.ppt

Microsoft PowerPoint

Developer(s)	Microsoft
Initial release	May 22, 1990; 26 years ago (1990-05-22)
Stable release	1612 (Build 7668.2074) / January 31, 2017; 2 months ago (2017-01-31)
Written in	C++
Operating system	Microsoft Windows
Type	Presentation program
License	Trialware
Website	office.microsoft.com/powerpoint

Microsoft PowerPoint for Mac

PowerPoint for Mac 2016
Developer(s)	Microsoft
Stable release	2016 (15.24.0) / July 12, 2016; 8 months ago (2016-07-12)
Operating system	macOS
Type	Presentation program
License	Proprietary commercial software
Website	www.microsoft.com/mac/powerpoint

Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program currently developed by Microsoft, for use on both Microsoft Windows and Apple Macintosh operating systems. PowerPoint, initially named "Presenter", was created by Forethought Inc.. Microsoft's version of PowerPoint was officially launched on May 22, 1990, as a part of the Microsoft Office suite. PowerPoint is useful for helping develop the slide-based presentation format and is currently one of the most commonly used slide-based presentation programs available. Microsoft has also released the PowerPoint mobile application for use on Apple and Android mobile operating systems.

Originally designed for the Macintosh computer, the initial release was called "Presenter", developed by Thomas Rudkin and Dennis Austin of Forethought, Inc. In 1987, it was renamed to "PowerPoint" due to problems with trademarks, the idea for the name coming from Robert Gaskins.

By then some experts believed that "desktop presentations", using computers to create flip charts and overhead transparencies, could become as large a market as desktop publishing. That year Forethought was bought by Microsoft for $14 million ($29.5 million in present-day terms), and became Microsoft's Graphics Business Unit, which continued to develop the software further. Microsoft's version of PowerPoint was officially launched on May 22, 1990, the same day that Microsoft released Windows 3.0.

PowerPoint introduced many new changes with the release of PowerPoint 97. It incorporated the Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) language, underlying all macro generation in Office 97.

PowerPoint 2000 (and the rest of the Office 2000 suite) introduced a clipboard that could hold multiple objects at once, and the Office Assistant was made less intrusive.

PowerPoint 2002 massively overhauled the animation engine, allowing users to create more advanced and custom animations.