Information About PowerPoint
Chances are you have seen PowerPoint used a few times, whether you knew it or not. Microsoft's PowerPoint software is a popular application used by presenters to help organize, guide and elevate speeches and demonstrations. PowerPoint has a long history as it has become the widely used presentation tool it is today.
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History
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PowerPoint got its start as a product known as "Presenter" in 1987. It was initially created by Forethought, a California-based company that quickly renamed it and sold it to Microsoft that same year. In its original design, PowerPoint was intended to work with Apple's Macintosh computers and was capable only of copy and graphics pages --- in black and white --- for overhead projectors. In 1988, Microsoft released a version of PowerPoint for Macintosh and its DOS system. In 1993, it became the first product that required Microsoft Windows to run, and in 1995 it was first packaged with the new Microsoft Office suite.
Overview
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PowerPoint is intended to help students, teachers, business professionals and other speakers create and give presentations. The software allows users to pick templates or use their own to design consistent and cohesive slides. PowerPoint slides can include text as well as images, sound and video. The software is used to deliver face-to-face presentations, but it can also be used online during Webinars or simply recorded for others to play back at a later time.
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Features
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PowerPoint is a portable tool. It can be saved to a computer or flash drive, emailed or shared online for easy access. Additionally, the end user does not need to have the full PowerPoint software application on his computer to view a presentation. PowerPoint's other features include the ability to integrate photos, full songs, videos and animations into presentations to help keep audiences engaged. Newer versions of the tool also allow direct editing of multimedia so that additional software is not needed .
Advantages and Disadvantages
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PowerPoint is advantageous in that it is easily customizable and manageable. Speakers have plenty of options for designing interesting slides and organizing the layout of their presentation. They can quickly edit and share their presentations. PowerPoint is also fairly simple to run once live, as presenters only have to move a few keys or make a few clicks to navigate the presentation and activate music or video. However, the use of PowerPoint has been criticized, not because of the technology but because of its overuse and misuse. Poorly constructed, shallow or overwhelming presentations can disengage audiences and obscure the content of the presentation.
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References
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