Despite criticism from figures like Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs, PowerPoint has remained a staple in Microsoft's suite of office tools for 36 years. The software has been praised for its potential as an artistic tool by individuals like David Byrne, lead singer of The Talking Heads. Recently, Microsoft has started incorporating AI tooling into PowerPoint with Copilot, an AI assistant for Microsoft 365 that can create presentations and adjust the tone or format of text within a presentation.
Key takeaways:
- Dennis Austin, co-creator of PowerPoint, passed away at the age of 76 due to lung cancer that had metastasized to his brain.
- Austin was the primary developer of PowerPoint from 1985 to 1996, and the software was first released in 1987 by Forethought, a company later bought by Microsoft.
- Despite criticism from figures like Jeff Bezos and Steve Jobs, PowerPoint has remained a popular tool for presentations over its 36-year history.
- Microsoft continues to update PowerPoint, recently adding AI tooling using Copilot, a modern-day Clippy AI assistant for Microsoft 365.