Yes, you would be able to control the speed of the text in PPT 2002.
If you plan to run the presentation on a previous version of PPT,
though, the text speed won't be backward compatible.
Also, PPT 2003 will be out in October. However, if you purchase PPT
2002, you'll be eligible to upgrade to PPT 2003 for the cost of
shipping.
Folks who buy MS Office XP (2002) products
between 15Aug and 30Nov 2003 can upgrade to
the equivalent Office System 2003 product for
the cost of shipping
Coupons and information for the Office XP/2002
Technology guarantee (15Aug-30Nov purchases are
at
http://microsoft.com/office/preview/techguarantee.asp
I mention this because PPT 2003 will have a new Viewer, and that Viewer
will support the text speed. So, even if you have to run the show on a
different computer, you can use the new Viewer to get around any
limitations the previous versions may have.
Make sense?