Catch a free firefly + marketing smarts
I believe that software simulations are a huge part of the future of
corporate training. Used in conjunction with a guru-blog or a
department or company wiki, a simulation will complete and fulfill a
lot of technical training needs. They can also be created in short bursts, making
them quick to study and easily accessible, delivering information when
and if the user needs it.
When I attended the ASTD TechKnowledge conference last month, there were several products on the floor that attracted my attention. I’ve already told you about Veotag, which brings video to life. Now I want to talk about KnowledgePlanet’s Firefly.
Firefly is perhaps the best software simulation tool I’ve seen. It’s deep simulation, completely immersing your user in the environment. It’s very real – so real it’s hard to tell whether you’re in training, or the actual software product on which you’re training. That realistic touch makes Firefly extremely effective.
On top of that, when we sat through the demonstration of the product, Firefly seemed extremely easy to use. Have you used Captivate? Then you’ll have little problem with Firefly. In fact, Captivate is probably their biggest competitor, if only due to distribution channels, and there’s really no comparison.
There was one problem. When I finally mustered up the courage to ask how much a license would cost, I was given an unrealistic answer. I believe they said $10K. I’m lucky I remained standing. It makes other elearning software I think is overpriced suddenly seem inexpensive. I was crushed by the price tag and walked away shocked and sad.
Apparently, I’m not the only one who had that same shocked and sad experience. But here’s the crazy thing – Knowledge Planet paid attention. They are now offering a slightly scaled down but FREE version of their product…
It’s only free for a limited time. The "lite" version is called Firefly SME, for Show Me Edition (download link at end of post).
Designed for ease of use and flexible deployment, Firefly SME insulates
novice and experienced developers from scripting or programming, with a
simplified process for recording application screens and functionality,
as well as a template-based, intuitive environment for authoring
instructional content and screen objects. Web-based and plug-in free,
simulations can be made easily accessible to learners through a simple
browser, or imported into eLearning courses.
This is a fantastic marketing move by KnowledgePlanet. I bet there
are a lot of businesses bigger than me who will jump on this
opportunity. It’s like a never-ending trial run. But as we all develop
more and more intense simulations, we’ll start to want that full
product. Plus, it can go viral throughout the industry. KnowledgePlanet
is creating converts by offering the product for free. Not only that,
KnowledgePlanet recognized a choke point and addressed it.
Very smart, very effective, and well, very exciting.
Be forewarned. It’s a huge download. I downloaded it over wireless
today and it took awhile. You also have to give your name, address,
phone number, and email address multiple times in the process. They
have to sell you on the full product after all. While you’re
downloading, you also need to pull down the license key. In addition,
they offer you a downloadable tutorial, which I haven’t had a chance to
explore just yet.
Download Firefly SME here.
KnowledgePlanet Home Page
Tags: 
KnowledgePlanet,
Knowledge Planet,
Firefly,
Firefly Simulation,
elearning,
elearning simulation
Ross Notes
March 23rd, 2007 at 1:24 pm #
Firefly SME and Screencasting
From spring 2003 to winter 2005, I worked at Knowledgeplanet in Mechanicsburg, PA. In 2004 KP acquired another knowledge company Knowledge Impact, creators of a somewhat-nifty (but kind of fragile, at least during the time I was s…