I think I was told that Storyline for Mac would be launched in Q2 of 2017, any update, feel like I can not take advantage of what I pay for without this applications (and using with Parallel is not a good enough solution for me) I see that there was a discussion opened on this topic 5 years ago.
Sadly, we had to end the Storyline for Mac project. A vast majority of our customers use Windows and, increasingly, web-based authoring tools that don’t depend on a particular operating system.
As the market has shifted, we’ve refocused on developing features that have the widest impact. For example, Articulate 360 subscribers can use Rise to author courses right in their web browsers, and we’re continually updating Rise with new features.
If you have any other questions, please let me know or feel free to reach out to our team privately here.
In deed a concern and question as to how leadership makes strategic decisions. I think a key to the conversation is “majority of (your) customers are Windows” I am guess that there is no interest in expanding the user base (make the pie bigger not get a bigger piece of the pie) to increase the number of Mac customers you have. Maybe Windows it the majority user because there is not a viable Mac solution. I am sure that Mac users are not a dying breed with nearly 100 million active Mac users (source: https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/4/15176766/apple-microsoft-windows-10-vs-mac-users-figures-stats ) And while Window users might out number Mac users 4:1 - that is still a lot of “pie” to leave on the table, don’t you think?
I want to stress that we didn’t come to this decision lightly. It was one of the hardest we’ve ever had to make. We hate disappointing our customers and we know some of you are very disappointed. While I can’t share additional details about our analysis, we are completely confident that this decision will allow us to serve the most people in the best possible way.
We are truly sorry if this decision disappoints you, and, as always, we are grateful for your feedback.
Thanks to Arlyn and Ashley for your information. I'm sure it isn't easy being the bearers of such a negative update.
Unfortunately loyal users such as myself are now even more acutely aware that we Mac owners aren't important enough to Articulate to warrant our own version of this popular, useful authoring tool. Few companies ignore the needs of such a large portion of users (I know we are large in numbers!) simply because they may not be in the majority. I suspect there is another reason. Nevertheless, until a Mac-friendly tool is released (hope, hope!) we're stuck relying on one that wasn't built for us. It can get expensive to purchase this way:
Even though I have Mac Office, when I bought SL2 I had to purchase not only Parallels (to make it run) but also Windows Office. Windows Office allowed me to publish a SL file to Word; SL wouldn't publish to Word unless it was in the Windows environment. Ka-ching! Another otherwise-needless purchase down the tubes.
Yet I stuck around, along with many other Mac owners, waiting for the promised day that a Mac version of SL would be released. I, too, was told by an Articulate employee that a Mac version of Articulate 360/SL was coming out in 2017.
Please tell your employees not to make a promise that Articulate doesn't keep. It almost doesn't matter if you're hiding behind excuses as flimsy as 'the vast majority of users are on Windows' (really...ouch!) or if you're just embarrassed by the knowledge that there isn't the expertise &/or the drive to make this happen.
This is so disappointing, I am a Mac user that has tried various ways you suggest to use storyline on a mac with and without parallels and it just doesn't work, it not very compatible and creates more issues then solutions. I feel this program would only benefit from having a Mac compatible version.
I, for one, am relieved that this tool stays on a single platform. Macs are still a strange animal in the corporate world from my experience and I'm sure Articulate is aware of this too.
I have had the dubious "pleasure" of working on a Mac in a heavily regulated corporate environment, and it just never stopped giving me problems. Keeping it Windows is simpler and today I work on this platform exclusively. For the record: my at-home computer is a Mac - not a hater!
This is disappointing to hear - I long to be able to use articulate storyline when I'm out of the office and I cant as I'm a mac user. There's no way in hell I'm booting my mac just for one program, what be much easier if a mac compatible version was created.
I understand from the corporate view but from a designer point of view (we're the ones that use it day in day out) most designers are heavy users of macs and it would be handy/great if you started it up again.
As a mac user keen to enter the field of Instructional Design, the thought of purchasing a windows-based PC to run one programme is so (so) disappointing. Macs are intuitive and melt beautifully with the creative process. The purchase of a windows based PC feels like a step backwards.
Sadly, we had to end the Storyline for Mac project. A vast majority of our customers use Windows and, increasingly, web-based authoring tools that don’t depend on a particular operating system. As the market has shifted, we’ve refocused on developing features that have the widest impact. For example, Articulate 360 subscribers can use Rise to author courses right in their web browsers, and we’re continually updating Rise with new features.
Many of the members of my team, myself included, use a Mac daily - so we certainly understand what a desirable and dependable machine it is. I personally use Parallels to run a Windows environment on my Mac and I know that VMWare is a viable software to do so as well.
We also have many customers who use Storyline on Mac with a virtual environment. These demo videos show you how.
I didn't hear this terrible news until this week. Really felt like a punch in the gut. So disappointing. I've had issues with near-catastrophic (and costly to me in time lost) file corruption using Storyline in a Windows virtual machine. Aside from that, Articulate software has become the very last thing I use that requires Windows virtualization. I was so looking forward to working entirely in the Mac environment. I see a plethora of Macs at the eLearning developer conferences I attend - so the market, while certainly not as large as that for Windows, is there. We are no longer a 2% user base. My assumption is Articulate did not manage to bring the right people on board with the required skills to make this happen. I thought Storyline had broken free from Office-for-Windows hooks that made Studio for Mac an impossibility. Perhaps not.
On to Captivate as my primary platform I guess. It runs sluggishly on my not-slow Mac, I hate its interface and prefer Articulate stuff in almost every way (especially the user community), but at least Captivate runs natively on Mac and doesn't require painful straddling of the OS fence. :(
Perhaps someday someone else will step in to fill the void.
"I, for one, am relieved that this tool stays on a single platform."
I'm curious why having Storyline on both platforms would bother you. Choose the platform you want. I don't really buy the corporate argument that offering Storyline for Mac would somehow negatively impact Storyline for Windows.
I just want to point out that, of course, "a vast majority of [your] customers use Windows." Because you only have a Windows version. I really can't understand how that's the basis for your decision to end the project. I'm trying to work with Parallels right now and it's very frustrating and expensive. I won't be recommending your products to my clients after this current project because I can't be efficient for them.
A lot of our team uses Parallels (a few other on VMWare) and we're here to help if you've run into any issues getting set up in there and using Storyline. I'd start with the recommendations here, and from there reach out to our Support team if needed.
I can't afford to pay for Storyline AND Parallels AND Windows AND an external drive to hold it all on my Mac, and then deal with the inefficiency of using a virtual machine. It just doesn't make sense when I can develop with Captivate on my Mac.
I don't understand what's going wrong with storyline support team? Its not professional deal why insist people to move on Windows, mac OS version should lunch? i think maybe they are saving development fee?
I feel like Articulate softwares cannot properly run on Apple machines because Flash / Shockwave isn't supported very well on Mac OS. There have been more apps that removed Flash components to meet Apple's standards.
Still, it is a sad news that the Mac version is cancelled. It's understandable that most Articulate users are on PC, because there isn't a Mac version to work with... Yes, it works with a hybrid machine, but technically and logically speaking, you shouldn't have to run Windows on a Mac to use Articulate.
I would have understood if there was a Mac version that was significantly underperforming compared to the PC version, but not here...
There isn't a native Mac version of Storyline on our roadmap, and we don't have plans to resume the project at this time. Right now we're focused on lots of exciting enhancements coming to Articulate 360. We've got some game-changing new features in the works!
I'd love to know the real backstory on the decision to abandon the Articulate + Mac project. Technical challenges that couldn't be overcome? Inability to acquire the necessary Mac programming talent? Regrettably, after many many years of complete Articulate fanboyism, I've migrated to Adobe Captivate, mainly due to its sorta-cross-platform support (using Articulate via VM became not only cumbersome, but also nearly-catastrophic for one project), but its UI and methodology is leagues below (and a decade behind) the Articulate stuff. And don't get me started on Adobe's laughably horrific customer support/online user community. Adobe treats Captivate as a red-headed stepchild (apologies to red-headed stepchildren everywhere) and getting help with problems or even just ideas from fellow users is painful when not impossible.
I will continue to hold out hope that someone, somewhere, someday will step into the void and create a true Mac-based eLearning development platform, designed and built the Mac way. I'm crushed that it won't be Articulate.
Sorry I'm late to the party but I'm here to gripe too.
I just spent a week trying to work with Articulate customer support team to fix errors the software was giving one of my employees on their virtual machine.
Thank you for sharing that article above. You seem to be right as I don't read well when I'm angry - Articulate DOES work in virtual machines but DOES NOT work on Server-Client Environments.
My employee was using a Server-Client Environment that was on a virtual machine.
PS: Make Articulate work on Apple products so my computer doesn't overheat trying to run 2 operating systems simultaneously and have to keep jumping back and forth from my Apple OS to my virtual machine OS. Do it now, please.
22 Replies
Hi Leslie,
Sadly, we had to end the Storyline for Mac project. A vast majority of our customers use Windows and, increasingly, web-based authoring tools that don’t depend on a particular operating system.
As the market has shifted, we’ve refocused on developing features that have the widest impact. For example, Articulate 360 subscribers can use Rise to author courses right in their web browsers, and we’re continually updating Rise with new features.
If you have any other questions, please let me know or feel free to reach out to our team privately here.
That really is disappointing news. I think I just lost a little spark for Articulate on that news...
In deed a concern and question as to how leadership makes strategic decisions. I think a key to the conversation is “majority of (your) customers are Windows” I am guess that there is no interest in expanding the user base (make the pie bigger not get a bigger piece of the pie) to increase the number of Mac customers you have. Maybe Windows it the majority user because there is not a viable Mac solution. I am sure that Mac users are not a dying breed with nearly 100 million active Mac users (source: https://www.theverge.com/2017/4/4/15176766/apple-microsoft-windows-10-vs-mac-users-figures-stats ) And while Window users might out number Mac users 4:1 - that is still a lot of “pie” to leave on the table, don’t you think?
Hi everyone,
I want to stress that we didn’t come to this decision lightly. It was one of the hardest we’ve ever had to make. We hate disappointing our customers and we know some of you are very disappointed. While I can’t share additional details about our analysis, we are completely confident that this decision will allow us to serve the most people in the best possible way.
We are truly sorry if this decision disappoints you, and, as always, we are grateful for your feedback.
Thanks to Arlyn and Ashley for your information. I'm sure it isn't easy being the bearers of such a negative update.
Unfortunately loyal users such as myself are now even more acutely aware that we Mac owners aren't important enough to Articulate to warrant our own version of this popular, useful authoring tool. Few companies ignore the needs of such a large portion of users (I know we are large in numbers!) simply because they may not be in the majority. I suspect there is another reason. Nevertheless, until a Mac-friendly tool is released (hope, hope!) we're stuck relying on one that wasn't built for us. It can get expensive to purchase this way:
Even though I have Mac Office, when I bought SL2 I had to purchase not only Parallels (to make it run) but also Windows Office. Windows Office allowed me to publish a SL file to Word; SL wouldn't publish to Word unless it was in the Windows environment. Ka-ching! Another otherwise-needless purchase down the tubes.
Yet I stuck around, along with many other Mac owners, waiting for the promised day that a Mac version of SL would be released. I, too, was told by an Articulate employee that a Mac version of Articulate 360/SL was coming out in 2017.
Please tell your employees not to make a promise that Articulate doesn't keep. It almost doesn't matter if you're hiding behind excuses as flimsy as 'the vast majority of users are on Windows' (really...ouch!) or if you're just embarrassed by the knowledge that there isn't the expertise &/or the drive to make this happen.
This is so disappointing, I am a Mac user that has tried various ways you suggest to use storyline on a mac with and without parallels and it just doesn't work, it not very compatible and creates more issues then solutions. I feel this program would only benefit from having a Mac compatible version.
I, for one, am relieved that this tool stays on a single platform. Macs are still a strange animal in the corporate world from my experience and I'm sure Articulate is aware of this too.
I have had the dubious "pleasure" of working on a Mac in a heavily regulated corporate environment, and it just never stopped giving me problems. Keeping it Windows is simpler and today I work on this platform exclusively. For the record: my at-home computer is a Mac - not a hater!
This is disappointing to hear - I long to be able to use articulate storyline when I'm out of the office and I cant as I'm a mac user. There's no way in hell I'm booting my mac just for one program, what be much easier if a mac compatible version was created.
I understand from the corporate view but from a designer point of view (we're the ones that use it day in day out) most designers are heavy users of macs and it would be handy/great if you started it up again.
As a mac user keen to enter the field of Instructional Design, the thought of purchasing a windows-based PC to run one programme is so (so) disappointing. Macs are intuitive and melt beautifully with the creative process. The purchase of a windows based PC feels like a step backwards.
Hello Kylie and welcome to E-Learning Heroes :)
Sadly, we had to end the Storyline for Mac project. A vast majority of our customers use Windows and, increasingly, web-based authoring tools that don’t depend on a particular operating system. As the market has shifted, we’ve refocused on developing features that have the widest impact. For example, Articulate 360 subscribers can use Rise to author courses right in their web browsers, and we’re continually updating Rise with new features.
Many of the members of my team, myself included, use a Mac daily - so we certainly understand what a desirable and dependable machine it is. I personally use Parallels to run a Windows environment on my Mac and I know that VMWare is a viable software to do so as well.
We also have many customers who use Storyline on Mac with a virtual environment. These demo videos show you how.
I didn't hear this terrible news until this week. Really felt like a punch in the gut. So disappointing. I've had issues with near-catastrophic (and costly to me in time lost) file corruption using Storyline in a Windows virtual machine. Aside from that, Articulate software has become the very last thing I use that requires Windows virtualization. I was so looking forward to working entirely in the Mac environment. I see a plethora of Macs at the eLearning developer conferences I attend - so the market, while certainly not as large as that for Windows, is there. We are no longer a 2% user base. My assumption is Articulate did not manage to bring the right people on board with the required skills to make this happen. I thought Storyline had broken free from Office-for-Windows hooks that made Studio for Mac an impossibility. Perhaps not.
On to Captivate as my primary platform I guess. It runs sluggishly on my not-slow Mac, I hate its interface and prefer Articulate stuff in almost every way (especially the user community), but at least Captivate runs natively on Mac and doesn't require painful straddling of the OS fence. :(
Perhaps someday someone else will step in to fill the void.
"I, for one, am relieved that this tool stays on a single platform."
I'm curious why having Storyline on both platforms would bother you. Choose the platform you want. I don't really buy the corporate argument that offering Storyline for Mac would somehow negatively impact Storyline for Windows.
I just want to point out that, of course, "a vast majority of [your] customers use Windows." Because you only have a Windows version. I really can't understand how that's the basis for your decision to end the project. I'm trying to work with Parallels right now and it's very frustrating and expensive. I won't be recommending your products to my clients after this current project because I can't be efficient for them.
Hi Tianna,
A lot of our team uses Parallels (a few other on VMWare) and we're here to help if you've run into any issues getting set up in there and using Storyline. I'd start with the recommendations here, and from there reach out to our Support team if needed.
I can't afford to pay for Storyline AND Parallels AND Windows AND an external drive to hold it all on my Mac, and then deal with the inefficiency of using a virtual machine. It just doesn't make sense when I can develop with Captivate on my Mac.
I don't understand what's going wrong with storyline support team? Its not professional deal why insist people to move on Windows, mac OS version should lunch? i think maybe they are saving development fee?
cheap mind?
I feel like Articulate softwares cannot properly run on Apple machines because Flash / Shockwave isn't supported very well on Mac OS. There have been more apps that removed Flash components to meet Apple's standards.
Still, it is a sad news that the Mac version is cancelled. It's understandable that most Articulate users are on PC, because there isn't a Mac version to work with... Yes, it works with a hybrid machine, but technically and logically speaking, you shouldn't have to run Windows on a Mac to use Articulate.
I would have understood if there was a Mac version that was significantly underperforming compared to the PC version, but not here...
Are there plans to eventually resume the project?
Hi Jean-Christophe!
There isn't a native Mac version of Storyline on our roadmap, and we don't have plans to resume the project at this time. Right now we're focused on lots of exciting enhancements coming to Articulate 360. We've got some game-changing new features in the works!
I'd love to know the real backstory on the decision to abandon the Articulate + Mac project. Technical challenges that couldn't be overcome? Inability to acquire the necessary Mac programming talent? Regrettably, after many many years of complete Articulate fanboyism, I've migrated to Adobe Captivate, mainly due to its sorta-cross-platform support (using Articulate via VM became not only cumbersome, but also nearly-catastrophic for one project), but its UI and methodology is leagues below (and a decade behind) the Articulate stuff. And don't get me started on Adobe's laughably horrific customer support/online user community. Adobe treats Captivate as a red-headed stepchild (apologies to red-headed stepchildren everywhere) and getting help with problems or even just ideas from fellow users is painful when not impossible.
I will continue to hold out hope that someone, somewhere, someday will step into the void and create a true Mac-based eLearning development platform, designed and built the Mac way. I'm crushed that it won't be Articulate.
Sorry I'm late to the party but I'm here to gripe too.
I just spent a week trying to work with Articulate customer support team to fix errors the software was giving one of my employees on their virtual machine.
The conclusion was that they can't help us because, "Storyline is not supported on any virtual machine"......... Then they sent me this link that reiterates this conclusion: https://articulate.com/support/article/articulate-storyline-isnt-supported-in-a-server-environment
Boo Articulate, boo!
The system requirements https://articulate.com/support/article/System-Requirements-for-Articulate-Storyline-360 show that Storyline is supported on Virtual Machines on a Mac via Parallels or VMWare Fusion, but is not supported in a Server-Client Environment.
Hey Phil - Very very prompt reply.
Thank you for sharing that article above. You seem to be right as I don't read well when I'm angry - Articulate DOES work in virtual machines but DOES NOT work on Server-Client Environments.
My employee was using a Server-Client Environment that was on a virtual machine.
PS: Make Articulate work on Apple products so my computer doesn't overheat trying to run 2 operating systems simultaneously and have to keep jumping back and forth from my Apple OS to my virtual machine OS. Do it now, please.
This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.