Unsightly Whining About Camtasia - Great Program BUT Not Dumbed Down Enough

My husband would like to get an old Land Rover for our summer shack deep in the Croatian hinterlands. This makes perfect sense - it would be able to go up roads normal cars can't handle, we could carry plenty of supplies and people, and it's not bad looking either. Fabulous... until I peered in the front window. Have you ever seen all the buttons, knobs, indicators and gizmos on a Land Rover's control panel? Apparently owners can actually go to a school to learn how to work their vehicle. NO WAY. Life is too short.

Well, today struggling with Camtasia, I feel the same way as I did at that dealership. It's wonderful software. Fabulous stuff. You can do all sorts of things with it. And they have gorgeous help videos for every step of the way. But, you know, when the "intro to editing" video for Camtasia newbies started talking about laying down second and third audio tracks about a 60 seconds in, they lost me completely.

Sure I might like some cool background music on my videos someday. But, not enough to learn how to use it. Not now. Not at the beginning. The more whizz bang stuff you show me at the very start, the greater my aversion becomes to learning anything at all. It's just too much stuff!

I bet that just like most software - and Web sites as well, and yes, even Land Rovers- that 90% of the people who use Camtasia only use a tiny slice of its capabilities. In fact, they all probably use the exact same slice. They turn the key, they slip into drive, they steer a little, they brake, they turn the engine off. That's it.

All the additional capabilities are just bells and whistles. Wonderful for the 10% who rely on them, who live and breathe for them. Annoying distractions for the rest of us mere mortals.

To sum up - Camtasia rocks. But I really really wish they would offer a "Dummies" view screen and tutorials, plus lots of handy pre-set defaults, featuring ONLY the capabilities 90% of us will ever use. Don't even let me see the other stuff. Stick an advanced tab somewhere for that and let that 10% click it.