Free Software - Maybe!

The education blogosphere was all abuzz on Monday because of some apparently free downloads available for SnagIt and Camtasia from TechSmith.

Going to the download links I see a different story than most were reporting. The normal story was that TechSmith is giving away copies of their older versions of these products as a way to get more people to try the software and possibly upgrade to the newer versions. Maybe that's true, but I'm sure not seeing anything to that effect on their website. What I do see is text saying "Welcome to this exclusive offering for PC Plus Magazine readers from the United Kingdom" for Camtasia and other text that says "Welcome to UK .Net Magazine's SnagIt site!" for SnagIt. Neither one of those applies to me, but maybe nobody really cares.

So what I'm driving at is that maybe these downloads have been spread around in ways that were never intended by TechSmith - but maybe not. Maybe these free download pages will be taken down before you even read this -maybe not.

To help stroke my curiosity, I downloaded each of the products and requested the keys to unlock them. The free SnagIt download (note: this is a .exe file) is version 7.2.5 and here is that SnagIt registration key (current version is 8.2).

The free Camtasia download (another .exe file here) is version 3.1.3 and here is the Camtasia registration key (current version is 5.0). It appears that everything is installing without any problems.

From the company website:

• SnagIt Screen Capture and Image Editor lets you capture, edit, and share exactly what you see on your screen - fast
• Camtasia Studio 5 is the smart, friendly screen recorder and more. Imagine being able to show exactly what's on your screen to anyone, anywhere. Imagine that it's easy. Now you've imagined Camtasia Studio. With the smartest screen recording tools on the planet, Camtasia Studio makes everything from training videos to PowerPoint presentations to lectures look better, reach more people, and pack more punch. Which makes you look even smarter, too. (however, the free version is less full-featured)