Powerpoint is part of Microsoft's Office package together with Microsoft Word and Excel. It can be installed on Windows and also Mac operating systems. Powerpoint is used by all kinds of people for creating great looking and informative presentations, it is employed by both teachers and students, by business people and in training.
Powerpoint was originally developed by two programmers Dennis Austin and Thomas Rudkin of Forethought company. The firm was later bought by Microsoft which continued in developing the product. Powerpoint 97 was probably the most important version of Powerpoint, as it completely revolutionised the presentation industry with introduction of animations in presentations. Presentations no longer had to be linear, one slide after another, there could be pre-defined effects and transitions in a non-linear movie-like style without the need of any programming from end user. The product was continually improved. Powerpoint 2000 introduced clipboard which could hold several objects at the same time. One of the characteristic features of Microsoft Powerpoint is definitely the Office Assistant in the form of memorable paper clip.
Typical Powerpoint presentation consists of series of individual pages or "slides". These slides can contain text, images, video, graphs or spreadsheets and can be placed at different positions on screen. However, consistency of appearance is maintained by the use of templates and "Slide Master". The presentation can be printed or viewed on a computer. In the case of larger audience the presentation is typically broadcasted through projector. These days it is very easy to share your presentation or collaborate on a project with friends or colleagues. You can do it using Microsoft's services or with Google Docs.
One of the biggest advantages of Powerpoint presentation is how easy it is to share it with other people. You can simply email the presentation to your colleagues or friends and virtually all of them will be able to open the file and view the slides, because Powerpoint file is the most widely used file format for presentations. Powerpoint is the industry standard. However, Powerpoint does have many competitors that are trying to gain new users at the expance of Microsoft. These rivals are often offering lower prices, some of these software bundles are even free. On the other hand, Microsoft still offers the best set of features and remains to be the number one player in this industry.
To sum up, Microsoft Powerpoint is a great presentation software. Powerpoint offers lots of features, advanced transitions and very nice effects, it makes it possible for users to create cool presentations with very diverse content. Users can include photographs, spreadsheets, tables, video, pictures, charts and graphs in their presentations. The price is excellent when you look at all the functionality that Powerpoint offers. Powerpoint presentations are the industry standard and therefore they are accepted by everyone. It is really easy to share powerpoint presentations. The user interface is well-designed and practical.. It is integral part of the Microsoft Office suite. Check out Microsoft Office Free Download. To sum up, it is a very useful tool for creating presentations. You can download a free 30 day trial version of Powerpoint at Microsoft's website.