Microsoft Power Point perhaps the best known of the many presentation software programs available on the market toady. A presentation program is simply a computer software package used to display information, normally in the form of a slide show. It typically includes three major functions: 
　　　　　　★　an editor that allows text to be inserted and formatted 
　　　　　　★　a method for inserting and manipulating graphic images 
　　　　　　★　a slide-show system to display the content.

There are alternatives such as OpenOffice.org Impress and Apple's Keynote. In general, the presentation follows a hierarchical tree explored linearly (like in a table of content) which has the advantage to follow a printed text often given to participants. Adobe Acrobat is also a (less) popular tool for presentation which can be used to easily link other presentations of whatever kind and by adding the faculty of zooming without loss of accuracy due to vector graphics inherent to PostScript and PDF.

Microsoft PowerPoint is a presentation program developed by Microsoft. It is part of the Microsoft Office system, and runs on Microsoft Windows and the Mac OS computer operating systems. The Windows version can run in Linux operating system, under the Wine compatibility layer.

PowerPoint is widely used by business people, educators, students, and trainers and is among the most prevalent forms of persuasive technology. Beginning with Microsoft Office 2003, Microsoft revised the branding to emphasize PowerPoint's place within the office suite, calling it Microsoft Office PowerPoint instead of just Microsoft PowerPoint. The current versions are Microsoft Office PowerPoint 2007 for Windows and 2008 for Mac.

Another kind of presentation programs are Mind Map programs which may be convenient to adapt a presentation dependent upon the reaction of the audience. It is based on a similar hierarchical tree but the tree can be explored, accessed and developed at each node according to the presenter's talk. They offer printings of any subtree and also include the faculty of move and zoom. Its typical use is for lectures.

Supporters and critics generally agree that the ease of use of presentation software can save a lot of time for people who otherwise would have used other types of visual aid—hand-drawn or mechanically typeset slides, blackboards or whiteboards, or overhead projections. Ease of use also encourages those who otherwise would not have used visual aids, or would not have given a presentation at all, to make presentations. As PowerPoint's style, animation, and multimedia abilities have become more sophisticated, and as the application has generally made it easier to produce presentations (even to the point of having an "AutoContent Wizard" suggesting a structure for a presentation), the difference in needs and desires of presenters and audiences has become more noticeable.



          History

          Features

          Getting Started

          Creating Presentations

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