial market supporting their own media/design products. Adobe University certified qualifications, anyone?
Marc on July 19th, 2008 at 12:36 pm
I also use iShowU, and while it would be nice to get Captivate, if they don’t want my money, the hell with them, really. Who cares? I’m tired of corporations who dangle products and expect you to jump for it like a goddamn purse dog. Screw Adobe. They aren’t the only game in town.
Bob on July 19th, 2008 at 7:05 pm
I’d love to see Captivate ported to Mac. I switched from PC to Mac and use Parallels for all my older Win apps, but recently paid the hefty upgrade price for Adobe products to use on Mac. I like the Mac OS for my video and photo work much better than Win, so now I have to switch back to Win to use my Captivate while the rest of my work is done on OSX.
I hear Camtasia Studio is preparing a Mac Version of their screen recording software, so watch out Adobe — if you’re not going to jump on this opportunity, shame on you!
Max on August 5th, 2008 at 10:54 am
There is an online petition you can sign asking Adobe to make it for the Mac, it needs a lot of help though :
http://www.petitiononline.com/capt4mac/petition.html
Danny on August 6th, 2008 at 7:43 am
Yeah, this would be cool. Come on Adobe, what’s the problem, get moving on it now.
Pete on September 11th, 2008 at 7:28 am
I think it is an absolute travesty that they would even consider not making this available for both platforms! Why on earth do they think that designers, who have been using MAC’s for years and account for the majority of user platform in the industry, would not want to dive head first in to this product, well it’s just beyond comprehension! I believe who ever is making the call at Adobe should truly re-think this, or look for another job, fast.
CHRIS on October 13th, 2008 at 12:41 pm
I would love to have this on the mac, it sucks on Parallells (crashes constantly, sound is horrible) I have two machines set up and end up using PC basically only for Captivate, is there interest? Adobe asks, oh yes there is!!!
Ryan Bremner on November 16th, 2008 at 7:38 pm
Are you effing kidding me? Adobe could make an even bigger killing in the education market with this product. As a current technology educator I have been looking for a Captivate substitute to better engage and train my students, and I am certainly not alone. Instead, I am wasting time using funky combinations of Flash, Keynote, ScreenFlow and Authorware under Parallels. Come on Adobe, you know Mac isn’t going away, certainly not in schools, not to mention the recent market penetrations in the corporate world. Responses like this from companies that know better really aggravate those of us who are trying to teach and promote your software products. I have 200+ potential future end-users of Adobe products come through my classroom doors everyday, don’t they deserve the best experience they can get?
sara on December 15th, 2008 at 12:16 pm
i’m interested!!!!
Daniel on January 5th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Well, I looked at ScreenFlow
http://www.telestream.net/screen-flow/demos.htm
and have to say I LOVE it!
As an educator with video editing/graphics background. Until I found ScreenFlow, I used Snapz Pro X and ScreenFlow BLOWS IT AWAY.
It’ll work for most everything I need for my students/viewers. And for $99??!! ARE YOU KIDDING ME??? It’s no-brainer! Who wants to part with $700 for Captivate?? Be my guest.
I hope ScreenFlow wipes the floor with Adobe for missing (and dissing) this niche. Make sure you check out the other demos of what ScreeFlow can do. This program is astounding!
http://www.telestream.net/telestream-support/screen-flow/tutorials.htm
wow…after a quick reread, i know i sound like the owner of telestream, but really, i’m just a geek who LOVES this product.
Mark Pettijohn on January 26th, 2009 at 5:01 pm
I have the perfect project I could use Captivate for but with all my other Adobe products on my Mac, I’m stuck with finding another alternative. Adobe, you’re missing the boat here.
Jared on February 3rd, 2009 at 10:27 am
Agreed – Mac OS X captivate would be amazing. I like Screenflow, but it is only a useful replacement for ONE of the components of Captivate. Interactive functionality, quizzes, etc. – that’s what we want!
Cathryn on February 23rd, 2009 at 1:36 pm
Captivate would probably be in every school and teachers budget – Another classic case of Microsoft “not seeing the flowers for the trees” – it makes you wanna go “uhmmmmm”
mfubib on February 28th, 2009 at 7:12 pm
I recently switched to a Mac and was horrified to find there was no Captivate. While ScreenFlow is good, I agree with Jared that it is no replacement for Captivate.
I recently blogged about running Captivate CS4 in a virtual XP environment on my Macbook, see here for details: http://www.matthewbibby.com/blog/captivate-cs4-on-a-mac/
Annie on March 19th, 2009 at 10:15 am
I would definitely buy captivate for my MAC and lecturers at our college are asking if it’s available too. Come on adobe…bring it on!
Maar on April 16th, 2009 at 2:27 pm
I don’t think the Mac side of the market should be ignored. Adobe must remember that a great percentage of its profits are thanks to Mac users.
Matthew Bibby on April 23rd, 2009 at 7:07 am
Adobe may miss the boat.
Tech Smith are currently beta testing for a Mac version of Camtasia: http://tr.im/jvu0
While (in my opinion) Camtasia is not as fully featured as Captivate, it is a similar enough program to have an impact on the number of Captivate users.
Maybe this will finally demonstrate to Adobe how many people would use a Mac version of Captivate.
Matthew Bibby on April 25th, 2009 at 4:22 am
I just found out last night that Adobe are working on Captivate for Mac! Finally!!! They are hoping to start beta testing in the next three months!
http://tr.im/jGe9 – [Note: RJ Jacquez is an Adobe Evangelist for eLearning and Tech Comm Suites, he blogs here: http://tr.im/jGek
I am so excited, I just hope that what they make will allow for me to work on the same project across platforms.
Matt.
Brooke Fussell on June 29th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Can we start a petition get Captivate on a Mac? I don’t like when clients (pc user) are able to do things over us designers (mac users).. makes us look bad!
Nic Bartholomew on July 15th, 2009 at 8:08 am
I would very much appreciate Captivate for Mac as I am a recent Mac convert. Developing video lectures for Uni on my Macbook Pro at home will be extremely convenient for me.
Timo on October 17th, 2009 at 4:53 am
Finally they are goint to rewire it. i just signed up for the prerelease programme
http://blogs.adobe.com/captivate/2009/05/the_beta_for_captivate_on_mac.html
just wantet you to know..
Timo
Tiffanie on November 6th, 2009 at 9:12 pm
I think it is truly unfair of Adobe to create an application that can only be used with Windows. If the design suites are dual platform doesn’t it make sense to have Captivate to be dual platform as well. We as educators with Mac labs need to present material to our classes just like those with PC labs. Who justified not creating a Mac version?