[tlug] Alternatives to MS-Powerpoint?

["Marcelo Martins" <mhtmartins@example.com>]

Hello TLUG,

Maybe someone more experienced may help me on this endless search. I
have a modest computer, which I use for my daily workload, but it's
already aging. I mean, 256 of RAM is far from being appropriate when
you are browsing, compiling, reading mail and listening to music at
the same time (others may disagree, but that's not the point of this
discussion.)

I usually try to stay away from proprietary file formats, but the
people at my lab insist on using this god-awful application called
Powerpoint to make presentations. Right now, I maintain a Windows
partition only to open these files. Not only my precious space is
being wasted on an operating system I don't use, it's also a memory
hog. I'm thinking of ditching the NTFS partition once and for all,
since it's occupying space that could be used for my home partition.

My question is whether there are any lightweight (emphasis on
lightweight) alternatives for PPT files in Linux. For instance, I
usually try to stay away from OpenOffice.org or KOffice for my office
needs, since I consider them too heavy for my computer. I tend to use
Abiword or antiword to open .doc files and gnumeric for spreadsheets.
I just need to read these files, but if editing can also be provided,
the better it is. Is there any program that I can use to open and
visualize Powerpoint files in Linux without devouring all my memory
resources?

By the way, hardware upgrade is a no-no. The laptop doesn't belong to
me, therefore I cannot modify it. And asking my labmates to use
another file format seems to be ineffective, I've already done that
and it didn't work.

Thanks,

Marcelo