Forum Discussion
Make Storyline Mac Friendly--and Soon!
Hey, folks. I've just submitted a feature request. What I said is included below. If you are a Mac user, or intend to transition to Mac as I'm currently doing, please add your name to the list of people submitting feature requests to make Storyline Mac-friendly. The more people Articulate hears from on this point, the more likely it is that it will happen. They have always been responsive to their user requests, and this is a fundamental one. Thanks!
Please, submit a feature request of your own: http://www.articulate.com/support/contact/submit.php?form=feature
Here's my feature request:
I'm writing to add my name to the list of people urging Articulate to do right by those of us who work on Mac computers. The reality is that with Storyline, Articulate has now jumped into the from-scratch content development market with both feet. With that shift come expectations, and one of the fundamental expectations is that Storyline should work well for Mac users as well as Windows users. Having been in the corporate sector for many years, I do understand that Windows still represents the vast majority of your audience. But that is rapidly changing, and surely you can see that by now. Adobe's eLearning Suite 6 is available for Mac. Articulate's silence on the Mac issues for Storyline is not sending the message you want to send to the marketplace.
While I realize this is a lesser point when compared with your company's marketing strategy, here's an example of the hoops I'm having to jump through to migrate to a Mac and still use Storyline:
- Buying Parallels 7 and Windows 7 (I'm on Vista now, which is junk not worth repurposing)
- Buying MSOffice 2010 for Windows rather than for Mac, because you folks say importing a PPT created in the Mac version of MS Office won't work reliably (and I'm on an old version of Office that again isn't worth repurposing).
- Having to turn off the Sharing feature of Parallels 7 that would have made my file backups a lot easier, again because Storyline is one of those Windows programs that experiences runtime issues if Sharing is activated.
- Having to format my new backup drive with two partitions--one for Windows, one for Mac, because I can't identify a single backup drive solution that is recommended for handling automated backup of both environments without issues. Yes, I can perform manual backups but I shouldn't be restricted to that just because I want to run Storyline.
In short, your currrent lack of support for the Mac enviroment has far-reaching implications for all of us using Macs, and there are more of us every day. If it is simply not financially profitable to produce a native Mac version of Storyline, then you should at least immediately step up to the plate and accomplish the following:
- Make Storyline launchable with Parallels 7 Sharing enabled
- Import Mac MSOffice PPT files into Storyline smoothly
- Import Mac's Keynote files into Storyline smoothly
With Storyline, you've brought Articulate into a whole new league. It's not a PowerPoint add-on, it's a full-blown developer tool. A lot of developers understandably prefer to use Macs. Please don't stumble now, just when you have the potential for such widespread success and industry respect. Step up to the plate, and make Storyline a LOT more Mac friendly than it is today. And when you make those features available to existing users/subscribers, do the right thing and don't charge us for it. Wonderful as Storyline is, Mac-friendly features should have been part of the first release.
Make Mac-friendliness a Storyline priority. Make us proud. Thanks.
28 Replies
Sorry Andrew, I forgot to post this, any backup solution for a Mac would backup your windows parallels installation. The installation in paralels is basically a single file .pvm
If you used a time capsule this would be backed up. I have my whole installation backed up to my time capsule now.
I would fully support a Mac version of Storyline, I am also aware that Arlyn the programming team lead uses Macs and did ask late in the beta what the support would there be for a Mac version
Hey, Phil--thanks for the update. If the Time Machine automated backup feature I'm told is included with Mac would back up all the Windows files in the Parallels 7 world, even with the Sharing feature turned off per Articulate Support's instructions, that would be great! At least it would simplify the process of backups from the two "worlds" on my Mac. I wasn't planning to buy Apple's Time Capsule because I don't need a router; I have my Verizon account router. So I hope Time Machine backing up to a USB storage drive will do the trick. Interestingly, the Apple "Genius" I spoke with at length this morning didn't know what you've just told me; he's the one who said I'd have to partition the drive with two different formats. I mentioned the exFat32 possibility to him, but he didn't know about that, either. Hmmm....
Yes, I'm told that some of the Articulate development team uses Macs, so there is definitely more than a little irony to the fact that so far, Storyline is decidedly not Mac friendly. Let's hope that they address this situation soon. Unfortunately, it'll be after I've spent about another $300 on Windows-related software. I'm sure you've put in a feature request on this point, and I hope that others will, too! My fear is that people will not bother to submit the feature requests even if they do use a Mac, and then Articulate won't have a true sense of the extent of the need. Let's hope people step up and file the requests.
Folks--If you do file a Mac-friendliness request, please post a comment on this thread to let us know you did. Thanks!
I have transferred my VM of windows 7 to other machines just by copying the pvm file. There is no need to partition your drive if you use parallels, you only need this if you use bootcamp.
Parallels creates a virtual drive for windows.
The windows installation is basically a file in your mac file system, this can be moved, copied, like any other file. suprised the Genius never told you this.
time machine will work to an external usb drive
Well said, Andrew!! Just sent my request and keeping my fingers and toes crossed.
Thanks, Eileen! And thanks for the additional info, Phil. Kind of funny (and sad) that the Apple Genius didn't know this, given that they sell Parallels 7....
But we still need a Mac-friendly Storyline, of course.
Just added the feature request. I splurged a bundle on a new macbook pro and would love to be able to use storyline without also buying parallels, windows, etc.
Thanks Andrew for kicking off this improtant post!
I am also a mac user using Storyline on PD and Win 7 and I would love to have a native Storyline for Mac!
Let's keep our fingers crossed
This is the one single biggest request I have!!
Thanks Andrew for initiating this thread. I can hardly wait for Mac version of Storyline. Praying that Articulate is listening and has some good news for us soon -- please guys, please!!!
#StorylineForMac
Sean: make sure you submit a feature request; that's what Articulate tracks most. I included the link in an earlier post on this same thread.
