software

For most Mac users, slide presentations means Microsoft's Powerpoint. Steve Jobs, CEO of Apple, in 2003 decided there is the ÔMac WayÕ for presentations. In Steve Jobs words, ÒKeynote makes your presentation really count. Ó

Under the Keynote Hood

You can choose transition, style, direction and speed when you use KeynoteÕs Inspector. Creating object builds adds visual interest to your slide presentation. You can animate the elements on a single slide or in a group of slides.

One click and you alter the opacity of a graphic using the Slide Inspector. Click twice and you can set the playback parameters for a QuickTime movie. The Build window in the Inspector allows you to preview, add, and manipulate transitions within and between slides.

AppleÕs Keynote allows you to include sound for your presentation. AppleÕs KeynoteÕs sound formats you can use are MOV, Flash, MP3 and AIFF. Also, you can add files from iTunesÕ music library to your Keynote slide presentation. In addition, you can add a Quicktime movie to your slides.

Pro Reaction

Keynote has crisp, fresh graphics. KeynoteÕs ÔDrag and DropÕ and exporting to AppleÕs Quicklime both work well. You can import Microsoft PowerPoint or AppleWorksÕ presentations and create a custom theme base on those slides.

You can store your images in KeynoteÕs Image Library. KeynoteÕs Cube and Mosaic Large transitions are outstanding for updating your MicrosoftÕs PowerPoint. You receive a KeynoteÕs User Guide manual. No missing manual here.

Con Reaction

Keynote lacks prebuilt presentations. Also, Keynote has very little clip art to work with in presentations. Also, you have limited presentation themes to choose from in Keynote.

Keynote Cube and Mosaic Large and small transitions do not render well when exporting in MicrosoftÕs PowerPoint or AcrobatÕs PDF formats. Missing from KeynoteÕs User Guide is an index.

Final Notes

You can count on KeynoteÕs sharp appearance, ease of use, and great price. Keynote makeÔs it easy to create professional-looking presentations compatible with MicrosoftÕs PowerPoint. In addition, Keynote gives your presentations attractive slide-transition effects. I use AppleÕs KeynoteÕs software as a companion software for revising my MicrosoftÕs PowerPoint presentations.

I work with plenty of powerpoint charts in my work with windows users...but when I need a great statistics chart, I turn to Keynote. I have plenty of control over the output and the results are stunning.

The export to powerpoint works terrific. However, if you build a presentation in Keynote, you may just consider exporting it into Quicktime so that the viewer can simply run through the presentation in pristine quality and enjoy all of the terrific transitions.

I hope to see more office apps like this from Apple in the future.

For years, PowerPoint has been the bain of my existence. My boss is obsessed with it. Every week it's another presentation in PowerPoint. Finally, an alternative. As usual, Apple takes the "point" out of a Microsoft product. It seems fair, all things considered.

The user interface for this program is fast and easy to learn. It even gives you several options of themes to use for those deadline crunches that we all run into from time to time. It includes the famous drag-and-drop functionality that we've come to expect.

Most importantly, you can save it out to PowerPoint for those less enlighted souls who still think that a Windows machine will help them keep up with the times.