Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Office suite, and runs on Microsoft Windows and the Mac OS X computer operating systems. The Windows version can also run on the Linux operating system, under the Wine compatibility layer.
PowerPoint is widely used by business people, educators, students, and trainers and among the most prevalent forms of persuasive technology. Beginning with Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft revised the branding to emphasize PowerPoint's place within the office suite, calling it Microsoft Office PowerPoint instead of just Microsoft PowerPoint. The current versions are Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 for Windows and 2008 for Mac.
Contents
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* 1 History
* 2 Operation
* 3 Cultural effects
* 4 Versions
* 5 File formats
* 6 Gallery
* 7 See also
* 8 References
* 9 External links
[edit] History
PowerPoint was initially developed in 1984 by Forethought, Inc., Sunnyvale, California, for the Macintosh computer. In 1987, Forethought was bought by Microsoft and became Microsoft's Graphics Business Unit, which continued to further develop the software.[1]
[edit] Operation
PowerPoint presentations consist of a number of individual pages or "slides". The "slide" analogy is a reference to the slide projector, a device that has become obsolete due to the use of PowerPoint and other presentation software. Slides may contain text, graphics, movies, and other objects, which may be arranged freely on the slide. PowerPoint, however, facilitates the use of a consistent style in a presentation using a template or "Slide Master".
The presentation can be printed, displayed live on a computer, or navigated through at the command of the presenter. For larger audiences the computer display is often projected using a video projector. Slides can also form the basis of webcasts.
PowerPoint provides three types of movements:
1....