Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007

------------------------------------
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
------------------------------------

So here goes for yet another of the newly designed Microsoft products. As with most of the other software applications it has been totally redesigned to allow for easier user interaction, better look and style to the software and most importantly efficiency. I have had this product for almost a month now I have used it ...
...in the earlier versions of Microsoft PowerPoint. This is one of the most advanced and sophisticated pieces of software that I have seen in a very long while.

Well how did I come around to getting this product? I had has been making presentations and slide shows for a few months and found that there were not always the features that I needed to produce the things that I wanted to and found that they were becoming slightly repetitive ... more

------------------------------------
Microsoft PowerPoint 2007
------------------------------------

So here goes for yet another of the newly designed Microsoft products. As with most of the other software applications it has been totally redesigned to allow for easier user interaction, better look and style to the software and most importantly efficiency. I have had this product for almost a month now I have used it quite frequently as I have needed to make presentations and slideshows for various reasons. I have found that it contains lots of extra things that were not available in the earlier versions of Microsoft PowerPoint. This is one of the most advanced and sophisticated pieces of software that I have seen in a very long while.

Well how did I come around to getting this product? I had has been making presentations and slide shows for a few months and found that there were not always the features that I needed to produce the things that I wanted to and found that they were becoming slightly repetitive in the style etc. so for a while I was thinking of finding another piece of software that had the same concept as PowerPoint 2003 and then there was the release of this software which was a huge relief as I knew that this would be better than ever before with the software being better than even allowing for more and more user interaction than ever before.

After doing a small amount of research on the internet and looking round in a few of the computer stores that I live near I came to the conclusion that this software was the one for me, it suited my needs exactly, what more could I want. Upon getting this software home I inserted the disc immediately so that I could install it and see what this software was actually like firsthand. The software took about ten minutes to install and I was even impressed with the installation screens. So as soon as I could I opened up this application and it just made me go “WOW”, it looked incredible with the pale blue design for the background, totally redesigned layout of all the buttons on a ribbon at the top of the screen. It really did look astonishing and I couldn’t wait to start using it.

So I started to play around with it gradually learning where all of the different things were. It come as quite a shock to see how much it had really changed even after I had seen all of the images on the different websites that I had visited. What is known to be called a ribbon at the top of the screen had replaced what used to be a toolbar of all the different functions. The main toolbar which used to contain the names such as File and view have now been replaced with things such as Home and Design. Finding the different commands can be quite a trivial thing to do on the first time that I used the software, not only did it take me while to find some of the functions but I also discovered that all of the shortcuts that I was used to using has all changed for example when you used to press Alt+F the file menu would drop down but now everything has been moved around and all of the shortcuts have changed so I am now in the process of learning what they all are again. To view all of the different shortcuts whilst in the application press the Alt button and a series of letters will appear all across the ribbon, this will then be the button that you have to press on the keyboard if you want to access that menu or function. I have found it quite hard to learn all of these as I am used to all of the ones from previous versions.

Whilst the software has been redesigned some of the images have stayed the same that are in respect to shortcuts such as the clipart image still looks like a portrait of a man but it is surrounded by three other portraits. Most of the images in respect to the shortcuts have been slightly changed but not totally. This has made the software look more professional and more “in” with the modern age. Also whilst using the software I have found that there is quite a lot of new features that have been introduced such as the different slide designs that you can now have, these have images in the centre of the design allowing you to insert images and charts etc faster. Although this is not entirely new it has only appeared in the XP version of Microsoft office which didn’t really take the market by storm as it was not much of an upgrade from the well know Microsoft Office 2003.

Some of the new features which have taken place in the software are the ability to create your own photo album, a new feature which is called smear art and also there are several different slide transitions that have been introduced into this software as well. Smart art is a really cool new feature which allows you to easily create different things such as flowcharts and lists etc. there are several different styles that you are able to choose from it is a very good feature and I am sure that you will come to use this feature a lot in the office and indeed at home as well. I have found that this feature is very useful and allows me to fulfil my needs faster by there being a lot of preset functions etc.

As well as the software application looking good when you are using it, it is also very easy to use once you have discovered where all of the different functions and commands are. There is one major change that will have a huge impact on the way that people use this software and it is a huge bid to try and get more people to purchase it. All of the file extensions have changed meaning that unless you have Microsoft Office 2007 on another computer then you will not be able transfer files unless you save them as the 97 – 2003 PowerPoint this is a huge disappointment because if you have to save it as one of these so that it can run on another computer without office 2007 then it will lose some of its features. Basically this means that if you use a function on office 2007 that 2003 etc does not have then this function will be disabled. This is a huge disappointment but in my opinion I think that it is just trying to get more and more people to purchase this software. Eventually there will be no option but to have the Microsoft office 2007 as there will be no more licenses etc so you will not be able to purchase older versions etc.

In the new software design the is are increased options of what themes to choose from as well as an increased option for the transitions that you are able to use etc. this is quite good as you can get your slideshows looking better than ever before with all of the software’s new functionalities. I think that this software is quite incredible and it will hit the market by storm as it is so good. As I mentioned earlier I have had the software for about a month and I have not encountered a problem with it yet and I have don’t think that I will have a problem in the future, but just in case I do there is a 24hr support team on hand to help you which will be able to solve most problems that you are having with the software.

If I was to rate this product on a scale of ten then I would have to give it a 9/10 because its increased functionality is just so huge and it is so great to use. I have found that it has allowed me to do whatever I have needed and I will soon be mastering even more with this software. The product can be quite expensive to buy and is priced at around £100.00 which is quite expensive for just the one software application but never the less it is worthwhile once you have experienced its capabilities. The application can be purchased from most good computer stores and you can also purchase it from places such as www.ebay.co.uk where you may be able to purchase the item cheaper.

Thank you for reading this review and I hope to be hearing from you soon. 

...less