Essay
Both authors talk about PowerPoint and Prezi as of two completely different programs, even though both are used for putting together presentations. David Wicks presents Prezi as mainly web based presentation software that is built around the interactive interface with the use of zooming in and out during the presentation, thus, enabling the multiple ways of getting from point A to point B. On the other hand PowerPoint is designed using the linear format, which means that every presentation will go according to a particular script that has only one path of getting to the end; and this is the major difference between these programs.
Another point discussed is the availability of this software. PowerPoint is more computer based, with Prezi being mainly web-based. You will able to use Prezi without internet connection, but for this you will have to purchase the full version of Prezi. At the same time PowerPoint is computer based program that possesses the same web capabilities of Prezi, and with the introduction of cloud and sync services the need of having an account no longer exists.
The difference in the graphical approach is clearly visible, and it can be easily said that Prezi has better managed to make it more graphically interesting, where everything is executed via graphical bars, not common context menus, like in PowerPoint. But on practice, using simple context menus is easier and quicker. Moreover, quite often Prezi users complain about dizziness they get from all the zooming and panning options, but framing and grouping might help solving this issue.
If talking about the number of features available for both programs a great difference can be noticed as well. PowerPoint offers more options to be used for designing a presentation. PowerPoint is available with any font or color, while Prezi has limited capabilities of changing colors, fonts or style. PowerPoint has numerous sounds and dynamic transitions that will allow your presentation to become eye catching, comparing to static Prezi. Charts and any numerical data can only be imported into Prezi from your computer, thus, making it impossible to design the needed chart without use of any outside software, while in PowerPoint you can find all of the needed features for designing any text/numerical data inside the program itself. PowerPoint supports a wide range of video and audio formats that can be embedded into the slide show and played, whereas Prezi will only support Flash files and embedded YouTube files, and for that, the internet connection is required. Otherwise you will have to download the media first, then convert it to Flash and load that into the Prezi. The same situation with any files that you need to be uploaded to Prezi, first you need to download the file to your PC, and only after can you insert it into your presentation, while PowerPoint allows simple copy/paste option that will save you time, and efforts. Another vital point of comparison is whether the software is user friendly. PowerPoint has more than 500 million users, and is currently being taught at school that makes it incredibly user friendly; Prezi will require a learning curve in order to make interesting dynamic presentations.
Conclusion
Both, PowerPoint and Prezi have their strong and weak sides, but the thing is that both of these programs have learning curves, and both will require some practice for you to make worth presentation that your audience will want to follow. After all, this is simply a software that helps your thoughts to get to the audience.
