"Gary Fisher" <gafisher at sprynet.com> wrote:

> Not that "Squeak as a free replacement for PowerPoint" is a BAD thing, mind
> you . . .
> 
> PowerPoint is pretty much ubiquitous in many business and educational
> markets, and widely used elsewhere, and it is that very ubiquity which makes
> PP's limitations chafe, as everyone who uses it wants to do *something* that
> their audience hasn't seen before. 

I introduce Squeak as "a better PowerPoint" a lot of times, even though
it makes me cringe a little.  The primary goal of Squeak, it seems, is
to make a good environment for computer media.  That is, to make a good
environment for communicating things to people on a computer.  The fact
that there are a couple of programming languages is just a matter of
strategy toward this end.

Given this starting point, it's easy to show people how Squeak is
better.  The extra flexibility is an obvious benefit, as is the
superswiki system for sharing things around.  Most of all, Squeak
presentations are fun to play with outside of any stand-up presentation.
 I have not once had the desire to download and play with Powerpoint
slides after the presentation is over.

A better starting point for comparison would be Macromedia Director. 
Directory can also be described as a computer-media development system. 
Alas, few people know about it, and so PowerPoint is usually a better
bet.


-Lex