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Add-ins
Anystream Apreso
reviewed by Geetesh Bajaj, January 14th 2004
Starting Again...
Agility and Apreso
Registration and Download
Continued on Page 2...
Starting Again...
Online rich media (ORM) continues to emanate from PowerPoint.
And then comes Apreso, the name of the product that I am exploring.
Predictably, Apreso uses PowerPoint as its source. Unpredictably
though, Apreso manages to do so much more at the same time that
it almost threatens to create a new presentation workflow. If that
got you interested, let's proceed and discover the nuances of this
amazing PowerPoint add-in.
Let me first warn you that this is a four page comprehensive review,
so if you want to read the conclusion, here
it is...
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Anystream and Apreso
Apreso is from Anystream, a company based in Sterling, Virginia,
United States that was founded in 2000 by Geoff Allen, who's the
President and CEO.
Anystream is traditionally involved with creating software that
automates the process of encoding and transcoding media for demanding
broadcast and production environments. Anystream's Agility software
is used by BskyB, CNet, CNN, Fox News, FoxSports.com, NFL Films,
weather.com and several others.
In April 2003, Anystream launched Agility Presenter for PowerPoint,
an add-in that plugs into PowerPoint so that presentations can
be converted to streaming media with one click. In November that
year, Anystream relaunched Agility Presenter as Apreso - simultaneously
it launched the Apreso presentation hosting service.
You'll find more info about Anystream, Agility and Apreso at the Anystream
site...
You'll find more detailed info about Apreso itself at the Apreso
site...
The Apreso product line comprises two components - the Apreso
PowerPoint add-in and the Apreso presentation hosting service.
And the term Apreso is used for both the product/hosting service
and the output. For instance, the ORM (online rich media) output
that Apreso creates from a PowerPoint presentation is also called
an Apreso.
I would like to thank Darian Germain, my contact at Anystream
for her coordination during this review.
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Registration and Download
Apreso requires PowerPoint 2000 or higher installed on Windows
2000 or XP. You can sign for a free trial account at the Apreso
site - this entails filling up a form with your name, email, address,
password, etc.
Once you submit the form, an email is sent to you confirming your
registration. Also, you are immediately redirected to the download
page for Apreso, where you can download the PowerPoint add-in.
The add-in for Windows XP weighs 50 mb while the suggested add-in
download for Windows 2000 weighs 75 Mb The latter download is also
compatible with Windows XP.
Since it's quite a large download, Anystream provides an option
for you to order it on CD for just the cost of shipping and handling
- however, the shipping rates provided are for shipping within
the United States only. For other destinations, you'll have to
contact Anystream's customer support department.
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