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What’s more important cool new features or longevity?
September 15, 2008

I was making a presentation in Salt Lake City recently and someone asked me to send them my slides. This is always awkward but I have a pretty standard reply which is “I can't send you the PowerPoint files. My company has rules about source documents. But for those who ask that question sometimes higher res single page PDF slides helps”.

This usually works but every once in a while someone says, “Why are you using PowerPoint, don’t you know how much cooler ______ (fill in the blank with the latest presentation software) is? I’m sure to the casual user switching from one Slide presentation Program to another is no big deal. But if you make a lot of presentations it is.

I few years ago I had to convert from Persuasion to PowerPoint when it became an abandoned program. Persuasion was the “coolest” presentation program. It was developed by Aldus Corporation (the creator of PageMaker). Aldus was acquired by Adobe in 1994 and Adobe discontinued tit September 1997. It took me months to get all the slides recreated.

That’s the reason why I don’t change slide programs. Sure it is likely that there is a “cooler” program but how long will it last. Every few years a new slide presentation program comes out, often offering something “cooler” then PowerPoint – but does not sell as many copies because most people already have the MS Suite and its tough to compete against a Suite of products.

For me it does not matter how if the features of a program are a little” cooler”. What is more important is how long will it be around. What’s more important to you “cooler” or longevity?

Posted by Howie Fenton on September 15, 2008 | Comments (2)

September 17, 2008
In response to: What’s more important cool new features or longevity?
Phil commented:

That was a waste of 5 minutes

September 18, 2008
In response to: What’s more important cool new features or longevity?
Michael Berry commented:

I think the PDF idea is great! I almost always ask presenters for a copy, see we can't send everybody from the plant to these shows, and I want to share what I've learned with those less fortunate to attend than me.