PowerPoint is the king of slideshow software. As befitting of royalty, it costs a king’s ransom — PowerPoint 2007 is sold as a part of Microsoft’s Office suite of applications, the cheapest of which has a suggested retail price of $149.95.

While 280 Slides (http://280slides.com/) doesn’t match PowerPoint feature for feature, it is an elegant Internet-based application that will suit most users just fine. And unlike PowerPoint, it’s free.

Upon launching 280 Slides, you will be struck by how much it resembles a desktop application. The user interface is highly polished, very intuitive and responsive. The Web application gives you nine templates to get you started, but it is easy to rearrange the elements to meet your needs.

One of the most powerful features of 280 Slides is its built-in media browser. You can search Google for images and YouTube video clips without leaving the application. You can then drag-and-drop the returned pictures or movies directly into your slideshow and resize them as needed.

Instead of competing against PowerPoint, 280 Slides, for the most part, works well with it. You can import PowerPoint documents as well as export your slideshows in the PowerPoint 2007 or PowerPoint 97-2004 formats (you can export your slideshows as PDFs as well). There are a few issues with importing PowerPoint slides, especially complex ones, probably due to 280 Slides limited tool set. Exported 280 Slides documents fare much better in PowerPoint, however, embedded Internet video clips won’t play.

For group projects or for working on a presentation in multiple locations, 280 Slides is a powerful asset. In group settings, multiple users can review and contribute to slide presentations remotely. Since it’s Web-based, you can work on the slideshows from home, school or wherever there is an Internet connection.

Beautifully designed and highly accessible, 280 Slides is slideshow software for the rest of us.