Presenter and Captivate

I am guessing you are referring to Articulate "Presenter", and not Adobe Connect "Presenter". The two applications (Adobe "Captivate 3" and Articulate "Presenter") are pretty much apples and oranges. The only thing of real note that they have in common is that they are both e-learning applications. How they go about accomplishing that general task is so very differently that point-by-point comparisons are all but impossible unless you get very very specific about exactly what you want to create.

If your intended use if to create software demonstrations and simulations, or photo gallery Flash files, I'd have to give "Captivate" the nod - without reservation. However, if your intention is to make use of Power Point features, as in soft-skills training perhaps, or to use an existing library of Power Point projects, I would have to say that Articulate "Presenter" is better designed for that task.

To the question of score and student tracking, both do an excellent job, but Captivate has no LMS in itself, unless you count the Adobe "Connect" application as one. Articulate "Presenter" can be tied directly to Articulate's own servers (Articulate "On-line") which then gives you built-in and very useful reports on your training efforts.

In the case of either Captivate or Presenter, the LMS is an extra cost, and completely separate item. Captivate provides excellent compatibility with many "standards" such as AICC or SCORM, in the LMS world. On the other hand, because Articulate "On-line" is built specifically to accommodate Articulate projects, they have effectively eliminated issues and worries about whether the learning module (aka LO, or Learning Object) is "compatible" with the LMS on which it is being viewed.

Good question, Jimmy, and one that is going to be greatly dependent on exactly what your LO editor is expected to do. On the bright side, both products offer 15 - 30 day trial downloads, so why not give them both a test drive and decide from that experience?

Best wishes - let us know what you decided, and why, as it might be helpful to others with the same question.
Larry