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IDEA: Powerpoint shrinker
yacht_boy:
Yeah, the NXPowerLite works really well, but it's $45!!! I couldn't even sell my 5-year old PC for $45, why would I want to pay that much for a program I will use maybe once or twice a month at most? Plus, I feel that the coders here could probably do it more elegantly and with less space than the commercial versions. Wish I knew how to do this kind of stuff myself.
Darwin:
I just found this via Lifehacker: Sun Presentation Minimizer. Don't know if it will do "batch shrinks" or not, but worth a look, I should think.
yacht_boy:
Thanks--looks awesome for my home computer (open office), but won't work at work where I'm restricted to MS Office, and where I do all of my work on Powerpoint. Still, it's a start. Anyone out there know of a way to port this to M$?
Jason
mwb1100:
Yeah, the NXPowerLite works really well, but it's $45!!! . . . why would I want to pay that much for a program I will use maybe once or twice a month at most?
-yacht_boy (January 16, 2008, 08:37 AM)
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I do a *lot* of work on other people's powerpoints (unfortunately--maybe I should find a better job) and just want a simple 1 click solution to shrink them down quickly with a minimum of fuss.
-yacht_boy (January 15, 2008, 09:52 PM)
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I know it's easy to spend other people's money, but to my mind if you do this a couple times a month and NXPowerLite does the trick (I don't know anything about the program except what you've written), then $45 would probably be money well spent. Especially if it's for work (in which case, your work should buy it, not you). Let's amortize over a relatively short period - if you use it 12 times over the next 6 months that comes out to something like $4 per use. Would you pay someone $4 or $5 to perform this task for you? If so, you should probably consider the purchase.
I also know this kind of analysis is sometimes easier said than done. My wife often chides me for spending hours and hours researching a purchase in order to save $8. Now, since that's my own personal time, I'm OK with it (even if it makes no sense). However, for work, time *is* money so spending chump change to save time is an easy decision. But I also have a reasonable work place that doesn't freak out over a $45 expense as long as I can justify it (and for $45, "I do this a couple times a month" is ample justification).
Darwin:
Jason - just to highlight the fact that AFAICT, Sun Presenation Minimizer works with ppt files as well... or are they sneaky and force you to use the Open/Star Office interface to make it work?
Crumb! Just took a look and that is exactly how it works - it's a plug-in or "extension" to Open/StarOffice. Bummed. Sorry Jason, I thought this one had promise. Let the hunt continue!
Edit: typo :-[
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