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PowerPoint & Internet Explorer: A Shift In Thought?

by Geetesh Bajaj

You've created that fantastic presentation in PowerPoint 2002? Now, you just have to share it with all your folks (business or home, I'll let you decide). So, how do they view it. They either have older PowerPoint versions or that dog-eared PowerPoint 97 Viewer. The transitions don't show - the animations don't work - even your rotated pictures become straight! You rush to Microsoft's support lines. Their answer is predictable - they advise you to use Internet Explorer to distribute that presentation. Internet Explorer! That browser? And the answer comes loud, maybe a little hesitant: Err, yes - of course.

What's with PowerPoint and Internet Explorer - is it a marriage made in heaven - or a disgrace in hell. That's something we'll never know - other than the fact that this one is forever. That's quite a statement - yet it's true. Whatever happened to good old PowerPoint Viewer 97! Well, it was murdered. Murdered? Yes, this is beginning to sound like a potboiling tale of fiction. Only that it isn't so - it's as true and clear as the mineral water you just drank.

Changing times call for changing thoughts - and human beings are very adaptable. Sometimes, we just don't want to let go of convention - other times, we start doing new things so easily - almost as if we were born that way! Which of these situations is it now? Well, keep reading.....and you'll discover where you stand!

The Newsgroup Braves PowerPoint

You know this PowerPoint newsgroup - sure enough it's on Microsoft's own news servers, yet they won't see what's happening under their very nose.

You see, the PowerPoint Viewer 97, as its very name suggests was created to view presentations made with PowerPoint 97. Sometime during the year 1999, Microsoft released the new PowerPoint 2000. It was not a very major upgrade, but it did add niceties like support for animated GIFs, picture bullets, better tables, etc. Predictably, there was no PowerPoint Viewer 2000. Many of us managed with the PowerPoint 97 Viewer, since the differences between the two versions were trivial enough - and the binary format of a PowerPoint presentation remained the same. The newsgroup played an important part: many discussions were dedicated to creating PowerPoint 97 compatible PowerPoint 2000 presentations. Phew! This may sound a little confusing to newbies - I'll try to make this sound simpler.

Enter Controversy

And now we enter the controversial part. Controversy, thy middle name is .... - well, let it be for now! Somewhere in 2001, Microsoft released PowerPoint 2002. And you know something, they did a fantastic job with it. It's just that, Microsoft being Microsoft - they forgot to add proper distribution features. Not to blame them entirely though - PowerPoint, being the standard which it is today, is installed on many machines worldwide. So, why provide a viewer. And for those less fortunate poor little things who do not have PowerPoint 2002 on their systems, Microsoft decided to dole out a bonanza - it's called Internet Explorer. Never heard about it? Maybe, you lived in Mars all you life!

A Presentation Browser?

So what has Internet Explorer got to do with distributing PowerPoint presentations? Here's the best part: PowerPoint 2002 directly outputs into HTML, the language standard for web pages - and the entire code is 'roundtrip' compatible. In essence, this means you can open a PowerPoint HTML presentation directly into PowerPoint, edit it and save it back into that format or the native PPT format with no loss in formatting whatsoever.

The Cold War

The 'Cold War' - sounds like a familiar term - just cannot remember where I heard it before. Actually, the term 'cold war' suggests a lack of communication between two sides. In this case, one side was Microsoft; the other comprised of PowerPoint users.

This was a 'Catch-22' situation: great presentations, no distribution beyond though. And in this war, either side refused to thaw. Everyone did try out the browser-as-a-viewer though - and many received acceptable results. Yet, much was lost - for instance - fidelity.

And the situation prevailed - it was like the answer to an age old question - which came first? the egg or the chicken?

Sans Convention

When does convention end? Or does it endure? This is beginning to sound ominious, theatrical and liberating at the same time. The way you feel will decide the options you choose.

In the end, I presume it is safe and sound to state that options do exist. These options are directly related to situations: as we may deem fit to view them - from our perspective or through the eyes of someone else.

A Shift In Thought

Although we may deny this, a shift in thought is unavoidable. Change happens everyday - we may spurn it once, but later we do embrace it as well.

Maybe, that change is sweeping the corridors of PowerPoint users - with this in mind, I posted a message on the PowerPoint newsgroup. If you've read this far, I'm sure you would like to hear our debates. However, that's another day, another story...

Since Geetesh first posted this on his site and on the newsgroup, there has been an extensive discussion of the issue. Geetesh has archived the discussion, and you can Read it here.

This article is reprinted with permission of the author, Geetesh Bajaj. He retains all rights to the information provided in the article. Geetesh is the webmaster and author of the PowerPoint Indezine. Check it out for more of his writings, advice, links and tips.