I recently had the pleasure of downloading and installing the beta version of Microsoft PowerPoint 2010. I haven’t increased the RAM of my machine but I think the beta version does load faster than its predecessor, PPT 2007. If the beta version of PowerPoint 2010 is something to go by then we all have something very special waiting for us when the official version rolls out. The third quarter of 2009 will see a technical preview of MS office 2010 – hopefully the results and subsequent findings will be out before the end of this year.

Not only can you embed audio and video files in PowerPoint 2010 – you can also edit them! When a video or audio file is introduced it can easily be previewed from the edit view with full playback controls. The new editing ribbon has a feature called the “Trim Video” button. This new tool opens a new dialog box that most of the time trades the need for video editing software! I’m persuaded that this is a welcome change for PowerPoint presenters everywhere, especially when the need for accompanying audio and video is escalating every day. There are even more fine tuning options for both videos and audio files. PPT 2010 really opens PowerPoint to the power of multimedia assimilation!

If editing video files wasn’t good enough - Videos are no longer inhibited to rectangles! Any auto shape can contain a movie; just select the one you want from the menu. You can use the CROP tool on Video’s now as well.

Slide transitions never fail to fascinate – PPT 2010 is no exception. There are a number of new and innovative transitions that are sure to hype any presentation. Some of the names themselves evoke an expectation: Gallery, Ripple, Flip, Pan to name a few – imagine what the full version will have!

Contributed by: Mark C

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