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I'm on the professor's side.

It would have taken the student all of ten seconds to hit "Save As" and select a more compatible file format. The professor should not have to jump through hoops or install new software just to open the student's files.

In this day and age, a student going for a Master's degree, as part of the college education process, should have had enough computer experience to be able to comprehend this simplest of tasks. (I'm aware that the world is full of people with degrees who are stupid, ignorant, and unskilled. But I believe this is a bad thing and needs to be changed as we move forward.)

Microsoft's idiotic insistence on creating new and incompatible file formats with each new version of their office suite is a completely different rant, of course. But at least give them credit for giving the option to easily save as other formats.

There are numerous people that are very intelligent that don't have a clue about computer software. I'm sure you're not able replace an engine in a car without learning a few things first and you can't learn those things unless someone teaches you. That doesn't mean you are stupid; it just means you're unskilled in automechanics. Most average users, or less than average users if you prefer, are unskilled in what can and can't be done with a computer. If you've never confronted an incompatibility issue with a certain type of document and you've always just pressed save, how would you know it could be saved in a different format?

Yes, she is going for a Master's degree (Speech Therapy) and she probably should know how to do something as simple as this, but if you've never needed to, you never knew you needed to, if that makes sense. And, on top of all of this, Microsoft decides to change the layout of the menu system, adding complexity to something that already isn't that familiar to a rare user of PowerPoint.

I've attached a copy of PPT 2007 & 2003. Would a normal user notice the .ppt vs. .pptx? Probably not.

Edit*:Oh yeah, Tony, I'm not attacking you. I hope my assumption was correct that you can't replace a car engine.