jcj_313 wrote:
> I am an eLearning developer, and I create customized training solutions using
> Flash. I had a potential client contact me regarding a product that they heard
> about from Articulate. The applications are called Articulate Presenter and
> Articulate Quizmaker. Here's how Articulate positions itself on their website
> ( note - I grabbed the following text from their website):
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
> Eliminate all the time, complexity and cost of creating custom Flash
> presentations and e-learning courses.
>
> Articulate Presenter lets non-technical users create rich-media presentations
> by integrating narration and interactivity with a standard PowerPoint? file. At
> the press of the button, your presentation is transformed to a compelling Flash
> experience.
>
> No need to rely on expensive Flash programmers. With Articulate Presenter,
> anyone can get professional-quality results in minutes.
>
> With Articulate Presenter, you can:
> * Create compelling presentations and e-learning courses, complete with
> narration, animation and interactivity.
> * Develop and deliver content fast, while it's timely and relevant.
> * Distribute your message widely over the Internet in a format anyone can
> view.
>
> Deliver with Confidence
> With Articulate Presenter, your presentation is converted to Flash, which is
> already installed in 98% of Web browsers. Articulate Presenter reduces the size
> of your presentations so they download fast. Presentations may be distributed
> easily on the Web, by e-mail or on CD-ROM.
>
> Integrate with Ease
> Presentations run on any Web server. For organizations with Learning
> Management Systems, Articulate Presenter creates SCORM and AICC-compliant
> content so learner results can be tracked.
>
> -------------------------------------------------------------------------
>
> The potential client is asking me why they should consider working with me
> when they can use Articulate Presenter to create training in Powerpoint and
> export as swf. It also doesn't help my cause when the Articulate website
> states: "No need to rely on expensive Flash programmers." (Thanks Articulate.)
>
> I feel that the benefit to creating training in Flash is that there are no
> technical or creative limitations in Flash to create a specific type and style
> of training. Using Flash, you are only limited by your imagination and/or
> technical abilities. Using Articulate, a developer is limited to Powerpoint's
> animations and other effects. While Articulate does support importing Flash swf
> files, overall, there is still a limitation in terms of development
> capabilities by using Powerpoint as a development tool. Also, Articulate
> publishes out content in AICC/SCORM compliant format, however I don't think
> that you can readily integrate Articulate with a database (I'd have to read up
> more on this though).
>
> This is all that I have come up with so far. Any other pro-Flash /
> anti-Powerpoint (Articulate) points would be helpful (especially directly from
> Macromedia considering that I am trying to help sell the use of your product
> over another).