Editing Microsoft PowerPoint (section)

===Acquisition by Microsoft (1987–1992)===
By early 1987, Microsoft was starting to plan a new application to create presentations, an activity led by [[Jeff Raikes]], who was head of marketing for the Applications Division.<ref name="raikes-history-pt2-2010-hist">{{Cite web |last=Microsoft Corporation |title=The History of Microsoft—The Jeff Raikes Story, Part Two |website=Channel9 videos, Microsoft Developer Network |date=April 8, 2010 |url=https://docs.microsoft.com/en-us/shows/history/history-of-microsoft-jeff-raikes-story-part-two |at=05:42 to 07:18 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20170824185801/https://channel9.msdn.com/Series/History/The-History-of-Microsoft-The-Jeff-Raikes-Story-Part-Two |url-status=live |archive-date=August 24, 2017 |access-date=August 24, 2017 |quote=Jeff Raikes talks ... about having an idea in 1987 for a presentation product before discovering Forethought, which had a product called PowerPoint.}} A [https://www.webcitation.org/6Yp0CXRBx?url=https://filetea.me/t1s6cpDUdxcROysEP9aBVOGHQ transcript] of the relevant section is also available. <!--backup: Archived at [https://ghostarchive.org/varchive/youtube/20211211/TCpcI_WCiI8 Ghostarchive]{{cbignore}} and the [http://web.archive.org/web/20111014140851/http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCpcI_WCiI8 Wayback Machine]{{cbignore}}: {{webarchive|format=addlarchives|url=https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TCpcI_WCiI8 |date=February 25, 2011 |title=The History of Microsoft—The Jeff Raikes Story (Part 2 of 2)}}{{cbignore}} --></ref> Microsoft assigned an internal group to write a specification and plan for a new presentation product.<ref>{{Cite news |last=May |first=Trish |date=January 17, 2010 |title=The Road to the Cure |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/jobs/17boss.html |newspaper=New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |page=BU7 |edition=New York |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20220620033145/https://www.nytimes.com/2010/01/17/jobs/17boss.html?_r=0 |url-status=live |archive-date=June 20, 2022 |access-date=August 24, 2017 |quote=I wrote and presented a proposal to Bill Gates for a new piece of software for the personal computer, specifically to help people create presentations ... .}}</ref> They contemplated an acquisition to speed up development, and in early 1987 Microsoft sent a letter of intent to acquire [[Dave Winer]]'s product called [[MORE (application)|MORE]], an outlining program that could print its outlines as bullet charts.<ref>{{Cite web |last=Swaine |first=Michael |title=Calling Apple's Bluff |website=Dr. Dobb's Journal |date=September 1, 1991 |url=http://www.drdobbs.com/calling-apples-bluff/184408623 |access-date=August 24, 2017 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6Zba5qXQj?url=https://filetea.me/t1sWOUvVIUxQ1q3s2Yn7UdfxA |url-status=live |archive-date=June 27, 2015 |quote=I [Dave Winer] had a meeting with Bill Gates in, I guess it was February of '87 ... We worked out a letter of intent.}}</ref> During this preparatory activity Raikes discovered that a program specifically to make overhead presentations was already being developed by Forethought, Inc., and that it was nearly completed.<ref name="raikes-history-pt2-2010-hist" /> Raikes and others visited Forethought on February 6, 1987, for a confidential demonstration.<ref name="Sweating-Bullets-2012-history" />{{Rp|page=173}}

Raikes later recounted his reaction to seeing PowerPoint and his report about it to [[Bill Gates]], who was initially skeptical:<ref name="raikes-history-pt2-2010-hist" />

{{Blockquote|I thought, "software to do overheads—that's a great idea." I came back to see Bill. I said, "Bill, I think we really ought to do this;" and Bill said, "No, no, no, no, no, that's just a feature of Microsoft Word, just put it into Word." ... And I kept saying, "Bill, no, it's not just a feature of Microsoft Word, it's a whole genre of how people do these presentations." And, to his credit, he listened to me and ultimately allowed me to go forward and ... buy this company in Silicon Valley called Forethought, for the product known as PowerPoint.}}

When PowerPoint was released by Forethought, its initial press was favorable; the ''Wall Street Journal'' reported on early reactions: {{" '}}I see about one product a year I get this excited about,' says Amy Hora, a consultant in Bala Cynwyd, Pa. 'People will [[killer app|buy a Macintosh just to get access to this product]].{{' "}}<ref>{{Cite news |last=Carroll |first=Paul B. |date=March 6, 1987 |title=New Software Simplifies Show and Tell |url=https://secure.pqarchiver.com/wsj/doc/135282891.html |url-access=subscription <!-- but archive is ungated --> |department=Technology |newspaper=Wall Street Journal |issn=0099-9660 |page=33 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240528060702/https://www.webcitation.org/6stGJoV2i?url=https://filetea.me/n3wkyU6jExiTquT65RsohieMQ |url-status=dead |archive-date=May 28, 2024 |access-date=August 21, 2017 |df=mdy-all }}</ref>

On April 28, 1987, a week after shipment, a group of Microsoft's senior executives spent another day at Forethought to hear about initial PowerPoint sales on Macintosh and plans for Windows.<ref name="Sweating-Bullets-2012-history" />{{Rp|page=191}} The following day, Microsoft sent a letter to Dave Winer withdrawing its earlier letter of intent to acquire his company,<ref>{{Cite web |last=Winer |first=Dave |author-link=Dave Winer |title=Microsoft rejection letter, 1987 |website=Scripting News |date=April 10, 2010 |url=http://scripting.com/stories/2010/04/10/microsoftRejectionLetter19.html |access-date=August 21, 2017 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150907205437/http://scripting.com/stories/2010/04/10/microsoftRejectionLetter19.html |url-status=live |archive-date=September 7, 2015}}</ref> and in mid-May 1987 Microsoft sent a letter of intent to acquire Forethought.<ref>{{Cite web |url=http://www.robertgaskins.com/powerpoint-history/documents/microsoft-letter-of-intent-for-forethought-1987-may-13.pdf |title=[Microsoft] Letter of Intent [to acquire Forethought] |last=Shirley |first=Jon |author-link=Jon Shirley |date=May 13, 1987 |website=PowerPoint History Documents |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20140517183105/http://www.robertgaskins.com/powerpoint-history/documents/microsoft-letter-of-intent-for-forethought-1987-may-13.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=May 17, 2014 |access-date=August 21, 2017}}</ref> As requested in that letter of intent, Robert Gaskins from Forethought went to Redmond for a one-on-one meeting with Bill Gates in early June 1987,<ref name="Sweating-Bullets-2012-history" />{{Rp|page=197}} and by the end of July an agreement was concluded for an acquisition. The ''New York Times'' reported:<ref>{{Cite news |last=<!--Staff writer(s); no by-line.--> |date=July 31, 1987 |title=Microsoft Buys Software Unit |url=https://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/31/business/company-news-microsoft-buys-software-unit.html <!-- full URL required --> |department=Company News |newspaper=New York Times |issn=0362-4331 |volume=CXXXV |issue=46,717 |publication-date=July 31, 1987 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150524214338/http://www.nytimes.com/1987/07/31/business/company-news-microsoft-buys-software-unit.html |url-status=live |archive-date=May 24, 2015 |access-date=August 21, 2017}}</ref>

{{Blockquote| ... July 30, 1987— The Microsoft Corporation announced its first significant software acquisition today, paying $14&nbsp;million [${{Formatprice|{{Inflation|US|14000000|1987|r=1}}}} in present-day terms{{Inflation-fn|US}}] for Forethought Inc. of Sunnyvale, Calif. Forethought makes a program called PowerPoint that allows users of Apple Macintosh computers to make overhead transparencies or flip charts. ... [T]he acquisition of Forethought is the first significant one for Microsoft, which is based in Redmond, Wash. Forethought would remain in Sunnyvale, giving Microsoft a Silicon Valley presence. The unit will be headed by Robert Gaskins, Forethought's vice president of product development.}}

Microsoft's president [[Jon Shirley]] offered his company's motivation for the acquisition: {{" '}}We made this deal primarily because of our belief in desktop presentations as a product category. ... Forethought was first to market with a product in this category.{{' "}}<ref name="Shirley-comments">{{Cite news |last1=Parker |first1=Rachel |date=August 3, 1987 |title=Microsoft Acquires Forethought, Publisher of PowerPoint Package |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1zsEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA8 |department=News |newspaper=InfoWorld |issn=0199-6649 |volume=9 |issue=31 |page=8 |archive-url=https://www.webcitation.org/6ZVlHDCYN?url=https://filetea.me/t1sZ0YKQbIxQxKUb7kT6fp3Xw |url-status=live |archive-date=June 23, 2015 |access-date=August 22, 2017 |quote=The Forethought group will become Microsoft's Graphics Business Unit, forming a permanent Microsoft development and marketing facility in Sunnyvale, California. With a site in California, Microsoft hopes to recruit programmers who might not want to relocate to Washington, [Microsoft president Jon] Shirley said.}}</ref> Microsoft had 50% market share in Macintosh applications, and led in three categories; Raikes said that after the acquisition it would lead in five categories. (Forethought distributed the database [[Filemaker]], which Microsoft wanted to continue marketing.) The company intended for Forethought to be its Silicon Valley base to develop and market future graphics software,<ref name="keefe19870803">{{Cite magazine |last=Keefe |first=Patricia |date=1987-08-03 |title=Microsoft buys Forethought |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=oNqVCaMq9mUC&lpg=PP101&pg=PP101#v=onepage&q&f=false |access-date=2024-11-01 |magazine=Computerworld |page=81}}</ref> so set up within its Applications Division, an independent "Graphics Business Unit" for PowerPoint, the first Microsoft application group distant from the main Redmond location. The company hoped to hire employees uninterested in living in Washington state.<ref name="Shirley-comments" /> All the PowerPoint people from Forethought joined Microsoft, and the new location was headed by Robert Gaskins, with Dennis Austin and Thomas Rudkin leading development. PowerPoint 1.0 for Macintosh was modified to indicate the new Microsoft ownership and continued to be sold. A year after the acquisition, Gaskins reported that all seven Forethought PowerPoint employees had stayed with Microsoft, and the Graphics Business Unit had hired 12 employees, many of whom did not want to move to Redmond. The GBU had moved to a new location on [[Sand Hill Road]] in [[Menlo Park, California]]; it was much larger than needed for 19 people, but Gaskins wrote that he and Microsoft wanted future capacity as the company grew in Silicon Valley.<ref name="GBU-first-year-1988">{{Cite web |url=http://www.robertgaskins.com/powerpoint-history/documents/gaskins-gbu-first-year-report-to-microsoft-1988-aug-08.pdf |title=Results of Microsoft's Graphics Business Unit after Our First Year |last=Gaskins |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Gaskins |date=August 8, 1988 |website=PowerPoint History Documents |type=Microsoft Memo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107153728/http://www.robertgaskins.com/powerpoint-history/documents/gaskins-gbu-first-year-report-to-microsoft-1988-aug-08.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=January 7, 2016 |access-date=August 23, 2017}}</ref>

A new PowerPoint 2.0 for Macintosh, adding color 35&nbsp;mm slides, shipped in May 1988,<ref name="GBU-first-year-1988" /> and again received good reviews.<ref name="pournelle198901">{{Cite magazine |last=Pournelle |first=Jerry |author-link=Jerry Pournelle |date=January 1989 |title=To the Stars |url=https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1989-01/1989_01_BYTE_14-01_PC_Communications_and_Annual_Awards_and_Digitizing_Tablets#page/n151/mode/2up <!-- adjusted URL and page number to exact ref, not article beginning --> |magazine=BYTE |issn=0360-5280 |volume=14 |issue=1 |page=120 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20170930222615/https://archive.org/stream/byte-magazine-1989-01/1989_01_BYTE_14-01_PC_Communications_and_Annual_Awards_and_Digitizing_Tablets%23page/n151/mode/2up |url-status=live |archive-date=September 30, 2017 |access-date=September 30, 2017 |quote=I'll just say that if you're in the business of putting on briefings and otherwise making presentations, you might want to seriously contemplate getting a Mac II just so you can use this program; it's that good. Highly recommended. |df=mdy-all }}</ref> The same PowerPoint 2.0 product re-developed for Windows was shipped two years later, in mid-1990, at the same time as [[Windows 3.0]].<ref>{{Cite news |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=XlEEAAAAMBAJ&pg=PA15 |last=Borzo |first=Jeanette |title=PowerPoint users pleased by changes |newspaper=InfoWorld |publisher=IDG |issn=0199-6649 |volume=14 |issue=20 |date=May 18, 1992 |page=15 |archive-url=https://archive.today/20240527090441/https://www.webcitation.org/6YnF6x0m9?url=https://filetea.me/t1s93DMYfS1T7Gs3VyxWzxRZw |url-status=live |archive-date=May 27, 2024 |access-date=August 4, 2017}}</ref> Much of the color technology was the result of a joint development partnership with [[Genigraphics]], the dominant presentation services company.<ref name="GBU-first-year-genigraphics">{{cite web |url=http://www.robertgaskins.com/powerpoint-history/documents/gaskins-gbu-first-year-report-to-microsoft-1988-aug-08.pdf |title=Results of Microsoft's Graphics Business Unit after Our First Year |last=Gaskins |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Gaskins |date=August 8, 1988 |website=PowerPoint History Documents |type=Microsoft Memo |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107153728/http://www.robertgaskins.com/powerpoint-history/documents/gaskins-gbu-first-year-report-to-microsoft-1988-aug-08.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=January 7, 2016 |access-date=August 23, 2017 |quote=We have learned a tremendous number of technical insights through working with the Genigraphics engineering group ... .}}</ref>

PowerPoint 3.0, which was shipped in 1992 for both Windows and Mac, added live video for projectors and monitors, with the result that PowerPoint was thereafter used for delivering presentations as well as for preparing them. This was at first an alternative to overhead transparencies and 35&nbsp;mm slides, but over time would come to replace them.<ref name="CACM-2007-Gaskins-history">{{Cite journal |last=Gaskins |first=Robert |author-link=Robert Gaskins |date=December 2007 |title=PowerPoint at 20: Back to Basics |url=https://www.academia.edu/1866305 |department=Viewpoint |journal=[[Communications of the ACM]] |publication-date=December 2007 |volume=50 |issue=12 |pages=15–17 |issn=0001-0782 |doi=10.1145/1323688.1323710 |s2cid=48306 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20160107161639/http://www.robertgaskins.com/powerpoint-history/documents/gaskins-powerpoint-at-20-cacm-vol50-no12-dec-2007-p15-p17.pdf |url-status=live |archive-date=January 7, 2016 |access-date=August 24, 2017 }} The first three versions are described in the sidebar, "Presentation Formats and PowerPoint," p. 17.</ref>