What do we think of Powerpoint 2010?

[Phill Power]

Well, I'm shocked to discover I've not posted here for nearly 6 years :) sorry about that, it's been a bit busy.

 

So I'm back and I've been playing with the new/next PowerPoint - anyone else had the pleasure?

 

Much like 7 is to Vista, 2010 is everything 2007 should have been, it's quick, smooth, agile and can DO VIDEO PROPERLY! (-ish)

 

Yes, we can now:

• Insert mov and flv as well as the usual suspects (mpg, wmv, avi, etc.)
  
• Use picture effects like frames, drop shadows etc.
  
• Change the videos position in the z-order of the layers just like other objects - yes, STUFF IN FRONT OF PLAYING VIDEOS!
  
• Animate videos, ok it's limited compared to other objects but motion paths can be applied
  
• Trim and fade in/out
  

 

On top of that there's some tasty new transition effects (like what proper mixers do) and a great background removal tool that urinates all over the old transparency tool!

 

Even though it's not got to beta yet, it's shaping up to be a damn fine bit of kit for us - might even make a dent in Keynote's territory.

 

I do not work for Microsoft, I am not at all a fanboy and I actively dislike most of 2007 (except the selection pane) but this is making me rethink going the MBP/Keynote route

[Mr_Jules]

That all sounds very good, but will it stop bloody idiots coming to conferences with a memory stick containing none of the movies and sounds that they haven't embedded properly and blame you for the fact that their presentation is empty when "it worked fine this morning on my laptop"?

[Phill Power]

That all sounds very good, but will it stop bloody idiots coming to conferences with a memory stick containing none of the movies and sounds that they haven't embedded properly and blame you for the fact that their presentation is empty when "it worked fine this morning on my laptop"?

Not yet, but Microsoft have stated that the next version - codename Canute - will have this feature, along with always including all the fonts, automatically detecting what screen ratio you're actually wanting to use and making the clients' slides match and preventing them using stupid colour combinations such as red text on blue bkd and/or dark grey on light grey (electricity will be involved as well as a popup stating "F*CK DA BRAND POLICE!!")

[Pete McCrea]

For me, Powerpoint (well Microsoft) were caught napping by Apple. My preference is for Apple hardware as in general it requires less 'support' to get the end results, and therefor Keynote. And there's certainly a 'crispness' that surpasses Powerpoint's output, as well as being able to match the output resolution of the machine with the presentation, something that isn't possible in the same way with PPT.

 

Plus it works in the here and now, not in a Alpha version that isn't in the wild yet.

[Paul28]

Wow very interesting! I am still on 2007. Cool new features they added.

[Phill Power]

For me, Powerpoint (well Microsoft) were caught napping by Apple. My preference is for Apple hardware as in general it requires less 'support' to get the end results, and therefor Keynote. And there's certainly a 'crispness' that surpasses Powerpoint's output, as well as being able to match the output resolution of the machine with the presentation, something that isn't possible in the same way with PPT.

 

Plus it works in the here and now, not in a Alpha version that isn't in the wild yet.

Good point(s) - Keynote was the big kick-up-the-arse MS needed to wake them up to what we actually wanted, and yes there is a long way to go - but if we get in on the beta and poke them enough, we should get something worthwhile.

 

Things I'd like to see:

• Import layers from Photoshop etc. with Alpha channels intact
  
• Loop and branch within presentations
  
• Set slide sizes in pixels as well as inches & cm (like in Keynote)
  
• Direct import/open and save as/export support for Keynote files
  

[Phill Power]

Beta ;)

[Phill Power]

That all sounds very good, but will it stop bloody idiots coming to conferences with a memory stick containing none of the movies and sounds that they haven't embedded properly and blame you for the fact that their presentation is empty when "it worked fine this morning on my laptop"?

Serious reply:

Powerpoint now allows this, by "... embedding audio and video files directly into your presentation, you make it more portable for sharing. Embedded files eliminate the need to send more than one file. You can now have confidence knowing that your animated, narrated, multimedia presentation will play without a glitch. "

 

Sadly, it can't actually MAKE the bloody idiots use this feature - same as we still get people that give us "DVD"s to play that are just cd-roms with shortcuts to video files somewhere not present

[tony g]

There are some very good reasons that at the college I lecture at we still actively use 35mm & medium format slides, 16mm cine and overhead projectors, and this is because powerpoint is still very poor and formulaic in many hands, a combined show of slides on lap dissolve projectors with overlayed projected text as appropriate and peripheral lighting beats pp hands down for holding the attention

[JazzAV]

I guess PowerPoint could have all the functionality in the world but it still takes some creative flair to make it look good. I've seen some beautiful stuff done in all versions of PP. Good news on the video as that has always been a bit of a joke.

 

I will of course check out the latest version but Keynote is just so lovely.

[Phill Power]

There are some very good reasons that at the college I lecture at we still actively use 35mm & medium format slides, 16mm cine and overhead projectors, and this is because powerpoint is still very poor and formulaic in many hands, a combined show of slides on lap dissolve projectors with overlayed projected text as appropriate and peripheral lighting beats pp hands down for holding the attention

Yes, there's still a lot you can do with 35mm Slides that you can't do in Powerpoint - drop the tray; get them back-to-front; jam the gate; crack the glass; hairs & dirt; newton rings; etc.

 

Joking aside, the only thing that you couldn't reproduce using PowerPoint is the fine detail of photographs - which is important for medical images for instance - because it's still a digital system, and the highest resolution projector still has pixels you can see.

 

Although it's obviously a lot brighter so you can actually see the pictures!

 

 

I do still have a place in my heart for a good old AV Module, though :blink:

[tony g]

There are some very good reasons that at the college I lecture at we still actively use 35mm & medium format slides, 16mm cine and overhead projectors, and this is because powerpoint is still very poor and formulaic in many hands, a combined show of slides on lap dissolve projectors with overlayed projected text as appropriate and peripheral lighting beats pp hands down for holding the attention

Yes, there's still a lot you can do with 35mm Slides that you can't do in Powerpoint - drop the tray; get them back-to-front; jam the gate; crack the glass; hairs & dirt; newton rings; etc.

 

Joking aside, the only thing that you couldn't reproduce using PowerPoint is the fine detail of photographs - which is important for medical images for instance - because it's still a digital system, and the highest resolution projector still has pixels you can see.

 

Although it's obviously a lot brighter so you can actually see the pictures!

 

 

I do still have a place in my heart for a good old AV Module, though :)

 

Yeah, but the odd holiday snap in the middle of an art history lecture upside down is half the fun :P

[themadhippy]

why pay when open office presentation does most of what power point does and is very cheep

[sleepytom]

Joking aside, the only thing that you couldn't reproduce using PowerPoint is the fine detail of photographs - which is important for medical images for instance - because it's still a digital system, and the highest resolution projector still has pixels you can see.

Hmm, medical imaging has been done digitally for quite some time. Such a long time that many images are derived from video resolution devices, although progressive 1024x576 RGB capture came in quite quickly as interlaced video was so far from ideal. these days HD resolutions are becoming more common.

 

Assuming your photos are 35mm you'll find that you get into film grain issues before the pixels start to be an issue assuming you have a modern 2k projection system. Transferred slides are very rarely better quality than HD / 2k projection, normally they are covered in dust / fingerprints and often faded due to being left lying around in the sun somewhere. Medium format slides can be better quality than digital projection as long as they are very carefully prepared, but the cost and hassle simply is not worth it for most people.

 

Powerpoint suffers from being design done by people who are not designers. Consiqently most powerpoint looks terrible - it is questionable if you can really do nice looking design in powerpoint. Most designers I know use photoshop or something to prepare slide backgrounds or complete slides as the tools in powerpoint are not sophisticated enough to create asteticaly pleasing design.

 

TBH I think the biggest improvement they could make to powerpoint is to remove most of the functionality. Most presentations would look a lot better if they had only one font used in maybe 3 sizes, one colour of text, no text over images. no backgound colors, no sounds and no video. It could maybe have a button to add these things which connected you to a local designer who could be employed to make more complex presentations.

[DonkiDonki]

The biggest problem with PowerPoint and it's like are the presenters who think that the slides ARE the presentation, rather than performing and engaging with their audience and only using the screen to emphasize and punctuate.

 

(obviously in certain types of presentation it can't be avoided, if the task is to present lots of facts & figures making it pretty ain't gonna help)