PowerPoint vs OpenOffice

[Thomas Paul]

Hi Solveig and welcome
I use PowerPoint to do all my courses but of course I would rather use OpenOffice. The issue is that I have to use PowerPoint when I run the presentation because that is all we have in the classrooms (and I get yelled at if I install any software on the PCs in the classroom). Assuming I develop in OpenOffice and save in PowerPoint format for presentation, are there features I should avoid in order to insure perfect compatibility between the two?

[Solveig Laura Haugland]

Hi Tom,
Yep, I think a lot of people run into that.
....
I was going to say, stay away from animation and slide transitions. But I just tested it and I can't get MS XP Impress to open an OOo presentation saved in ppt format. I'll test some more; probably gremlin infestation.
An alternative you might or might not like the results of is exporting to html. File > Export, select the HTML format option, and walk through the Wizard.
Solveig

Originally posted by Thomas Paul:
Hi Solveig and welcome
I use PowerPoint to do all my courses but of course I would rather use OpenOffice. The issue is that I have to use PowerPoint when I run the presentation because that is all we have in the classrooms (and I get yelled at if I install any software on the PCs in the classroom). Assuming I develop in OpenOffice and save in PowerPoint format for presentation, are there features I should avoid in order to insure perfect compatibility between the two?

[Solveig Laura Haugland]

Take 2. Yep, my former post was just from gremlin infestation. The animation in www.getopenoffice.org/moose.pdf still works but comes out wonky; regular transitions looked fine.
Short story: just don't do the Moose.

Originally posted by Thomas Paul:
Hi Solveig and welcome
I use PowerPoint to do all my courses but of course I would rather use OpenOffice. The issue is that I have to use PowerPoint when I run the presentation because that is all we have in the classrooms (and I get yelled at if I install any software on the PCs in the classroom). Assuming I develop in OpenOffice and save in PowerPoint format for presentation, are there features I should avoid in order to insure perfect compatibility between the two?

[Thomas Paul]

Great. My presentations tend to be fairly simple since they are just speaking cues, really, so the moose problem shouldn't come up too often. It's good to know that there are other options besides Microsoft!

[Ashik Uzzaman]

At least OpenOffice can read MS-Office formats while the reverse is not true.

[Solveig Laura Haugland]

Yes! MS hasn't exactly broken a hip in its hurry to open other formats. ;>

Originally posted by Ashik uzzaman:
At least OpenOffice can read MS-Office formats while the reverse is not true.