PowerPoint at 34

On this day in 1987, PowerPoint shipped for the very first time, and shortly thereafter, became Microsoft’s first acquisition and a cornerstone of our Microsoft Bay Area presence. 

Having worked on PowerPoint for about 25 years, I’ve been able to experience first-hand the evolution of PowerPoint over much of its history. This continual evolution has made PowerPoint invaluable for people telling all sorts of stories, from influencing government policies, to running companies big and small, to helping educate our children, to advocating for charities, to having fun with PowerPoint Karaoke, and yes, to reporting on your Girl Scout Cookie sales (she sold over 1400!). 

Some of the more recent changes really speak to the customer-obsession that the team holds. PowerPoint has always been available on the Mac and Windows desktops, but is now available as a web app, and on various mobile and tablet devices. We’ve dramatically improved our collaboration capabilities, making it easier for people to work together on a presentation. A little over five years ago we leaned heavily into AI, delivering PowerPoint Designer, and more recently, Presenter Coach, both with the goal of making our users more successful. And with COVID changing so many aspects of society, we’ve introduced new remote/hybrid presenting experiences like Live Presentations and PowerPoint Live for Microsoft Teams. It’s incredible to see these changes, and yet, there is so much more on the horizon, even for a 34 year old application.

I know that each of us on the PowerPoint team feel an enormous responsibility to continue caring for, and improving, PowerPoint. We all want to thank everyone who uses PowerPoint, teaches others how to use PowerPoint, enhances PowerPoint, or otherwise helps the presentation community continue to thrive. We’re all looking forward to so many more years of empowering people and organizations to tell the world’s most compelling stories to anyone, anywhere.