Powerpoint (1 Viewer)

level seven · Nov 7, 2006

Someone in my family needs this to do her university presentations. Only the viewer seems to be part of Home XP.

Can you buy this as a separate piece of software and, if so, how much is it likely to cost please?

Andrew Rowlands · Nov 7, 2006

Graham, you can download Open Office for free from http://www.openoffice.org/ (93Mb)

OpenOffice said:
What’s in OpenOffice.org?

WRITER is OpenOffice.org’s word processor: use it for anything from writing a quick letter to producing an entire book with embedded illustrations, cross-references, tables of contents, indexes, bibliographies... Auto-complete, auto-format, and real-time spelling check make light work of the hardest task. Writer is powerful enough to tackle desktop publishing tasks such as creating multi-column newsletters, brochures – the only limit is your imagination.

Use CALC to bring your numbers under control. This powerful spreadsheet has all the tools you need to calculate, analyse, summarise, and present your data in numerical reports or sizzling graphics. A fully-integrated help system makes entering complex formulas a breeze. Sophisticated decision-making tools are just a few mouse clicks away. Pull in external data using the Data Pilot, and sort it, filter it, and produce subtotals and statistical analyses. Use previews to select from thirteen categories of 2-D and 3-D charts including line, area, column, pie, XY, stock and net with dozens of variants.

IMPRESS is the fastest, most powerful way to create effective multimedia presentations. Your presentations will truly stand out with special effects, animation and high-impact drawing tools.

DRAW will produce everything from simple diagrams to dynamic 3D illustrations and special effects.

New to Version 2, BASE enables you to manipulate database data seamlessly within OpenOffice.org. Create and modify tables, forms, queries, and reports, either using your own database or Base’s own built-in HSQL database engine.

Impress is the equivalent of Powerpoint - if you set the options to Save as MS Powerpoint, it saves the presentations as MS compatible, too (similar for the eq. of Word and Excel - Calc and Writer.

Setting the defaults is important - once done, I doubt that anyone could tell that the results were from a non-MS product.

Cheers,

Andy.

whomes · Nov 7, 2006

level seven said:
Someone in my family needs this to do her university presentations. Only the viewer seems to be part of Home XP.

Can you buy this as a separate piece of software and, if so, how much is it likely to cost please?

'Educational' versions are available on ebay at around £100.

scampo · Nov 7, 2006

level seven said:
Someone in my family needs this to do her university presentations. Only the viewer seems to be part of Home XP.

Can you buy this as a separate piece of software and, if so, how much is it likely to cost please?

Not sure what you are saying... If you have MS PPT installed then you can create the presentation and then save using the "Package for CD" option. This will then create a CD that will run on any computer that has Win98SE or later installed even without the PPT program being present.

If you don't have MS PowerPoint at all, then the OpenOffice.org product is, without doubt, truly excellent. Alternatively, an even better version of this, called StarOffice, is available for a bargain £40-00 from Sun Microsystems.

level seven · Nov 7, 2006

scampo said:
Not sure what you are saying... If you have MS PPT installed then you can create the presentation and then save using the "Package for CD" option. This will then create a CD that will run on any computer that has Win98SE or later installed even without the PPT program being present.

If you don't have MS PowerPoint at all, then the OpenOffice.org product is, without doubt, truly excellent. Alternatively, an even better version of this, called StarOffice, is available for a bargain £40-00 from Sun Microsystems.

Hi Steve

I've got Home XP. The only reference to Powerpoint I can find under "All Programs" is Microsoft Office Powerpoint Viewer 2003. Nothing under Microsoft Works. This looks like a tool for viewing rather than creating presentations?

Thanks, and for other replies.

scampo · Nov 7, 2006

level seven said:
Hi Steve

I've got Home XP. The only reference to Powerpoint I can find under "All Programs" is Microsoft Office Powerpoint Viewer 2003. Nothing under Microsoft Works. This looks like a tool for viewing rather than creating presentations?

Thanks, and for other replies.

Yes - that's all it is. What you have in Windows XP Home is just the basic (?!) operating system; Microsoft PowerPoint is a separate program, usually sold as part of the excellent Microsoft Office program suite (which includes also, Microsoft Word, a word processing program, and Microsoft Excel, a spreadsheet program. You'll need the full PowerPoint program to make a PowerPoint presentation or, as Andrew suggests, you could use the free to download equivalent called "OpenOffice". This allows you the option to save files as ".ppt" (i.e. as a Mocrosoft PowerPoint file) and thus saved, you can to watch the presentation on any PC that has either OpenOffice, StarOffice, Microsoft PowerPoint or PowerPoint Viewer installed.

What would I do in your position? If money was not an issue, I'd buy a Student Edition of MS Office from, say, PC World (you'll need to register it in the name of a school or university student). There's no better "office" suite of programs, for sure. But, if you like freebies - and it's a very good one! - then download OpenOffice and give it a try. If you like it, you might want to consider buying StarOffice later on, but I suspect OpenOffice will provide all your needs. It's a large download so you'll need broadband. Then I'd burn it to a CD-ROM for future use (to save re-downloading) and hey presto, you're in business!

Keith Reeder · Nov 7, 2006

Hi Graham,

Powerpoint is only available as part of MS Office suite - not available separately, and not a freebie with XP.

As you've seen, your best option is OpenOffice.

level seven · Nov 7, 2006

Thanks again Steve. I've used Office at work (now retired though!). I'd begrudge buying it just to make use of one component though. I'll suggest using OpenOffice to my step-daughter. It sounds like it would do the job well. She hasn't used either, so is at no disadvantage there.

level seven · Nov 7, 2006

Keith Reeder said:
Hi Graham,

Powerpoint is only available as part of MS Office suite - not available separately, and not a freebie with XP.

As you've seen, your best option is OpenOffice.

Cheers Keith

scampo · Nov 7, 2006

level seven said:
Thanks again Steve. I've used Office at work (now retired though!). I'd begrudge buying it just to make use of one component though. I'll suggest using OpenOffice to my step-daughter. It sounds like it would do the job well. She hasn't used either, so is at no disadvantage there.

When you run the program, go into "Options" to set it up to save presentations as ".ppt"; you might as well, while you're at it, change word processing documents to save as ".rtf", too - this will allow anyone to open them using any word processor.

level seven · Nov 7, 2006

scampo said:
When you run the program, go into "Options" to set it up to save presentations as ".ppt"; you might as well, while you're at it, change word processing documents to save as ".rtf", too - this will allow anyone to open them using any word processor.

Thanks. One more question please. My wife is used to Powerpoint at work. Would the interface of OpenOffice be similar, so she could teach her daughter?

Keith Reeder · Nov 7, 2006

Yep, the two applications aren't identical, but are sufficiently similar that moving from one to the other is pretty straightforward.

scampo · Nov 8, 2006

level seven said:
Thanks. One more question please. My wife is used to Powerpoint at work. Would the interface of OpenOffice be similar, so she could teach her daughter?

That is one good reason to use the Microsoft programs - they prepare you for a work environment where Microsoft is de riguer. But, for your present use, the two are very similar and (quite) easy to use. I would expect the MS program to be more sophisticated but for a standard presentation, that's not a problem.

level seven · Nov 8, 2006

Thanks everyone for the help. It's been very useful and might have saved us a bob or two as well. Great resource this forum, and not only for birds!

Katy Penland · Nov 8, 2006

Thanks, Andy, for the Open Office ref. :t: Wow, you mean for 93MB I can dump MS Office 2003's 1GB monster?

scampo · Nov 8, 2006

Katy Penland said:
Thanks, Andy, for the Open Office ref. :t: Wow, you mean for 93MB I can dump MS Office 2003's 1GB monster?

I don't know, what is this with knocking Microsoft? It occurs so regularly on this forum. With hard disk space cheaper than it's ever been, why do we need to worry about 1Gb - for a suite of individual products? MS Office is not a "monster" - it's a very sophisticated and extraordinarily solid program used worldwide. It offers security way ahead of anything that the cheaper competitors offer, for a start.

Of course, those free and cheap products are bargains. But then we could all drive round in a ten-year-old banger, too. Even Bird Forum could use cheap, even free, software to run this site.

Katy Penland · Nov 8, 2006

Well, Steve, just because I have a walk-in closet doesn't mean I have to fill it up with 500 pairs of shoes I'll never use and which will be out of fashion in a few months.

You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but in mine Word is a piece of caca and always has been (especially compared to WordPerfect), but because of the proliferation of MS products on most of the PCs out there, it's become the default word processor despite its limitations.

I'd probably feel a lot more charitable toward MS and its various products if, from the beginning, its customer support had been even semi-decent, but the fact that flaws in its own OS have allowed the security/virus vulnerabilities we've all had to live with for nearly two decades --and still aren't fixed! -- is just inexcusable. :storm:

Not only do I not like MS products, over the years I've had to go to enormous trouble and expense to keep my machine running virus/worm/spyware-free because of MS.

My next computer will be a Mac.

scampo · Nov 8, 2006

Katy Penland said:
Well, Steve, just because I have a walk-in closet doesn't mean I have to fill it up with 500 pairs of shoes I'll never use and which will be out of fashion in a few months.

You're certainly entitled to your opinion, but in mine Word is a piece of caca and always has been (especially compared to WordPerfect), but because of the proliferation of MS products on most of the PCs out there, it's become the default word processor despite its limitations.

I'd probably feel a lot more charitable toward MS and its various products if, from the beginning, its customer support had been even semi-decent, but the fact that flaws in its own OS have allowed the security/virus vulnerabilities we've all had to live with for nearly two decades --and still aren't fixed! -- is just inexcusable. :storm:

Not only do I not like MS products, over the years I've had to go to enormous trouble and expense to keep my machine running virus/worm/spyware-free because of MS.

My next computer will be a Mac.

I just knew I was walking on thin ice... (-;

I've used computers for a long time and, until XP, I was no friend of Microsoft products myself, not at all. I was fed up with re-installing every few months, sometimes weeks... but over recent years, I do think PCs and Windows have caught up with each other now that we have the fast processing, massive RAM and disk space that MS products demand (and always have needed). Mac's were, unquestionably, better until XP arrived and when PCs were too slow for a bloat prog like Windows and Office, but I don't think that's so any longer.

Do you mean if you ran a Mac you'd dispense with the antivirus / anti-spyware and so forth? Of course you wouldn't. But... just go back to, say, Word 6 and you'll see just how very sophisticated and user friendly Word 2003 really is. Word Perfect was the best in its day.

Katy Penland · Nov 9, 2006

scampo said:
I just knew I was walking on thin ice... (-;

And I leaped through the ice hole and took the bait. :gn:

Do you mean if you ran a Mac you'd dispense with the antivirus / anti-spyware and so forth? Of course you wouldn't.

I'm sure Macs neeed some kind of A/V protection (haven't a clue), but they're simply not targeted to the extent PCs are (90/10 ratio), and are, therefore, far less interesting to hackers and less vulnerable.

But... just go back to, say, Word 6 and you'll see just how very sophisticated and user friendly Word 2003 really is. Word Perfect was the best in its day.

To this day, WordPerfect still has a better sort, merge and labeling utility than Word ever will, to mention three Word things that will drive you mad trying to use them on a regular basis.

scampo · Nov 9, 2006

Katy Penland said:
...

To this day, WordPerfect still has a better sort, merge and labeling utility than Word ever will, to mention three Word things that will drive you mad trying to use them on a regular basis.

I never sort, merge or label (buy a Dymo label printer for that - super-duper)!

I was only urgerd to write in because there is this "I hate Microsoft" thing that goes on among a few here and, well, I don't know, but it riles me a bit! (-;

I don't know much about the techie reasons for hating the company, but I am pleased that dear old Mr Gates is easily one of the world's most generous philanthropists - and that can't be a bad thing. In fact, I gather Michael Jackson is also up there with him in those philanthropic dizzy heights - and he gathers a storm around him quite easily, too. Odd that - maybe people don't like such generosity! I'm sure there are millions who do, though, in the poorer parts of the wrold.

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