[img src="" caption="" credit="" alt=""]
Google has rounded up their office package with Presentations, and it's time to take it for a spin against the presentation heavyweight - Microsoft Powerpoint. Of course, direct comparisons were sometimes tough to make, as Google Presentations trails behind feature-wise, and in some cases obviously doesn't even try to stand up against the big M's offering. However, that doesn't mean that Google doesn't have a few aces up their sleeve.
The Look and Feel
Google takes a no-nonsense approach here. Presentations pretty much feels like a lightweight version of Powerpoint, with slide overview on the left side, the main slide editing area taking the most of the right side, and a menu on top. Like most Google apps, it's not exactly beautiful, but it's functional. It's also quite easy to find your way around it. Powerpoint, on the other hand, has the advantage of being familiar to anyone who's ever used Office, and while its extra functions add to the clutter, it's still easy to use.
As far as the look of the actual presentation is concerned, it's no secret that Microsoft should take a cue from Apple, because their choice of themes is wide but the themes are notoriously ugly - especially if you still haven't switched to Office 2007. Google, however, doesn't up the ante on this one; their slide choice is much smaller than Powerpoint's, and the themes are very basic. Perhaps it's too much to ask, but I think that Google could have done a better job here; as it is, the presentations you create with it are going to look decent at best, but never extraordinary.
[img src="" caption="" credit="" alt=""]
Microsoft - Google 1:0
The features
Like with all other Google apps, Google opted to go for simplicity in Presentations. Thus, the options are pretty much the bare minimum, especially when you compare them to Powerpoint. Besides the basic text editing options, you get to create/move/delete slides, and you can backtrack through the changes on the document via Revisions.
It's pointless to go through the Powerpoint features, as most readers are familiar with most of them; suffice to say that Powerpoint offers a vast amount of useful options that Google Presentations doesn't: diagrams, charts, graphs, macros, action buttons; the list goes on. Add to that the standard benefits of using Office, like spelling correction, and it's obvious that this is a non-contest. Powerpoint wins on all fronts; once again, Google Presentations can only be dubbed as a simple tool for quick and dirty presentations (which was probably the general idea, anyway), while for serious work you're going to have to use Powerpoint.
[img src="" caption="" credit="" alt=""]
Microsoft - Google 2:0
Collaboration and Online Features
Remember when I said that Google has something up their sleeve? Well, as expected, when it comes to online collaboration, Google Presentations has a couple of options that Office doesn't. Start up your slide show and you'll see: you can invite people to join your presentation online, and even chat in the same window.
[img src="" caption="" credit="" alt=""]
On the other hand, if you're working in a corporation armed with Microsoft Exchange and all the other bells and whistles from Redmond, like Microsoft Groove (all of which, of course, you have to pay for), you'll have no problem collaborating with your coworkers. Still, the simplicity of sharing documents and working together when you use Google apps, and the fact that Powerpoint doesn't have this functionality built-in, make Google a winner here.
Microsoft - Google 2:1
Conclusion