Powerpoint 2008 (Mac) vs. Powerpoint 2007 (Vista)

None ^ | 6/03/2009 | Me

[TheBattman]

OK - so - I do 90% of my work using my Macs - a 12" iBook (last generation) and a PowerMac Dual G5 desktop. The other 10% I spend with an HP Pavilion Laptop (Vista).

So - Working with Powerpoint on both platforms - I have found that there is a huge difference in functionality - with the Mac version generally being for more tolerant of media files (both audio and video)

With Powerpoint 2008 (Mac), I can throw pretty much any popular format audio file or video file and it just works.

Take that same presentation (saved on thumb drive or disc with all media included) and try to run it on a PC (in this case, a PC running Vista and Office 2007), and you get to a media file in the presentation, and you get a little speaker icon on the screen - but nothing plays.

Build the presentation on the HP - and it works very similar to the Mac version, except again - it is super picky as to media formats.

What I have found - videos in MPG work, and WMV sometimes work. Most other video file formats are a no-go.

Audio files - mp3 files won't work, aiff won't work, m4v won't work, etc. .wav works.... bleh.

So why the big gap?

[antiRepublicrat]

You're missing a codec? Try the combined community codec pack for Windows.

Yes, the CCCP thing is sarcastic.

[hugorand]

Powerpoint, is the latest available from Microsoft for each platform (and are otherwise functionally very similar).

Functionally yes, but the software is still different for each operating system at the point where it communicates with hardware devices like audio and video. Also, the audio and video devices are different for each machine.

I used to deal with the same issues when I had a Mac and a PC, and I know how frustrating it is.

Apple Macs went to the Intel processor a few years ago, and now I have a single laptop machine: Macbook Pro 17", and I can run both OS X and Windows (in a virtual machine) when necessary.

[DeLaine]

So Swordmaker beat me to it.

LOL. (actually I start a lot of sentences with “Well, )

[Glenn]

So Swordmaker beat me to it.

You're doing it wrong.

It should be:

So, (must have the comma pause), Swordmaker beat me to it.

[DeLaine]

I’m a geek-in-practice!!!!!

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks SM.

[TheBattman]

I just don’t see it as a codec issue - if the media files play just fine on the WINDOWS machine OUTSIDE of Powerpoint.

I mean, come on - .mp3 is not a proprietary file format to Apple by ANY stretch. I can play any .mp3 I wish on the Win machine, and it plays just fine. I add that same .mp3 to a powerpoint presentation and it will not play - just puts a speaker icon on the frame...

If the computer will play the file otherwise, then why can Powerpoint not play it in a presentation?

Yet Powerpoint under OSX plays it just fine.

[TheBattman]

Microsoft has a lot of business reasons to want Macs to become extinct.

While I won't deny MS prefering Apple fall off the face of the earth, I find it funny that the version of PowerPoint (and Word for that matter) that THEY created for OSX is better and more functional than the version they created for their own OS!!!

[krb]

with the Mac version generally being for more tolerant of media files (both audio and video)

To get media to work well with powerpoint on the PC, it is best to follow these steps:

• Use WMV as your video format if possible.
• Make sure the complete path name isn't too long (including subdirectories). In fact I like to put all my media files into a directory off of the root (i.e. C:\media) for just this reason

[antiRepublicrat]

In that case Powerpoint may not use the system codecs, only its own that it wants to understand.

Also, not all mp3s are built the same. Players have their limits on bit depth, bit rate, etc., and Powerpoint’s may just be done cheaply. Probably in order to promote the use of WMA instead.

[antiRepublicrat]

I find it funny that the version of PowerPoint (and Word for that matter) that THEY created for OSX is better and more functional than the version they created for their own OS!!!

The Apple development team at Microsoft considers themselves superior to the rest of the place and constantly puts out better software to prove it.

[TheBattman]

Also, not all mp3s are built the same. Players have their limits on bit depth, bit rate, etc., and Powerpoint’s may just be done cheaply. Probably in order to promote the use of WMA instead.

You have partially hit the nail on the head. While the .mp3 file I was using was nothing "special" - was a middle-of-the-road file (so I don't think that is the issue), your touching on trying to force WMA might be a better explanation.

Still goes back to one thought...

If Windows is so "superior", then why would MS allow their own product, designed for OS X, to be so much superior to the same product built for their own OS? I'm not complaining, as there are still some issues that I have with MS Word on both platforms that make me want to do harm to Gates and Co.!

But that being said - sure would make for an interesting sales presentation in a reseller setting - as MS's office suite seems to still be the default software for most people - Run PowerPoint on two basically comparable machines - a Mac and a Windows machine... Try to put the same basic presentation together using identical audio or video files (in a common format, not a proprietary DRM'ed one). Then give it a whirl...

[TheBattman]

* Use WMV as your video format if possible. * Make sure the complete path name isn't too long (including subdirectories). In fact I like to put all my media files into a directory off of the root (i.e. C:\media) for just this reason

Actually, standard operating procedure for me when creating ppt presentations is to put all media in one folder on the thumb drive. I learned that long ago from someone else who was supposedly an "expert" who kept getting upset when a presentation done on their desktop wouldn't play right on the same kind of computer across campus for a presentation before a room full of teachers... AT the time I knew little about Powerpoint. But when I took a look at it - and saw that it was linking to a file on "C:/", I asked her.. how exactly is powerpoint suppose to play a file on your desktop across campus? She just looked at me blankly.

But yes - apparently, Powerpoint on Windows apparently likes WMV and WAV. Anything else is likely to not work. Seems kind of odd and ironic, and supports my preference for OS X.