Introducing SlideShare: Power Point + YouTube
Michael Arrington
129 comments »
SlideShare is a new service launching this morning that lets users upload PowerPoint or Open Office presentationi files and share them online through a You Tube-like interface.
Power Point documents (or any office documents) stored on the web with a permanent URL are a valuable resource. No need to email the file to recipients, or carry a copy around on a USB drive. The presentation can easily be shared (and with permission controls, kept relatively secure).
The potential uses of online Power Point documents are numerous - from making sales pitches, lectures and conference presentations much easier, to having a permanent record of these and other presentations available on the Internet for easy access and reference.
Today, WebEx and its competitors fill some of the market demand for remote presentations, but they do not provide for online storage and archiving. We’ve covered two startups in the remote presentation space, DimDim and TeamSlide.
Online Power Point/Presentation solutions are also tackling this problem, from a different direction. They provide basic tools for creating presentations (and sometimes allow uploading of Power Point files). They also place a permanent URL on the file and allow archiving and sharing. See our profiles on Zoho Show, Empressr and Thumbstacks.
A problem, though, with the online presentation services is that the tools for creating presentations are difficult to develop within the limitations of Flash and/or Ajax. In our reviews, we’ve seen a lot of development effort go into producing these tools, which still fall short of what’s available from desktop software. Less attention is given to the actual presentation interface, and as a result those products are, so far, less than perfect.
SlideShare seems like a perfect solution, at least until online tools like Zoho rival the desktop applications. I uploaded a test Power Point presentation in a few seconds, and after a few seconds more of processing time it was available for viewing. I’ve also embedded the presentation immediately below.
There are a number of limitations on the service. Files cannot be larger than 20 MB, there are no sharing or privacy options, and the original presentations cannot be downloaded by the publisher or by viewers. I also was unable to edit the file after uploading (even though the feature exists, I could not make it save the changes properly). The company says they’ll increase file size limitations soon, and privacy, sharing and download options will be added shortly.
On the plus side: Files can be tagged, and comments left by viewers. Each slide has its own permanent URL for reference. For example, the second slide of my presentation above can be viewed here (simply add /page# after the presentation URL). If you are using unsupported presentation software (such as Keynote for Apple), simply export the file to PPT format before uploading to SlideShare.
SlideShare is clean, fast and functional and supports various copyright claims, including creative commons. I’ll be using it to post presentations I give at future conferences for archiving purposes. In addition, if any company requesting a profile on TechCrunch would like to send a presentation deck for public viewing, I’ll show that presentation in the TechCrunch profile using SlideShare.
Thanks Ross for the introduction and for the idea of showing company pitches on TechCrunch using SlideShare.
Update: Tonicpoint is another online PowerPoint application that we’ve recently heard about.
Looks like slideshare.com has been hacked !? URL forwards to http://01computersoftwar.net/?rid=1141066
Patrick
Patrick,
The url is http://www.slideshare.net; seems like you are trying out the wrong url.
rgds
Jonathan
SlideShare
Looks like the they’re not ready for primetime yet; the presentation link goes to a login page.
Mike has the wrong url in the image of Slideshare.
Carsten
Hey Jayen,
That’s right. ;-> Slideshare.net is behind a login right now. You can request a login to the system on this page:
http://slideshare.net/request-invite?class=hd_link
You can also get an invite from anyone who has an invite:
And yeah, Mike linked to slideshare.com in the logo at the top of his story. That site belongs to someone else, not us. We are slideshare.net.
(I’m the CTO of Uzanto, the company behind slideshare)
Hope for a quick launch of the site!
The .com domain has been claimed by a domain leecher.
If it doesn’t have the features similar to desktop to create kick ass presentations then I wouldn’t look for the site as an alternative especially when presentations make or break your career.
If you don’t have a laptop for presentations that doesn’t speak well of what your pitching.
Though, the site can be useful for marketing purposes especially when great content is being uploaded.
Hey Milo,
Well, even if you use slideshare, you would still need a laptop to show your presentation! And a license for powerpoint, openoffice, or keynote to author your presentation.
We solve the problem of sharing powerpoints on the web, NOT the problem of authoring.
Very cool. Nice work guys.
Anyone that wants to see my presentation for OMMA last week on Optimizing Content Pages hit my blog!
Like anyone wants to look at a bunch of poorly designed, meaningless slides any more.
Hey, how about… uh, converting to Flash with Audio or even Flash with embedded video picture within picture?
Private uploads would be a great feature IMO.
BC I’ve some erotic (porn?) ppts that my friends sent me and I don’t want to upload those for all.
Trademark ’slideshare’, prove you use it in commerce on slideshare.net, and snatch slideshare.com away from the leecher (through ICANN’s Trademark Dispute Policy)
I always wondered if there was powerpoint porn. Now I know. ;->
There are no private groups for now: we are looking at adding this in the future…
Sorry, but I don’t buy this… “The potential uses of online Power Point documents are numerous - from making sales pitches… ” really?
Would you put a mission critical sales pitch on some web site… not knowing if its going to be up when you are in front of a customer; not knowing if you’re going to have internet access where you go, or if they will allow outside access.
And to boot “… there are no sharing or privacy options, ” A-ha! That’s going to work for sales presentations. Power point is a business app. And the lack of this feature alone would make it a no-go.
Is it possible to make larger presentations ?
As the presentations are very small and can not see it being useful for projector demonstartions or things like that.
Can i collaborate with other users, as i can with Zohoshow and others ?
You can full-screen presentations in slideshare! It’s flash vector graphics, so if you project it on a big screen it will still look great. Look for the button on the bottom right of the slide.
Privacy sounds like a popular feature: we’re working on it, but we wanted to get something out ASAP so people could start using the technology for presentations that they want to share with everybody (e.g. on their blogs, websites, etc).
I HOPE EVERYONE IS READING THE USER TERMS!!!!
“By submitting the Submissions to SlideShare, however, you hereby grant SlideShare a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display, and perform the Submissions in connection with the Site and SlideShare’s (and its successor’s) business, including without limitation for promoting and redistributing part or all of the Site (and derivative works thereof) in any media formats and through any media channels (except to the extent limited by, and expressly stated in the applicable additional terms and conditions for, Premium Services offered by SlideShare). You also hereby grant each user of the Site (subject to such limitations, if any, that may apply with respect to Premium Services) a non-exclusive license to access your Submissions through the Site, and to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works of, display and perform such Submissions as permitted through the functionality of the Site and under these Terms of Service. The foregoing license granted by you terminates once you remove or delete a Submission from the Site. Certain Submissions may be provided with, and subject to, other licenses, such as the Creative Commons license, which may affect how you use those Submissions. Users of such Submissions may see the specific licenses referred to, and included via links included, in any such Submission. Submitters who make their Submissions available subject to any such third-party licenses hereby agree to comply with all policies and conditions associated with such use and distribution. For more information about Creative Commons, please check creativecommons.org.”
Imagine taking your proprietary company documentation and making it available for derivative works in a “a worldwide, non-exclusive, royalty-free, sublicenseable and transferable license to use, reproduce, distribute, prepare derivative works”.
And to boot a service like this being offered by someone people trust to do consulting work for enterprises….Uzanto Consulting LLC - like to see their clients use this solution!!!!
Nice logo. How anyone with hopes of significant usage could go with a .net is beyond me. How many users will end up on slideshare.com? The irony is that the more successful you become, the more money they’ll make on their parked page (thank you TechCrunch!).
Try to contact the domain owner today and buy slideshare.com. If you can’t agree on a price, I would recommend changing your name and getting a .com while it’s still early in the game. Good luck.
Domain Name: SLIDESHARE.COM
Registrar: BASIC FUSION, INC.
Whois Server: whois.basicfusion.com
Referral URL: http://www.basicfusion.com
Name Server: DPNS4.DNSNAMESERVER.ORG
Name Server: DPNS1.DNSNAMESERVER.ORG
Name Server: DPNS3.DNSNAMESERVER.ORG
Name Server: DPNS2.DNSNAMESERVER.ORG
Status: REGISTRAR-LOCK
EPP Status: clientDeleteProhibited
EPP Status: clientTransferProhibited
EPP Status: clientUpdateProhibited
Updated Date: 14-Jun-2006
Creation Date: 08-May-2006
Expiration Date: 08-May-2007
Adobe Connect does this better–and securely, too.
http://www.adobe.com/products/.....es/#item23
Very astute of you TG! How can anyone use this application after reading that?!
I tested the system and uploaded my company’s PPT file (test version) and slideshow was unable to:
1) Show Tiff images. Not sure what other image formats it is unable to display
2) No animations… but I try to make it a policy to build slides for each animation rather than use the PPT animation feature
Other than those two issues so far, the system looks easy to use and display. I would like to have a privacy setting. I can already see ways for our chipin users to embed slideshare files on their pages when collecting money as a way to make a pitch.
I think of this service as more of a way to share content that was created in PPT than really a business way to present slides online as there seems to be other more business oriented tools.
Hey Carnet,
1) We’ll look into the Tiff images issue.
2) We hear you about the privacy setting! We’re working on it.
We think that there are some slides that businesses will want to share broadly, and some that they will want to restrict access to. For now, slideshare is only for that first category.
For example, a sales presentation that mentions specific discounts or prices would be a bad candidate for slideshare right now. But a presentation that describes the value prop of a particular good or service would be a good candidate.
this web2.0 stuff is getting really boring…how many photo/image bucket/share website do we need or even care about….
I want an invitation. please invite me.
Interesting technology / hard work to get it right. Kudos!
From our experience (I am with teamslide.com), in the area we are focusing on = sales, the slidesets don’t convey the story. They are supporting collaterals.
Face to face is always best to close a deal but in cases where this is too expensive or time consuming, simple phone calls/telcos and a *live* web presentation solution are second best. For initial calls or to check a prospects interest level, anyway.
Uploaded power points are public by default — Edgio forecasts 2009 revenue of $500,000,000
it’s sounds like http://www.wisetrainer.com that people can share learning movies
A nice feature in my opinion is to make the embedded flash re-sizable , its small now and full screen is not always the option.
Flash supports this , check this site : http://2mdc.com/resizableFlash/
Great take at a free service for personal or possibly SOHO use.
For corporate users - in Marketing/Sales and e-learning roles in particular - the permissions issue is just the tip of the iceberg. Editing features, security, the license terms for proprietary content, and even SLA on the hosted platform will be critical. Add to that the ability to add/edit a voice track to the presentation using a standard phone line (or other audio resources if you prefer), and the ability to include video, documents and web resources - and you get Brainshark. http://www.brainshark.com
Will login always be required, even just for people to view the slideshows? I find nothing on their site that tells me differently. The embedding feature works fine, but I’ve got to be able to let people view it full screen or it will be of very limited use. No way will I ask 100 people to create an account just to view my otherwise public slides.
Bd,
No man, we ain’t that stupid.
Of course the site will be public and without any logins. Thats the only way it can work. The login is simply to allow us to achieve stability.
I think it should take a couple of weeks for that.
amit ranjan
the slideshare team
Good job TG!
Techcrunch sholud hire you to do their reviews so we get the real story.
Very interesting site - We have been working on a similar site ( http://www.pptexchange.com ) which we just launched in alpha release with lots of features in the works… It is more of a marketplace,as it allows for authors/publishers to post PowerPoint for free decide, charge a dollar amount or accept an email in exchange for the presentation… the site acccepts large files (up to 250Mgs) and buyers can download the original file if desired…
Good job TG!
it’s sounds like http://www.wisetrainer.com that people can share learning movies .
Great service, great app.
Thanks fernando!
I can’t be bothered with anything recently. I’ve just been sitting around doing nothing. Today was a loss. I just don’t have much to say. Nothing seems worth thinking about.
I have not seen a response to the terms of service. I read them today, intending to post a conference presentation I gave. As I read the ToS, you sign over your rights to Slideshare to do with as they please, rather than just distribution rights. If this reading is correct, there is no way this would be a business-oriented solution.
Anyone from Slideshare paying attention and want to comment?
P.S. Commetn #37 sure looks like comment spam…
Mark,
Our terms of service include only what our lawyers felt was legally necessary for us to be able to display, allow embedding and sharing of slides. If there are specific clauses you are concerned about, please let me know - I can get more specific answers. (I am sending you a personal email as well).
Rashmi
the SlideShare team