Microsoft PowerPoint is a powerful presentation tool. It is a part of the Microsoft Office software suite, including Word, Excel, and other Office productivity tools.
The software produces complex business presentations, basic educational outlines, and much more. It employs slides to convey information rich in multimedia. In this article we will guide you on the history of PowerPoint.
History of MS PowerPoint
Dennis Austin and Thomas Rudkin of Forethought Inc. developed PowerPoint. It was initially going to be called Presenter, but trademark concerns prevented that from happening. In 1987, the name was changed to PowerPoint at Robert Gaskins’ suggestion.
Microsoft acquired Forethought in August 1987 for $14 million, converting it into its graphics business area, where it continued to create the software. In 1990, the initial version debuted alongside Windows 3.0. It permitted forward slide movement, and only a little customization was available.
PowerPoint swiftly rose to fame as one of the most recognizable brands despite initially being designed only for Macintosh computers. It was also Microsoft’s first significant acquisition.
What Is PowerPoint Used for?
Microsoft PowerPoint is a powerful tool with many features that allow you to create beautiful presentations quickly and easily. Whether you’re a student, an educator, or a business presenter, you can use PowerPoint to design and deliver powerful messages in your presentation
Navigating Microsoft PowerPoint Features
Microsoft PowerPoint offers several navigation options depending on what you’re trying to do with your slides. You can view your slides in outline mode or slide sorter mode, which allow you to view your slides linearly. When creating or editing individual slides, you can also navigate using the left-hand pane of the screen. You’ll find tools like transitions, animations, figures, and clipart here.
Working with Visuals
Microsoft PowerPoint offerings come by default with a slew of figures and clipart images that can be easily inserted into your presentation. If these aren’t enough for your needs, there are ways to add your visuals. Microsoft has integrated many third-party services within the program, including Google search images, Bing image search, and more. Online stock photo sites like Shutterstock provide hundreds of thousands of commercial-grade visuals for a monthly fee.
Adding Transitions & Animations
Transition effects provide great visual cues between slides, each allowing different movements while revealing content, etc. There is a library containing 38 predefined transitions in Microsoft Office, ranging from basics like Fade In/Fade Out to creating entirely new opening effects using Perspective Barn Door & Dissolve, etc.
Presentations could only be saved in common.pptx format in earlier iterations of PowerPoint. However, more recent versions of MS PowerPoint enable users to save presentations in a variety of widely used file types, including images (JPEG, GIF, PNG, etc.), videos (WMV or MPEG-4), or text (PDF).
Best Alternative of Microsoft PowerPoint
You can also use WPS Office Suite to create your PowerPoint slides. WPS Office is the best software for all of your office needs and educational assignments. It is available for free and you can get it from their website.
You can also open your MS Powerpoint files in WPS Office easily. WPS Office is also used to open PDF files. It is available for all major operating systems including Windows, Mac OS, Linux, Android and iOS. You can download WPS Office from its official website.
