PowerPoint is both praised and criticized as a presentation tool. While some argue it corrupts communication and turns people into "bores", others see benefits to its ease and ability to create visually engaging presentations. Historically, magic lanterns and slide projectors were used before personal computers became powerful enough for digital presentations. Through the 1980s, slide projectors remained popular, but PowerPoint launched in 1987 and quickly dominated the market, ushering in the digital era of presentations. Alternatives to PowerPoint continue to be developed both as desktop software and web-based options.

1. Fall 2012
Presentation Software

2. An instrument of torture?

3. Torture? Yes!
• PowerPoint Is Evil
– Power Corrupts.
PowerPoint Corrupts Absolutely.
– By Edward Tufte
• Imagine a widely used and
expensive prescription drug that
promised to make us beautiful but
didn't. Instead the drug had
frequent, serious side effects: It
induced stupidity, turned everyone
into bores, wasted time, and
degraded the quality and
credibility of communication.
– Wired, Issue 11.09 | September 2003
See also PowerPoint Does Rocket Science--and Better Techniques for Technical Reports

4. Torture? No!
• Learning to Love PowerPoint
– . . . PowerPoint makes hilariously
bad-looking visuals. But that’s a
small price to pay for ease and
utility.
– Although I began by making fun of
the medium, I soon realized I could
actually create things that were
beautiful. I could bend the program
to my own whim and use it as an
artistic agent. The pieces became
like short films: Some were sweet,
some were scary, and some were
mysterioso.
• David Byrne, Wired Issue 11.09 | September 2003

5. Before PowerPoint?
• There was magic!
– Magic Lanterns!
• The magic lantern -- the first projector --
has been around since around the 1650s.
Soon after its invention it became a
showman's instrument. By the end of the
17th century, wandering lanternists were
putting on small-scale shows in inns and
castles, using a lantern lit with a feeble
candle. These shows featured a wide
variety of tales including spirits, goblins
and devils -- hence the name the “magic
lantern.”
• Where it ALL Began

6. And then there were slide
projectors and film strip
projectors

7. Situation in 1985?

8. And there were plenty of
presentations on slides

9. In 1985, presentations weren’t
made much on PC’s, though

10. Summing it up:

11. There was one DOS program

12. Harvard Graphics still exists!

14. And the rest is history!

16. What about PowerPoint 2013?
•

17. Screenshot of PowerPoint
2013

18. R.I.P

21. Desktop Alternatives to
PowerPoint?
• PowerPoint “clones”

22. Another alternative

23. And its companion

24. Web-based alternatives 1

25. Web-based alternatives 3

26. Web-based alternatives 4