"Academic" version of powerpoint 2010?...

I was wondering the same thing, TimothyW. I just read a letter on the blog of the Microsoft CEO (I believe) that for personal use only restricts use to personal projects, such as student use for school assignments and the like. Microsoft Office Home and Student 2010 is what I believe you are referring to. It is the suite of products that includes Word, Photoshop and Outlook, etc.

To be able to produce Powerpoint presentations that you convert to video to share on Youtube or for commercial purposes (ex: sell the videos or place them on your business site as part of a membership tutorial, etc.) you would need to buy Microsoft Home and Business.

Now, I'm sure most people either don't know or don't care that they may be ignoring the terms of the product license. I was very miffed that I only recently purchased MS Office Home and Student 2010 ... only to learn I can't use it for "commercial" use; which is why I bought it in the first place.

I am still trying to decide whether to buy the other version or simply use OpenOffice Impress presentation software, which is free and is a good alternative, I've read.

Now, I just read from a blog post by Lon Naylor (who uses Powerpoint and Camtasia to create professional, engaging videos ... and teaches others to do the same) that you would need to buy Microsoft Home and Business 2010 or a stand-alone version of Powerpoint 2010 in order to use it commercially. These versions come with a specfic licenses that restrict use to 1 person on 1 or 2 computers and I suppose the installation process talks back to Microsoft to let them know what you're doing with the software in terms of compliance with the terms of the license.

I hope I wasn't too long winded here and that this answers your question.

Ina

It means what it says. You aren't allowed to use it in a comercial environment.

However, from my experience, academic versions are identicle to the comercial ones. With the exception of the license.

They do require proof of being a student/teacher when purchasing. Well, are suppose to.

Garrie

I'm gonna get the proper version (costco) -- but ebay sells the edu version (to anyone). that's why I was wondering, in general.

Just remember that content that you create with MS products can have coding in them that says what created it.

Personally, I'd rather be safe than sorry, but that's just me...

That's good to know, Wendy. And that is probably what I was trying to say in my post when I used the words "talking back" to MS. Otherwise, I don't know how they can determine if people are using the product outside of the licensing restrictions.

By the way, can you suggest a few alternatives to Powerpoint? I'm aware of Open Office Impress but have never used it.

Ina

Academic versions are versions meant to be a discount for teachers and students. You need to show teacher/student ID to buy them. They function the same as the regular version but have a personal license rather than a commercial license.