Screencast software

Camtasia's new Mac product was released this last week. I had been waiting for that to decide on whether I'd try them or go with ScreenFlow. I have to say there were a few things that I wasn't that pleased with at first glance. I wanted to have the option to export .flv or .swf files like they have in the Windows version. They aren't export options in the Mac version. I was also hoping to see .wmv file export options like they have in the Windows version. Not there either that I can see. These were two potential advantages to ScreenFlow that I saw based on looking at the Windows version. I know I can use H.264 for flash players, but in the Windows version I liked that I could get those .swf and .flv files for browsers with older flash versions. I also wanted .wmv built in for Silverlight, but if you pick up Flip4Mac (same company that sells ScreenFlow) then you actually have more options with them on the Mac. They have a deal right now where you get it with the ScreenFlow v2.0 upgrade as well. A few other things I noticed that I couldn't do that I had hoped for. In Camtasia Studio on Windows I can determine how large of a screen area I want to record before starting the recording. I don't like adjusting my screen size so telling the Windows version to record 800x600 or 1024x768 is really nice. You get a square that tells you what part of the screen will be captured. I don't see any way to do that in the Mac version of Camtasia. ScreenFlow is much easier to scale things down and and the quality looked better too, though I'd really prefer the way Camtasia for Windows does it... If they want to price Camtasia for Mac higher than ScreenFlow I think they need more features, or at least as many as they have in the Windows version. ScreenFlow appears to be better value for the money right now and with Flip4Mac I can make .wmv files that can go into Silverlight players. If I see anything in the future that changes my mind, I'll make mention of it. But right now, after my first impressions using the trial, I chose to go with ScreenFlow.


About The Author

Ron Grove draws on over ten years of training, network administration and development experience. He loves to work with new technology and see how that technology can be best utilized by his clients. You can find him through his company Evanoah, LLC and his LinkedIn profile is here.

Delphi Language Guide for Delphi 2010

As I've been waiting for my SA email to arrive so I can get my license to download Delphi 2010 I wandered over to the Delphi Docs site to see what was new. I like how they've formatted the HTML for the Delphi Language Guide on the wiki. The Win32 Developer's Guide is nice as well. Once I get my copy of D2010 I'll be using these online books for a series of tutorial videos when my website is done. Hopefully sooner than later. :-)


About The Author

Ron Grove draws on over ten years of training, network administration and development experience. He loves to work with new technology and see how that technology can be best utilized by his clients. You can find him through his company Evanoah, LLC and his LinkedIn profile is here.

Not Rewarding Customer Loyalty

I've had a love/hate relationship with the companies that have sold Delphi over the years and there's one thing that kills me every year. I mean, it just kills me... People who are loyal and renew their Software Assurance never get Delphi when it's released. I'm working on selling a product myself and one thing I have learned over the years is that if anyone becomes a loyal customer of mine I'll do whatever I can to make them feel my appreciation. One simple way I know I can do that is to let them get their hands on software earlier than others. Every year with Delphi it's the same thing. They announce the release and those of us with SA begin the waiting game. When will we get our email? Someone can go to the site today, buy it, download it, and then start using it right away. We can't. We sit and wait hoping we get our emails tomorrow. Some go to the newsgroups and begin complaining. Some complain in the blog posts announcing the release. How does any of that traffic help draw new customers in? How much does it test the continued loyalty of Delphi developers? And most of all, how easy would it be to avoid the whole mess all together by giving us our information on or (preferably) before the release date?

Oh well, hopefully the email comes tomorrow...


About The Author

Ron Grove draws on over ten years of training, network administration and development experience. He loves to work with new technology and see how that technology can be best utilized by his clients. You can find him through his company Evanoah, LLC and his LinkedIn profile is here.

"Getting Started with Delphi and C++Builder 2009"

I noticed an interesting book in the Delphi documents section that I hadn't seen before. I suspect it's because I only have the download version of Delphi and don't get the media any longer. I looked in the CodeGear folders and don't see it, and I don't see it in the help. Perhaps I'm just missing it, but don't think so. The books title is "Getting Started with Delphi and C++Builder 2009" and if you're just getting started and got the download version like I did you don't want to miss it. Go to the documents section here to download it now:

RAD Studio Product Documentation

While you're there I do recommend downloading the old Delphi 7 "Object Pascal Language Guide" as well. It was an excellent resource then and remains so today in my opinion. The basics of the language haven't really changed so knowing that book well would prove a solid foundation for today. I suspect it would be pretty handy for FreePascal developers as well. Hopefully Embarcadero will consider republishing it in book form again in future versions.

About The Author

Ron Grove draws on over ten years of training, network administration and development experience. He loves to work with new technology and see how that technology can be best utilized by his clients. You can find him through his company Evanoah, LLC and his LinkedIn profile is here.

Two Free Books on Delphi Development

Anyone who hadn't purchased Delphi 7 or previous versions may not know this but there are actually two books in the Delphi help. They used to come in book form when you bought the product. Sadly, for those of us who like books, they don't come like that any longer. The "Delphi Language Guide" can still be found these days in what's called the "RAD Studio (Common)" help section. You can find it under References | Delphi Language Guide. It's available online in the Codegear docs page here:

RAD Studio (Common) Table of Contents

On the docs page there's also a PDF file that you could download if you like to print the pages out like they used to be in book form. It's about 10 MB for Delphi 2010 and the section you'll want to print would start on page 538 and go to page 754.

There was also a much thicker book called the "Delphi Developer's Guide". It's still there as well! It's in the "RAD Studio (Win32)" section. It's also available online on the Codegear docs page here:

RAD Studio (Win32) Table of Contents

A PDF form of this help section is also available. If you wanted to print this part like the old book you'd want to go to the References section and print all of the "Win32 Developers Guide". If you print that, I hope you have lots of paper available. It's not short...

About The Author

Ron Grove draws on over ten years of training, network administration and development experience. He loves to work with new technology and see how that technology can be best utilized by his clients. You can find him through his company Evanoah, LLC and his LinkedIn profile is here.