“Apple Computer and Microsoft have risen (or stooped) to various levels of audacity over the years in copying each other’s innovations. Amid that history, few bids have been bolder than Apple’s January 2003 introduction of Keynote – an application aiming to compete head-to-head with Microsoft’s hugely popular Powerpoint presentation program,” Eric Convey reports for The Boston Herald.
“When it comes to range of tools and flexibility, PowerPoint wins. With its multiple tablets and huge range of options, the program lets an experienced user do all sorts of things,” Convey reports. “But Apple programs are seldom about letting experts do everything. More often, they’re designed to let people who are less than experts do an awful lot easily. Keynote fits this model.”
Convey reports, “I’ve used PowerPoint weekly for a teaching gig for the past two school years. I know my way around the program and like it. But I’m no expert, and after 15 minutes with Keynote I found I was able to make better-looking presentations that run a little more smoothly than the Microsoft presentations. Keynote, at $99, costs about half as much as freestanding PowerPoint. But PowerPoint often comes as part of Microsoft Office, putting the program on many a business user’s desktop. For a Mac user looking to add presentation software, Keynote wins. Making good-looking presentations is almost ridiculously easy.”
Full article here.