Is Storyline 3 pointless already?
Jan 15, 2019
We are an office of 3 developers. We upgraded from Storyline 2 to 2 360 subscriptions, and then later decided to buy a standalone SL3 for the assistant developer. At the time both versions of software were pretty much the same (apart from all the extra stuff in the 360 app, which would explain the yearly subscription).
The recent release of the modern player was great, and we've started using it in a lot of projects. The only problem is that now our standalone SL3 software can no longer work in the same capacity as the storyline in the 360 app. SL3 has had an update to make it possible to open files with the modern player, but my understanding is that the modern player will remain an exclusive feature of 360.
I know this is only 1 feature I'm talking about. But I had a discussion with someone through the sales chat at Articulate today, and she has more or less said that the standalone SL3 will not really get any more features until there's a SL4, whereas 360 will continue to grow/adapt. I inquired about perhaps getting a discount for a new 360 due to this issue, as it seemed a little unfair to me, but she claimed she was unable to do so. She went on to say we should have gotten a teams subscription for our business. Teams costs US $300 more per year per user, and has all of this extra stuff that we already have elsewhere and wouldn't even use.
Does anyone else think that this is forcing people to get 360 subscriptions? That doesn't seem reasonable to me at all, as the annual subscription cost is pretty big. For example, it costs us around $1,000 less per year to have 3 full Adobe CC suite subscriptions as it would for 3 360 subscriptions! And Adobe CC has 20 software programs in it!
We are now left with a SL3 software that now needs to be replaced with 360 just to keep our office able to work at proper capacity.
Am I the only one with this view? I'd really like to hear some thoughts on this.
9 Replies
Hi Fiona,
Unfortunately I suspect that you're right and Articulate have dropped their support for those of us who use perpetual licences. I've written my thoughts here (https://community.articulate.com/discussions/articulate-storyline/storyline-perpetual-licence).
It's a real shame as I feel Storyline is still the easiest tool to use - although it's probably lost a lot of ground to Captivate in terms of functionality recently. Captivate isn't as intuitive to use but, price, functionality and perpetual licence does now make it a valid alternative.
I'm still hoping that Articulate will surprise us with news of Storyline v4 but I suspect that, those who can, will be forced to move to 360 whilst those of us who need perpetual licences will be forced to look elsewhere.
I've commented in a couple of different discussions about the fact that some organizations (like ours, as well as many federal agencies) are unable to use cloud-based software due to security concerns. Not sure if Articulate is interested in hearing this, but some of us simply can't use 360.
You are right, Andy. I tested Captivate before 360 came along to see if it was a worthwhile software in terms of responsiveness/mobile. After using Storyline for so long I found is so tricky!
It looks as if Cloud is the way everyone is going. We've just moved to cloud hosting, which is bringing with it a whole new hosts of problems we hadn't had before. I hadn't thought of the risk of security, though, Keith, which is another interesting point (an another reason to keep SL3 up to date!).
Guess we'll just have to wait and see how it goes...
only Rise it cloud-based.
I'm also in a situation where we due to security reasons cannot have internet access as we work. 360 is not an option, only SL3 can do the trick. Looking into Captivate as the only alternative if Articulate keeps going this way. But I really don't want to.
Hello Pernille,
Initially, you must be online long enough to sign in to Articulate 360 and install the desktop-authoring apps, such as Storyline 360. Then you can use the apps offline up to 99 days at a time (or 30 days for free trials).
You can work directly with your account manager to better understand your options or email sales@articulate.com.
I cannot go online - period. Online will never be an option.
Hi Pernille! I'd like to understand your situation a bit more and see if we have a workable solution for you - I think we might. Please email me at sales@articulate.com and we can get this figured out! We have a great option for customers in your situation.
I understand Articulate's desire for annual payments, but I also understand developers' budget constraints.
I'd like to see some kind of compromise. For example:
or
This discussion is closed. You can start a new discussion or contact Articulate Support.