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A Welcome Articulate Stranger

Articulate Storyline 2 is here. Be afraid. No wait, that’s wrong. Be excited! My favourite bit of software has just grown up.

As you’ll understand, I’m currently elbow deep into its guts, performing exploratory surgery to discover all its new features. So you’ll have to excuse me if there are any typos in this post–I’m tapping it out on my phone with my toes on my right foot.

Pig Surgery
These days, I dissect software. This image is from the old days when I performed porcine hysterectomies.

Being that I’m still in surgical scrubs, I can’t report on the findings just yet. (I’ll leave that for a later post.)

So, this post is less about SL2 itself, and more about my upgrade/purchase experience.

According to the Articulate website, customers who had purchased Storyline 1 with the Platinum Membership Plan qualified for a free upgrade. I had not. A regret, perhaps, but we can’t live in the past. Now is now, and now I need Storyline 2.

So, resigned to paying full-fare, I went through the purchase process. The price tag of AU$700 ain’t peanuts, but I had to have it. Besides, a momentary reflection on the value I got out of Storyline 1 made it a total no-brainer.

Click. Buy. Smile. Recline. Coffee time.

After a few minutes I returned to an email that confirmed my purchase and a completed download dialogue. Like my son  upon receiving a new Lego set, I hardly had time to say thanks to my grandma before it was opened up and enthralling me with plastic magic.

30 minutes later, it happened. I got another email from Articulate, What was worth interrupting the enchantment that had been cast upon me? A security breach? A credit card problem? Alien invasion?

Computer Devil
Was it like that old movie ‘Shocker’ and some devil-worshipping serial killer had been sent through the wires, right in to my home?

Nope. It turns out that someone at the Articulate office had decided to review my account. Why? I dunno. When they checked, they discovered that I did, in fact, qualify for that free upgrade! How it happened, I dunno, but hey, I sure am glad they took the time to look into it.

Actually, in reflection, I find it staggering that they let me know at all, let alone that it should happen on the same day as I made the purchase–the very first day after the product’s release.

But they already had my $700. So what could I do with the freebie? I’ve been looking into cloning. Perhaps this was a sign that it’s time to push the button and get Veronica2. I could use a mini-me to work alongside me, but I just hope she doesn’t turn out evil…

As it happened, Articulate had this innovative idea: simply give me the money back.

Refunded. All $700. Straight up.

Kermit Money
In case you look at this image up close, I’ll just clarify that the refund was actually in dollars, not some unfamiliar Eastern European currency.

Icing on the cake: After it’d had time to sink in how good the service was, I emailed a thank you to Articulate’s customer service. Ten minutes later, they replied with a ‘you’re welcome and enjoy’ sent by a real person, with a real name and (presumably) feelings of immense pride at having made one software consumer pretty darn happy with the system.

Published inStoryline 2

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