Advantages

• platform independent
• cooperative work possible with Subversion
• small source file size, because images are external
• easy to integrate bitmap and vector graphics
• uniform layout
• many configurable templates available
• LaTeX way to create mathematical formulas
• LaTeX handles references and table of contents (e.g., section title in foot slide)

Disadvantages

• not WYSIWYG
• cumbersome for non-uniform layouts (e.g., text + image)
• cumbersome to make hierarchic lists
  • lot of code, Wiki-like notation would be better

sudo aptitude install latex-beamer

see Research & Career Planning

• Substitutes
  • Prosper, Tutorial … less options, same problems
  • seminar … old, limited
• Complements
  • KeyJNote

• http://www.tug.org/pipermail/texhax/2006-April/005809.html
• http://www.informatik.uni-oldenburg.de/~sos/latex/beamerFAQ.html