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I hate MS like pure poison, but....

Rolfe

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Rolfe
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But actually I'm quite a fan of PowerPoint.

I'm trying to create a PowerPoint presentation which isn't work-related, but I only have PowerPoint on my work computer, which is putting a crimp in my style. On my home computer I only have a really crappy PowerPoint viewer which displays incredibly badly and doesn't allow viewing of the notes at all.

What's the best and cheapest way to acquire PowerPoint for home use? Needs to be fully functional, and doesn't really need to be the absolutely latest version.

But if it's some deal where I have to acquire Word as well, I'll pass, thank you.

Rolfe.
 
I have been using LibreOffice extensively for both documents and spreadsheets its seems to be very compatible with Office 2003 and Excel.

I just checked and the presentation component says it saves in a variety of PowerPoint versions. I have used it for a couple of presentations but just kept the LO format.

YMMV & etc. ;)
 
Thanks for that. I just tried it, and it is indeed a huge improvement over what I had. It's still not perfect though - it's not displaying exactly as it does in PowerPoint - and there is a problem with the notes. I have quite extensive notes in the presentation, and these aren't displaying at all. Blank pages where notes should be.

Any idea why?

Rolfe.
 
In a decade or so, Microsoft will be gone except for it's office suite, which will have atrophied due to changes in the way work gets done. I'm sure the Apple Store will sell quite a few of them at $19.95.
 
BenBurch said:
In a decade or so, Microsoft will be gone except for it's office suite, which will have atrophied due to changes in the way work gets done. I'm sure the Apple Store will sell quite a few of them at $19.95.
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Yeah, Microsoft doesn't "skate where the puck is going to be" as Jobs would put it.
 
UNLoVedRebel said:
I take it you're not a supporter of this party: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Anti_PowerPoint_Party
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That's funny. I just wish it had been around when I was doing my PhD presentations, and then when I was a university teacher. I'm doing higher education teaching again now, and it's an absolute godsend.

I know at least one person who uses it inappropriately, but used well it's magnificent.

Rolfe.
 
Tell me guys, if I create a presentation and then put it online, how will it look to the average punter on their home computer? It looked like hell on my computer, and still looks far from right on Libre Office (because of the missing notes), but I accept I'm not the average punter.

I haven't yet investigated options to lock the thing when it's finished. Is that possible? My goal is either to make the presentation available to read, with what I would be saying if I were presenting it in the notes field, or to record it as a complete slide-show, audio and all. Will that be OK for most viewers?

Rolfe.
 
Rolfe said:
In a word, Word.

Rolfe.
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What do you use instead of Word (which I use all the time) and why do you hate it so much? I would like to know in case I am missing something as I have a couple of gripes with it (the dictionary does not work properly and the automatic paragraph numbering is fiddly).
 
Try doing parallel columns (like a nicely formatted aviation checklist) in Word. This is something that WordPerfect did beautifully, but the wonks at MS apparently don't think it's something I need or want.*

Queries against large ODBC databases are fun in Access. MS jet runs the query one row at a time if you do it via linked tables. That's great in my shop, where one of the tables is 800 million rows (and then joining to another that's 30 million!). I've learned how to write very efficient SQL queries in pass-through mode, thank you.

And all I want to do sometimes is copy a part of our network map into PowerPoint. Don't help me format it!! Sometimes, it's actually easier to paste it into an Excel spreadsheet and sent it that way...

*ETA: Yes, I know about the trick using tables. But I couldn't get the dot leaders to work across the cells, which would have been nice.
 
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Rolfe said:
I use WordPerfect. I worship the ground it treads on.

Rolfe.
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When WP ignored the MS paradigm and did its own file lists and etc it was great. The closer it moved toward integration with Windose$, the worse it got. :(
 
anglolawyer said:
What do you use instead of Word (which I use all the time) and why do you hate it so much? I would like to know in case I am missing something as I have a couple of gripes with it (the dictionary does not work properly and the automatic paragraph numbering is fiddly).
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You have the word lawyer in your user name and don't use WP ??

I thought the legal profession was the biggest industry/group still using WP. :boggled:
 
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