PowerPoint and Presenting Stuff

PowerPoint Wall

Kurt Dupont from PresentationPoint sent me this picture.

The picture shows a large video wall at a Belgian concert hall that comprises nine 50-inch plasma screens placed together. These were installed last week by a reseller of PresentationPoint. Put together, they display live Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

Announcements and concert information are dynamically read from a database that’s sourced into PowerPoint using PresentationPoint products. The high-resolution PowerPoint presentations, optionally combined with video, can be planned with a scheduling tool.

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Filed Under: Case Studies
Tagged as: Case Studies, Digital Signage, Kurt Dupont, PowerPoint, PresentationPoint

Google Unveils “Presentations”

Google upgraded its Google Docs online suite to include Presentations, an online presentation component that does try to be a little like Microsoft PowerPoint. OK, it tries to be a lot like PowerPoint, and that does not surprise us. But the question here is whether Google Presentations succeeds or not.

We’ll admit the product is snappy, intuitive, and easy to use. It works quite like a desktop application, but it does have more than a few rough edges that seem to be asking for forgiveness, since Google calls this a beta.

There are fifteen templates that look so much like PowerPoint templates from a decade ago—and there’s essential support for text and graphics. You can also import PowerPoint files.

There are no transitions, animation, or charting. That’s a whole lot missing, and we could live with that, but what were the folks at Google doing when they decided to drop out the concept of a presentation outline? Anyone who’s familiar with PowerPoint knows that the non-existence of an outline in a PowerPoint presentation can be a big reason for useless PowerPoints that are more well known to further death by PowerPoint. And that’s twice as bad to know that Google left out the outline.

Where Presentations does score over PowerPoint is in its collaborative tools. And yes, we’re sure that Google will fine-tune Presentations in the future.

Ultimately, presentation creators need to present their creations. Probably, Google’s acquisition of Tonic Systems will help in bringing out a free presentation viewer for Google Presentations. And that may be a turning point in the presentations arena.

Filed Under: Companion Programs
Tagged as: Companion, Google, Google Slides, PowerPoint, Presentations

Extract Flash: Conversation with Rhys Jeremiah

  Rhys Jeremiah has been working in IT after graduating from Bristol University with a degree in mathematics. He started writing database applications for a large insurance company and quickly moved into web development, the largest site for a major international motor manufacturer. Although now teaching mathematics, he still manages some IT work. He currently lives in Cardiff, Wales with Sarah, his wife, and their children Lloyd and Carys.

Geetesh: Rhys, tell us more about your Extract Flash product, and what inspired you to create this product.

Read the rest of this entry »

Filed Under: Interviews
Tagged as: Interviews, PowerPoint, PowerPoint Flash

Google’s PowerPoint Plans

Will online applications ever replace the ones we use on our desktops? Will Google’s slew of online programs shake the Microsoft juggernaut of Office programs? There are no clear answers yet, but the battle lines are getting drawn more distinctly now as Google prepares to launch its presentation program in direct confrontation to PowerPoint.

However, there’s a larger question there waiting to be asked: will users be able to play these presentations offline, and project them? That’s going to be a more important issue for presentations than for documents and spreadsheets since presentations are projected or broadcasted to hundreds and thousands of users.

We’ll look for those answers and share them with you. Meanwhile, there’s more information on Google’s so called PowerPoint killer.

The Inquirer reported that it’s been known for a long while that Google will at some point take on PowerPoint with a web-based presentations package. The breaking news is that the coming-out party for the software is any day now. Called Presently, the slideshow program is likely to be based in part on code Google bought through the acquisitions of Zenter and Tonic Systems earlier this year.

Filed Under: Companion Programs
Tagged as: Companion, Google, Google Slides, Microsoft Office, PowerPoint, Zenter

Microsoft Offers $60 Microsoft Office to College Students

Microsoft has announced on Wednesday, a $60 web-based version of the company’s Microsoft Office Ultimate 2007 software that will be exclusively available to college students. Microsoft dubbed their latest promotion as the “The Ultimate Steal” and will run until April 30, 2008. The promotion already started in the United States, Canada, United Kingdom, and will be available to France, Italy, and Spain starting September 20, 2007.

Read more on the CBR Online site.

Filed Under: Microsoft Office
Tagged as: Education, Microsoft Office, PowerPoint 2007