Comments on: The 4 Best Free Alternatives To Microsoft PowerPoint

By: Gabrielle Dolan

Gabrielle Dolan — Thu, 10 Feb 2011 00:50:00 +0000

I am having a case of de je vu with all these new software packages. It reminds me when PowerPoint first came out and replaced transperencies and the overhead projector (anyone remember them?). It is not the software that created boring presentations it is the content. What we say, what we DON’T say and how we say it. If anyone is interested we have just made available a FREE eBook called ‘Eliminate Death by PowerPoint’ that is getting some pretty good reviews. You can download it for free from our website http://www.onethousandandone.com.au/
Hope you find it valuable…if you do we would love your feedback. Gabrielle Dolan

By: Gabrielle Dolan

Gabrielle Dolan — Wed, 09 Feb 2011 23:50:38 +0000

I am having a case of de je vu with all these new software packages. It reminds me when PowerPoint first came out and replaced transperencies and the overhead projector (anyone remember them?). It is not the software that created boring presentations it is the content. What we say, what we DON’T say and how we say it. If anyone is interested we have just made available a FREE eBook called ‘Eliminate Death by PowerPoint’ that is getting some pretty good reviews. You can download it for free from our website http://www.onethousandandone.c…
Hope you find it valuable…if you do we would love your feedback. Gabrielle Dolan

By: Jl

Jl — Sat, 25 Dec 2010 00:00:00 +0000

Has Steve use Google Presentation extensively and regularly to recommend it at the top of his list? Two times, I am stuck with Presentation files, that I am not able to export offline due to the software error. Google can’t solve the problem. Google Presentation also has other issues such as font size reverting to earlier setting after it is changed and GooleApps has flashed the message that the document is saved.

By: BruceG

BruceG — Tue, 21 Dec 2010 01:01:00 +0000

I wonder what percentage of PowerPoint users prefer and use the Windows Live version over the desktop version? I’d say it would be pretty small for exactly the reasons LawryM mentioned.

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 04:45:00 +0000

sorry to disappoint all the people disappointed here, but I’m disappointed to see how disappointed people disappoint each other.

I’m disappointed with myself for not disappointing me about disappointing all the disappointed people here. (how disappointing!)

By: Hefesto

Hefesto — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 03:45:49 +0000

sorry to disappoint all the people disappointed here, but I'm disappointed to see how disappointed people disappoint each other.

I'm disappointed with myself for not disappointing me about disappointing all the disappointed people here. (how disappointing!)

By: Mguerra79

Mguerra79 — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 01:27:00 +0000

Hi guys! This conversation is going pretty well, but, in the topic, it seems that all of you forgot one free alternative, from Adobe, inside Acrobat. You register for an account there, obviously, although it is the same as for Adobe.com, if you have one, and then you can access Acrobat.com and use either Buzzword (MS Word) or Presentation (Powerpoint similar) or even Table (Excell similar).
You can even have some sort of Flex app for the desktop applications, I mean, Acrobat provides some sort of special app/link to access the Acrobat site and your account easily from your desktop. Inside you find either some other Acrobat functionalities like sharing a file with a direct link, storage capacity up to 1GB, 100MB files… and so on, and so on… I am no Adobe affiliated but this is very nice. I use it all the time.
Now, adding to the discussion, the title, indeed, is not very complete, since this alternatives are all just web-based, and there are, like it was mentioned earlier, some offline ones, like OpenOffice, that I find very good too, despite, in the end, all of this are «cr*ppy» because I am a graphic designer and InDesign is a very good tool to do this, ehehehhe! Ok, I admit, like I said before, for a fast presentation any of this is fairly good, and, of course, not free, Keynote, from Apple…
Nice post and nice comments!
Cheers from Portugal!
Márcio Guerra

By: Mguerra79

Mguerra79 — Sat, 18 Dec 2010 00:27:27 +0000

Hi guys! This conversation is going pretty well, but, in the topic, it seems that all of you forgot one free alternative, from Adobe, inside Acrobat. You register for an account there, obviously, although it is the same as for Adobe.com, if you have one, and then you can access Acrobat.com and use either Buzzword (MS Word) or Presentation (Powerpoint similar) or even Table (Excell similar).
You can even have some sort of Flex app for the desktop applications, I mean, Acrobat provides some sort of special app/link to access the Acrobat site and your account easily from your desktop. Inside you find either some other Acrobat functionalities like sharing a file with a direct link, storage capacity up to 1GB, 100MB files... and so on, and so on... I am no Adobe affiliated but this is very nice. I use it all the time.
Now, adding to the discussion, the title, indeed, is not very complete, since this alternatives are all just web-based, and there are, like it was mentioned earlier, some offline ones, like OpenOffice, that I find very good too, despite, in the end, all of this are Â«cr*ppyÂ» because I am a graphic designer and InDesign is a very good tool to do this, ehehehhe! Ok, I admit, like I said before, for a fast presentation any of this is fairly good, and, of course, not free, Keynote, from Apple...
Nice post and nice comments!
Cheers from Portugal!
MÃ¡rcio Guerra

By: Anonymous

Anonymous — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:26:00 +0000

The problem (that I have seen way too often) is when you change formats, there is a good chance that the presentation won’t work or look as you originally created it to. I’ve seen this going from a newer version of Powerpoint to an older one and from a Mac version of Powerpoint to a Windows one, so I don’t think I would want to risk converting from one program to another. Not when problems with a presentation are distracting to the presenter and to the audience.

By: mountaintop57

mountaintop57 — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 21:10:00 +0000

Keep in mind, that with Google Docs at least, you can save it back as a PowerPoint when it is complete (or as you go, for back up…)

By: Preot Vasile Filat

Preot Vasile Filat — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 20:38:00 +0000

Great! Thank you! It will help me in preparation for my sermons and Bible lessons. May God bless you with the gift of eternal life in Jesus.

By: Steve Campbell

Steve Campbell — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 19:20:00 +0000

Ah, so looks like everyone likes OO Presentation. Open Office is pretty much the de facto best alternative to MS Office in general, right? I should have included a line stating that. Good catch, I hope you liked the article otherwise!

By: wanderinwoodsman

wanderinwoodsman — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 19:06:00 +0000

Excluding OO Presentation was a major flaw to this article and causes me to question its value. Presentation is a great package. We use it for our church presentation each Sunday since I am a major fan of open software. We have not tried anything fancy but for our needs it is fantastic.

By: Ellen

Ellen — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 17:29:00 +0000

Prezi has a desktop application, though not entirely free. http://prezi.com/desktop/download/

By: Steve Campbell

Steve Campbell — Fri, 17 Dec 2010 16:30:00 +0000

Juan, I assure you that I am happy for every comment that I get and I make an attempt to respond to everybody with the utmost respect. I love you guys!

I was merely asking seenu a question, and it was taken out of context I guess, but that’s ok. Looking forward to interacting with you all again in the future!