The Story Behind Your Back: PowerPoint
“We don’t know where we get our ideas from. We do know that we do not get them from our laptops.” — John Cleese An estimated 95 percent of all presentations worldwide are allegedly delivered with PowerPoint. Information scientist and graphic designer Edward Tufte estimates that well over 100 billion slides are created in PowerPoint every year. “Punch the button and you’ll have a presentation.” That line is how Bob Gaskins, one of the fathers of PowerPoint, described the program’s core idea—and its name as well. “The idea was crazy, and the name was really meant as a joke, but Microsoft simply kept it,” Gaskins said of the origins of what would become one of the most successful software programs of all time. Today, people have a love-hate relationship with the program Microsoft bought from Forethought in 1987 for 14 million U.S. dollars. “ Death by PowerPoint ” is one of the most frequently quoted lines at corporate events and conferences. Among the many accusations one can level ...
