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PRODUCT REVIEW
Take PowerPoint presentations on-the-go with powerViewer
By Jeffrey Greer
Microsoft's PowerPoint software has become an essential business tool, allowing users in all fields to create attractive, content-rich presentations for viewing by co-workers, clients, staff, etc. Making those presentations mobile would offer even greater advantages. Well, now you can take your PowerPoint presentations on the road with you, right in your pocket.
There are several PowerPoint viewing products on the market today that permit you to view, and in some instances manipulate, PowerPoint presentations from your Palm handheld. The latest offering is powerViewer 2000 from ibrite, at http://www.ibrite.com. It enables you to download PowerPoint presentations from Office 97 or Office 2000 and display them on your handheld. You can also "beam" your presentation via IR (infrared) to another Palm OS handheld computer so that the recipient can view the presentation on his or her Palm OS device. The current release is version "D," and several enhancements are planned that, once implemented, will make the product even more robust.
Installation
The powerViewer software runs within Microsoft's PowerPoint 2000 and PowerPoint 97 on a PC running Windows 95, 98, 2000, or Windows NT. The vendor recommends at least 96MB of RAM and at least a 266 Mhz processor or better. I used an AMD 380 Mhz with 128MB of RAM.
Installation of the product was very straightforward, and once installed, the application can be accessed through PowerPoint. There will be a powerViewer icon on the PowerPoint toolbar, as seen in Figure A.
FIGURE A
 
An ibrite icon will appear on your PowerPoint toolbar. Roll over picture for a larger image.
The application can also be accessed through your Windows Start menu, as shown in Figure B.
FIGURE B
 
You can also access powerViewer via the Start menu. Roll over picture for a larger image.
Creating a powerViewer presentation
Once you launch the powerViewer 2000 application, it'll bring up a dialogue box asking you to choose a PowerPoint presentation to be converted to a handheld presentation, as shown in Figure C.
FIGURE C
 
You'll be asked to select a PowerPoint file. Roll over picture for a larger image.
Once the presentation has been converted to a Palm database, the presentation will be sent to your handheld, along with the viewer software, during your next HotSync. The four-slide presentation I sent to my Palm IIIc took up 131K of memory. The application itself takes up another 386K of memory; so if memory is at a premium on your handheld, take this into consideration before downloading powerViewer.
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