4+ Alternatives to PowerPoint
Let’s face it: no matter how many offices move over to Mac, Microsoft Office products are superior to all other alternatives in the market. However, occasionally we need to test our loyalties in order to reassure ourselves that we are using the best possible products for our tasks at hand. Today, I researched and reviewed many alternatives to Microsoft PowerPoint, three of which were cloud based Apps. I was a tough one to sell, because even though I’m a Mac, I appreciate the flexibility of MS Office Products. Here’s what I found.
Apple’s iWork – Keynote – create captivating presentations easily
Desktop or Cloud Based?
Desktop. It comes in a suite of Apple’s iWork Package – an alternative to Microsoft Office suite.
Is it free?
No. It costs $79.00 for the iWork suite, and is only compatible with Macs. No trials are available, so you have to buy it and hope for the best.
Is it collaborative?
No. Like PPT, it operates from your desktop.
Is it compatible?
Yes. You can export your presentation as a PPT for those using a PC.
Does it have animation capabilities?
Yes. It has Magic Move, an automatic animation tool.
Is it intuitive?
I would say that it is as intuitive as any other Mac program. However, others might get stuck trying to figure out why the maximize key is on the left side.
Fun features.
Magic Move allows you to create spectacular presentations that don’t look ‘generically PowerPoint’. Also, you can add hyperlinks to the slides, which is a cool feature.
Drawbacks.
It’s only available to Mac users. If you’re used to using PPT, you may not see the benefits of switching over to Keynote.
PCMAG.com Review
Apple’s productivity suite isn’t yet a replacement for Microsoft Office for the Mac, but iWork ’09 offers a terrific set of programs for light word processing and medium-to-heavy spreadsheet use. And the stellar Keynote presentation app leaves the competition in the dust.
Prezi.com – The Zooming Presentation Editor
Desktop or Cloud Based?
Cloud Based App
Is it free?
It has a free component, but the two ‘for fee’ options offer more features and cloud-based space. Comparatively, the ‘for fee’ options ($59/159 yr) are relatively reasonable. However, you can certainly have fun with the free option.
Is it collaborative?
Yes. Because the program is online, you can create an account and allow others to work within the file simultaneously.
Is it compatible?
Unfortunately, it’snot. Prezi works on a large space, much like a large whiteboard or large canvas. Its smooth movements don’t allow transfer over to Powerpoint. Prezi would be great for live presentations.
Does it have animation capabilities?
Yes and no. It has vivid movement from one ‘area’ of the workspace to another, but it does not allow for moving parts within the presentation.
Is it intuitive?
They have a great tutorial that walks you through each feature of this new technology. However, it’s not something that can be easily relatable to other products, so it takes time to learn the techniques.
Fun Features.
This is definitely not PowerPoint. It looks like a simpler version of Flash, but with the audience, or presenter, having the capability to advance in the presentation as they want.
Drawbacks.
This is not a typical presentation platform that creates slides. It’s more of a software that provides the canvas for story telling.
PCMAG.com Review
Presentations like no others: an animated visual feast unlike the usual boring set of bullet points.
Google Docs Presentations
Desktop or Cloud Based?
Cloud based
Is it free?
Free to Google Doc users (essentially everyone)
Is it collaborative?
Yes. Anyone can login to the program (with access) and make adjustments.
Is it compatible?
Yes. You can save your document as a PowerPoint presentation or PDF to be viewable in PPT
Does it have animation capabilities?
No. However, there are several YouTube videos showing how they stretched the program to its limits to create something similar to animation.
Is it intuitive?
Yes. If you already know how to use PowerPoint, then you are all set. There are also a lot of tutorials online for how to use the program.
Fun Features.
Google is a widely accepted platform for working remotely and collaboratively.
Drawbacks.
Unless you spend a lot of time during the design phase, your presentation can lack the sophisticated look of PowerPoint.
About.com Review
All in all, if you want to make a simple presentation on the fly, Google Presentations might work out to be a great tool for you. For transient workers or students, it is a great way to store your work online to be accessed from any location — as long as there is an internet connection, of course.
SlideRocket.com
Desktop or Cloud Based?
Cloud Based
Is it free?
It has a free option that works perfectly for people who just want to create presentations.
Is it collaborative?
Yes.
Is it compatible?
SlideRocket offers the ability to export presentations as PowerPoint files – assuming you can get the presentation to save.
Does it have animation capabilities?
Yes, in ways that PPT lacks.
Is it intuitive?
Yes. If you’ve used PowerPoint in the past, you just need to put in a few minutes familiarizing yourself with the location of the function features prior to jumping into the creation of your presentation.
Fun Features.
It allows you to save slides to a library, and add tags to categorize them. It has an interactive feature to include Twitter streams and more. This feature may not be useful during regular presentations, but could be fun to use.
Drawbacks.
After three separate attempts at creating slides, I wasn’t able to save them at all. This may just be an issue with the free option. Being browser based, its very slow, likely due to how robust the program is.
PCMAG.com Review
The most elegant and feature-rich cloud-based presentation software we’ve seen yet.
Conclusion
Will I use any of these alternatives?
I plan to look more into Prezi to use in the future for webettes and interactive presentations, but I don’t think Prezi can ever take the place of designing intuitive slideshows.
While I enjoyed the look and functionality of SlideRocket very much, I don’t think the free option is a contender for taking the place of PowerPoint while it still has so many bugs in it. Hopefully in the future, the site will be cleaned up.
I didn’t like Google Docs Presentation at all. It was boring and lacked any room for creativity. Certainly, Death by PowerPoint was not created in this program.
And finally, even though I am an avid Mac user, I didn’t like the way Keynote worked. However, like many Apple products, I’m sure that will change soon and probably become the leading competitor in presentation design.
In all, I satisfied my need to prove that I am currently using the best presentation program to fit my own needs. Pointing out new features that are not available in PowerPoint certainly got me thinking about all the possibilities that I may be missing. However, I have yet to find one program that can accommodate all of the features seamlessly.
Want more alternatives? Check out these websites that provide more reviews on alternatives to PowerPoint.
http://mashable.com/2008/02/16/forget-powerpoint-online-presentations/
http://www.wired.com/wired/archive/11.09/ppt2.html
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