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> "These days, the business software market is shifting again, and Microsoft Office must now compete with similar bundles that are entirely free, from the likes

> "These days, the business software market is shifting again, and Microsoft Office must now compete with similar bundles that are entirely free, from the likes of Google, LibreOffice, and others. Productivity software resides more often than not in the cloud, rather than on the user’s device. Meanwhile, the dominant mode of personal computing globally has firmly shifted from the desktop and laptop to the smartphone. As yet, no new vision of personal computing like the one that came from Xerox PARC in the 1970s has emerged. And so for the moment, it appears that PowerPoint, as we know it, is here to stay." Whilst I'm sure PowerPoint will stick around for quite a bit longer, I'd suggest Microsoft is already working on the spiritual successor to PowerPoint, which is called Sway. Can think of Sway as web-based presentation software. It's already part of the Office suite. https://sway.com/ https://sway.com/

mirimir 9y ago
> Meanwhile, the dominant mode of personal computing globally has firmly shifted from the desktop and laptop to the smartphone. Do people actually work on smartphones? I mean, code, edit documents, use spreadsheets etc?
- edent 9y ago
  Yes! Sit on any cramped commuter train and you'll see people reading and writing long form documents on their phones. Take a look in your favourite app store and you'll see millions of downloads of office editing apps. For coding, I usually SSH into something from my phone and make edits that way. But I've certainly edited HTML and then pushed it via sFTP from my phone.
  - mirimir 9y ago
    I don't commute anymore, so mostly what I see are people everywhere, walking around, and looking at their phones. I get that modern phones are more powerful than old laptops. And I get that there are many ways to use remote servers. But, even with the larger phones, the screen is smaller than typical editing windows. Except, I realize, the one I'm typing in now :) But it's the limitation in keyboard size that puzzles me. I know that there are portable keyboards. And devices that project virtual keyboards on surfaces. But I'm guessing that most people are typing on screens, and using voice input. So how can that actually work? That is, be efficient enough to bother with?
- mvdwoord 9y ago
  Although I prefer to lug around my laptop.. I know of people that do almost entire days of work on a phone. Remote desktops, coding, massive amounts of email, etc etc. I sat next to it many times and it continues to baffle me. Datacenter automation/orchestration from a 5 inch screen. #Masochism. But I must admit it's nice to travel light sometimes.
  - mirimir 9y ago
    Yes, traveling light is good. But as I say in the other subthread, I find it hard to imagine how one works efficiently without a real keyboard. At one point, long ago, I was carrying a folding keyboard. But, unless I was sitting at a table or equivalent, there wasn't anywhere to put it. And it was rather floppy. Also the screen. How do you keep it in front of your face, while typing with both hands? Maybe adapt one of those harmonica holders ;)
pjmlp 9y ago
Interesting, no Android support.
seanmcdirmid 9y ago
Sway is aimed at web publishing no? So it doesn’t really compete against PowerPoint. I also don’t think Sway adds much value to web presentation, but that is an argument for another time. There are many activities that PowerPoint is used for beyond real life presentations (wife framing, brain storming), those have been moving to better suited tools.
- ZenoArrow 9y ago
  > "Sway is aimed at web publishing no?" No. As you can see on the Sway website I linked to before, there are plenty of examples of presentation-style content. https://sway.com/universe_cheatsheet https://sway.com/universe_cheatsheet https://sway.com/red_panda_presentation https://sway.com/red_panda_presentation https://sway.com/making_of_wildcat_sculpture https://sway.com/making_of_wildcat_sculpture https://sway.com/art_film_institute_presentation https://sway.com/art_film_institute_presentation https://sway.com/2025_urban_study https://sway.com/2025_urban_study https://sway.com/solar_energy https://sway.com/solar_energy https://sway.com/rainier https://sway.com/rainier https://sway.com/smith_fashion https://sway.com/smith_fashion https://sway.com/egg_flour https://sway.com/egg_flour > "I also don’t think Sway adds much value to web presentation, but that is an argument for another time." The main benefits are in embeddable content (including content produced by Office suite), ease-of-use for non-technical users and reduced friction (Design tools already bundled with the Office suite that many businesses already have installed. Multiple ways to share content). > "There are many activities that PowerPoint is used for beyond real life presentations" Note that I said "spiritual successor", not "direct replacement".
  - seanmcdirmid 9y ago
    There is way too many walls of text on some of those to be real presentations. Otherwise, the over emphasis on photography makes it more of a professional tool, and even then you could arguably for a better job with PowerPoint without the annoying transitions.
    - ZenoArrow 9y ago
      > "There is way too many walls of text on some of those to be real presentations." Are you joking? Let me spell it out for you in simple terms... the amount of content in each slide is customisable by the user. It's up to the user how busy or sparse a slide is. The idea that something isn't a real presentation tool just because the examples you've seen have been too busy for your taste is, how can I put it nicely, a little shortsighted.

mirimir 9y ago

> Meanwhile, the dominant mode of personal computing globally has firmly shifted from the desktop and laptop to the smartphone. Do people actually work on smartphones? I mean, code, edit documents, use spreadsheets etc?

edent 9y ago
Yes! Sit on any cramped commuter train and you'll see people reading and writing long form documents on their phones. Take a look in your favourite app store and you'll see millions of downloads of office editing apps. For coding, I usually SSH into something from my phone and make edits that way. But I've certainly edited HTML and then pushed it via sFTP from my phone.
- mirimir 9y ago
  I don't commute anymore, so mostly what I see are people everywhere, walking around, and looking at their phones. I get that modern phones are more powerful than old laptops. And I get that there are many ways to use remote servers. But, even with the larger phones, the screen is smaller than typical editing windows. Except, I realize, the one I'm typing in now :) But it's the limitation in keyboard size that puzzles me. I know that there are portable keyboards. And devices that project virtual keyboards on surfaces. But I'm guessing that most people are typing on screens, and using voice input. So how can that actually work? That is, be efficient enough to bother with?
mvdwoord 9y ago
Although I prefer to lug around my laptop.. I know of people that do almost entire days of work on a phone. Remote desktops, coding, massive amounts of email, etc etc. I sat next to it many times and it continues to baffle me. Datacenter automation/orchestration from a 5 inch screen. #Masochism. But I must admit it's nice to travel light sometimes.
- mirimir 9y ago
  Yes, traveling light is good. But as I say in the other subthread, I find it hard to imagine how one works efficiently without a real keyboard. At one point, long ago, I was carrying a folding keyboard. But, unless I was sitting at a table or equivalent, there wasn't anywhere to put it. And it was rather floppy. Also the screen. How do you keep it in front of your face, while typing with both hands? Maybe adapt one of those harmonica holders ;)

pjmlp 9y ago

Interesting, no Android support.

seanmcdirmid 9y ago

Sway is aimed at web publishing no? So it doesn’t really compete against PowerPoint. I also don’t think Sway adds much value to web presentation, but that is an argument for another time. There are many activities that PowerPoint is used for beyond real life presentations (wife framing, brain storming), those have been moving to better suited tools.

ZenoArrow 9y ago
> "Sway is aimed at web publishing no?" No. As you can see on the Sway website I linked to before, there are plenty of examples of presentation-style content. https://sway.com/universe_cheatsheet https://sway.com/universe_cheatsheet https://sway.com/red_panda_presentation https://sway.com/red_panda_presentation https://sway.com/making_of_wildcat_sculpture https://sway.com/making_of_wildcat_sculpture https://sway.com/art_film_institute_presentation https://sway.com/art_film_institute_presentation https://sway.com/2025_urban_study https://sway.com/2025_urban_study https://sway.com/solar_energy https://sway.com/solar_energy https://sway.com/rainier https://sway.com/rainier https://sway.com/smith_fashion https://sway.com/smith_fashion https://sway.com/egg_flour https://sway.com/egg_flour > "I also don’t think Sway adds much value to web presentation, but that is an argument for another time." The main benefits are in embeddable content (including content produced by Office suite), ease-of-use for non-technical users and reduced friction (Design tools already bundled with the Office suite that many businesses already have installed. Multiple ways to share content). > "There are many activities that PowerPoint is used for beyond real life presentations" Note that I said "spiritual successor", not "direct replacement".
- seanmcdirmid 9y ago
  There is way too many walls of text on some of those to be real presentations. Otherwise, the over emphasis on photography makes it more of a professional tool, and even then you could arguably for a better job with PowerPoint without the annoying transitions.
  - ZenoArrow 9y ago
    > "There is way too many walls of text on some of those to be real presentations." Are you joking? Let me spell it out for you in simple terms... the amount of content in each slide is customisable by the user. It's up to the user how busy or sparse a slide is. The idea that something isn't a real presentation tool just because the examples you've seen have been too busy for your taste is, how can I put it nicely, a little shortsighted.