Applications :: Quicktime TIFF Decompressor Error In Powerpoint 2008 On A Mac?

As some of you may already know, I recently switched to the mac platform. One of my main reasons for switching was the fact that I couldn't see more than 50 percent of the graphics used by my colleagues and mentors in case presentations due to the dreaded "quicktime tiff decompressor" issues present in Windows. After numerous efforts of trying to resolve this issue on the Mac end, I gave up and ended up getting a Mac, to hopefully not experience the same issue. Obviously, I have realized that the mac has a lot more to offer, in the process.

However, here is my problem - I am getting the following error "Quicktime or a TIFF decompressor is needed to view this image" in Powerpoint 2008 in Mac OS X. I didn't expect this at all, and I was hoping that there may be a fix to it. I tried copying and pasting the image into word and that doesn't resolve the problem either. I tried opening up the presentation in Keynote 2009 but that doesn't seem to load these graphics either. Is there any photo application that I can use to test the picture? If any of you know how to resolve this issue, I will be very grateful for your advice. Again, I am new to the Mac OS platform so I would appreciate if your solutions included "baby steps"