I haven’t tried many yet. Before spending more money on software (and possibly vmware+windows), I thought I would see if I could use what I have. I am on a number of listservs where software for qualitative research is discussed, so I’m familiar with the big names.
I downloaded Transana and was quickly frustrated. It’s difficult to try a product when it’s crippleware. I could never be sure if I didn’t understand it or if a feature was missing or intentionally disabled. I don’t think disabling features is a good way to let people explore your software. They would have to already understand how it works to figure out what it can do for them.
I’ve downloaded Tamsys but haven’t had a chance to play with it yet.