Getting PowerPoint viewer on aMmac - still trying

[Bob]

I am still attempting to help a cousin get a PowerPoint viewer on
her Mac.
After posting for help, I got good advice/suggestions, but
apparently no sucess.
Here is my previous post and the two responses.
Any additional help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!!!!!!
Bob-tx

__________________________________________________
Previously posted note:
I have a cousin who has a Mac about five years old. I don't know
what system release she is on. (I am not a Mac user and know
nothing about them).

She does not have a PowerPoint viewer and I have been trying to help
her via email without success.

I searched Google and sent her all the sites that appeared to
address the PP viewer, but she has not been successful downloading
or installing anything.

Frankly, I have no idea what to advise.

Would you educated Mac users please offer some advice? It would
sure be appreciated.

Thanks in advance, Bob-tx
______________________________________________________
I received the following response:
Hi,

we really need to know the version of the operating system, but I'm
guessing it is a version of OS X.

You could try NeoOffice ( a free download) which will open/save
Powerpoint files.

see http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php

Or try looking at the viewer at
http://sixlegs.com/blog/java/powerpoint-viewer.html
(this website seems not to work at the moment, but it may be backup
shortly)

Keynote (part of iWork, and inexspensive) is also very good and will
open/save as powerpoint.

Best of Luck.
PTB
________________________________________________

Second response:
Hi Bob,

As crazy as it sounds, there's no PowerPoint viewer for Mac OS X.

As Peter indicated, NeoOffice is a free Office Suite and it contains
a
module that can play Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

NeoOffice uses Java and is a derivative of OpenOffice, another free
office
suite that can play PowerPoint presentations. OpenOffice uses X11
technology
that is an optional install in Mac OSX's installer. It can be found
here:
http://www.openoffice.org/

NeoOffice and OpenOffice are very good and make great players.
However, if
you want presentations to play exactly as created you'll need
PowerPoint.

-Jim

http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/download.php
________________________________________________________________

I forwarded a copy of these two posts to my cousin.
Here is her response.

"I downloaded the Office.Org which I read before downloading and
this will help Mac users (OSX 10.3 and OSX 10.4) to view PP.
However, when I tried downloading to install the program it said I
needed a thing called 011X. I followed instructions as you need to
insert your install disk for Tiger OSX 10.4 and I tried everything
but nothing came up. It is so frustrating! I have no idea why this
is becoming such a process, but I worked on it for a good part of
the afternoon with no results."
__________________________________________________________________
Okay, any idea where we go from here?
Sorry that I am so dumb about Mac, but just have never been around
one.
Also, we live three states apart, so I can't see what is happening.

Do you think it is a lost cause, or is there any hope to get a
PowerPoint viewer on her system?
Thanks for the information you already provided, and thanks in
advance for any additional help.
Bob-tx

 

[peterthebag]

Bob,
if she uses NeOffice she will be able to view powerpoint shows. It
does not require X11.

http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php

I do not think there is a standalone powerpoint viewer available
anymore - it's Just not needed given the availability of other
software.
Peter

 

[Jim Gordon MVP]

Hi

Peterthebag is correct. Microsoft does not have a PowerPoint viewer for
MacOSX. The most recent one is for PowerPoint 98. That viewer is 10 years
old and only runs in OS 7.5 through 9. It is still available as a download
from Microsoft here (note: the URL is long):
http://www.microsoft.com/downloads/info.aspx?na=22&p=1&SrcDisplayLang=en&Src
CategoryId=5&SrcFamilyId=&u=%2fdownloads%2fdetails.aspx%3fFamilyID%3de25cb1e
5-209c-4a58-b283-23e84b616477%26DisplayLang%3den

NeoOffice and OpenOffice are the free viewer solutions available to Mac
users.

The only Microsoft solution is to buy and install PowerPoint.

-Jim

I am still attempting to help a cousin get a PowerPoint viewer on
her Mac.
After posting for help, I got good advice/suggestions, but
apparently no sucess.
Here is my previous post and the two responses.
Any additional help would be appreciated.
Thanks in advance!!!!!!
Bob-tx

__________________________________________________
Previously posted note:
I have a cousin who has a Mac about five years old. I don't know
what system release she is on. (I am not a Mac user and know
nothing about them).

She does not have a PowerPoint viewer and I have been trying to help
her via email without success.

I searched Google and sent her all the sites that appeared to
address the PP viewer, but she has not been successful downloading
or installing anything.

Frankly, I have no idea what to advise.

Would you educated Mac users please offer some advice? It would
sure be appreciated.

Thanks in advance, Bob-tx
______________________________________________________
I received the following response:
Hi,

we really need to know the version of the operating system, but I'm
guessing it is a version of OS X.

You could try NeoOffice ( a free download) which will open/save
Powerpoint files.

see http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/index.php

Or try looking at the viewer at
http://sixlegs.com/blog/java/powerpoint-viewer.html
(this website seems not to work at the moment, but it may be backup
shortly)

Keynote (part of iWork, and inexspensive) is also very good and will
open/save as powerpoint.

Best of Luck.
PTB
________________________________________________

Second response:
Hi Bob,

As crazy as it sounds, there's no PowerPoint viewer for Mac OS X.

As Peter indicated, NeoOffice is a free Office Suite and it contains
a
module that can play Microsoft PowerPoint presentations.

NeoOffice uses Java and is a derivative of OpenOffice, another free
office
suite that can play PowerPoint presentations. OpenOffice uses X11
technology
that is an optional install in Mac OSX's installer. It can be found
here:
http://www.openoffice.org/

NeoOffice and OpenOffice are very good and make great players.
However, if
you want presentations to play exactly as created you'll need
PowerPoint.

-Jim

http://www.neooffice.org/neojava/en/download.php
________________________________________________________________

I forwarded a copy of these two posts to my cousin.
Here is her response.

"I downloaded the Office.Org which I read before downloading and
this will help Mac users (OSX 10.3 and OSX 10.4) to view PP.
However, when I tried downloading to install the program it said I
needed a thing called 011X. I followed instructions as you need to
insert your install disk for Tiger OSX 10.4 and I tried everything
but nothing came up. It is so frustrating! I have no idea why this
is becoming such a process, but I worked on it for a good part of
the afternoon with no results."
__________________________________________________________________
Okay, any idea where we go from here?
Sorry that I am so dumb about Mac, but just have never been around
one.
Also, we live three states apart, so I can't see what is happening.

Do you think it is a lost cause, or is there any hope to get a
PowerPoint viewer on her system?
Thanks for the information you already provided, and thanks in
advance for any additional help.
Bob-tx

--
Jim Gordon
Mac MVP

MVPs are not Microsoft Employees
MVP info

 

[TAJ Simmons]

Bob,

Has your friend got a gmail email account?

as you can 'view as slideshow' while logged into a gmail account.

see
http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9728550-2.html

cheers
TAJ Simmons
Microsoft Powerpoint MVP

awesome - powerpoint templates,
http://www.awesomebackgrounds.com
powerpoint backgrounds, free samples, ppt tutorials...

 

[Bob]

"I downloaded the Office.Org which I read before downloading and
this will help Mac users (OSX 10.3 and OSX 10.4) to view PP.
However, when I tried downloading to install the program it said
I needed a thing called 011X. I followed instructions as you need
to insert your install disk for Tiger OSX 10.4 and I tried
everything but nothing came up. It is so frustrating! I have no
idea why this is becoming such a process, but I worked on it for a
good part of the afternoon with no results."
__________________________________________________________________
Okay, any idea where we go from here?
Sorry that I am so dumb about Mac, but just have never been around
one.
Also, we live three states apart, so I can't see what is
happening.

Do you think it is a lost cause, or is there any hope to get a
PowerPoint viewer on her system?
Thanks for the information you already provided, and thanks in
advance for any additional help.
Bob-tx

Thanks very much for your help. I am beginning to think that she is
not going to be able to get PowerPoint without buying it from MS,
which I don't think she will do.
To, the availability of software is one of the problems I see with
Mac. Perhaps with the more current operating systems, there is more
ability to run PC based software, I don't know.
Thanks again for you efforts and information.
Bob-tx

 

[peterthebag]

Bob,
of course the only way to get powerpoint is to buy it from MS, it is a
comercial product.

You cannot say that there is a shoratge of software for macs because
of that. As it is several free and one cheap, way of viewing these
files has been suggested to you, (there are no doubt other s as well)
so that hardly counts as a shortage! The Powerpoint viewer is not
available because it is not needed, there are so many other ways of
viewing these files.

If you really want to do your cousin a favour direct her towards the
neo office, which will do everything she wants (and then some) and is
free.

If she has problems tell her to log onto these groups. There are
allways people happy to help here.

Ptb

 

[Steve Rindsberg]

Bob,

Has your friend got a gmail email account?

as you can 'view as slideshow' while logged into a gmail account.

see
http://www.webware.com/8301-1_109-9728550-2.html

Sweet ... thanks for that, Taj. I've added it to this:

Free PowerPoint Viewers, Viewer Capabilities
http://www.pptfaq.com/FAQ00153.htm

================================================
Steve Rindsberg, PPT MVP
PPT FAQ: www.pptfaq.com
PPTools: www.pptools.com
================================================

 

[DenMaur]

My answer to this was to use Keynotes, which is a Powerpoint-like program that comes with Pages in the iWorks package. These are much cheaper to buy than Office ($79) and Keynotes will open and play Powerpoint files. I also run Windows in a Parallels virtual machine so I can use the virtual machine to download and play PPS files.

Hope this helps