Macromedia announces training tool

Software maker Macromedia announced a new product Monday based on RoboDemo, an application it acquired last year from San Diego-based eHelp for creating technical tutorials and other training presentations. Captivate automatically records all on-screen activity on a user's PC, for playback later as an interactive demonstration or simulation of a piece of software.

Captivate is intended for corporate trainers, tech support desks, salespeople and other workers who need to create easily shared demonstrations of software. "As more organizations invest in software as a critical component of their infrastructure, Captivate enables them to train users rapidly and more efficiently," Tom Hale, Macromedia general manager, said in a statement. Captivate is set to go on sale later this month, priced at $499 for the full version or $299 for those upgrading from a previous version of RoboDemo.