no 'edit' function

• It's easy enough to copy a page and paste it into Claris Works; if the page includes text, you'll need to 'select all' and then 'Arrange > Ungroup' to get at it - and then run the spelling checker to unglue the pairs of words which have got joined together (the last word of one line with the first of the next)...

no 'print' function

• In the same way, you can copy a page at a time and paste into a ClarisWorks document; with CopyPaste you can copy 19 pages at a time

no drawing or painting functions

• You can do all the layout and formatting in ClarisWorks, and prepare each graphic item in (e.g.) Photoshop

no JPEG compression

• If you use the 'File > Import' command in a ClarisWorks drawing document, and point the dialog box at a JPEG file, the progam will offer to convert it to a PICT and store it somewhere; even if you start with a PICT in the first place, it's is often well worth saving it as a JPEG in a graphics program first, and then 'feeding' it through ClarisWorks, because the file size is much smaller, and the quality about the same...

no variety of transitions between screens

• I simply don't find this a problem, now I know I can't have them... you 'cut your coat according to your cloth', and design your stack so it uses what your program offers... I don't need ice-cream every day either...

no support for QuickTime movies or other animations

• put your movie on an internet server and make it accessible via an html page
• you can use mother cards to 'fake' animation: there are some examples in the database

you can't read a SimpleCard stack on a Windows computer

• there are many cross-platform multimedia programs: e.g.
  • The academic version of Director is remarkably affordable - from publishers Prentice-Hall; steepish learning curve, but the basic tutorial works fine to get you started.
  • HyperStudio; affordable, even free if you can cope with making your presentation by linking together lots of stack of four cards each, and if you don't need to revise things a lot ... ; though I find it an untidy program to use, the font problem isn't solved, and not all the Mac functions work under Windows
  • Adobe Acrobat keeps the fonts intact and gives an extraordinarily effective file size. but it means an investment...
  • iShell can be said to be the successor to Apple Media Tool - it's smooth, sophisticated and free; but the documentation is not easy to grasp
• the Windows user can get the software to read Mac programs
• and of course, more and more Windows users are discovering the delights of the iMac these days...