Is Microsoft PowerPoint a Program of the Past?

PowerPoint is a desktop productivity veteran, a fixture in Microsoft’s ever-changing suite of applications since 1987. However, Microsoft has sent some of its famous programs to the dustbin over the past couple of years, which has me wondering: Will PowerPoint reach its 40th anniversary? ?

You could argue that PowerPoint is dying

Even just by looking at Microsoft 365 roadmap gives you an idea of ​​the extent of the work going on behind the scenes to update Microsoft’s apps and cloud services to improve performance. Indeed, at the time of writing, 820 updates were either in development and testing, or distributed to customers.

However, typing “PowerPoint” into the Roadmap search field returns only 19 results, each of which is more closely related to other apps or Copilot. In fact, none of the changes listed are exclusive to PowerPoint. Compare this to Outlook, which has 128 updates that are either in testing or rolling out.

Does this mean Microsoft is abandoning PowerPoint? Does the company view it as an old-fashioned program that is out of step with today’s streamlined productivity environment?

Further adding fuel to the PowerPoint incinerator, when Office 2007 was released, PowerPoint lost the ability to record macros, a tool for automating repetitive tasks. Indeed, as PowerPoint developed, Microsoft did not see fit to promote the macro recording feature, another hint at the company’s indifference to the program. On the other hand, many people still record macros in Excel And Word today, suggesting that Microsoft is prioritizing its more popular apps over those used by fewer customers.

Beyond Microsoft’s take on its slideshow program, new trends in fields traditionally more likely to use PowerPoint suggest that the “stand up and talk before your presentation” approach is going out of fashion. . For example, in education, didactic learning is increasingly seen as “terribly predictable and deadly banal“, with a more student-centered approach”more effective and interesting“

In 2004, Jeff Bezos banned PowerPoint from Amazon. speaking“Powerpoint-style presentations somehow manage to suppress ideas, flatten any sense of relative importance, and ignore the interconnectedness of ideas.”

He preferred to share two to six pages of notes created in Microsoft Word at the beginning of meetings, giving people a half-hour of silence to absorb the content, and then discussing the information in an open forum format. Innovative approaches like this from influential people like him can inspire others to follow the same path, reducing the need for PowerPoint over time.

The final nail in the coffin is that PowerPoint isn’t the only presentation product out there. For example, many people I prefer to use Google Slidesthanks to the program’s ease of collaboration, integration with other Google tools, and a simpler user interface. Apple’s Keynote is another alternativeoffering smoother transitions, improved media elements, and more modern templates.

In fact, PowerPoint still has legs

I previously mentioned the lack of significant updates in the Microsoft 365 roadmap for the coming year, noting that Microsoft may be putting its proven slideshow program on the backburner for the foreseeable future. However, doesn’t PowerPoint get updates simply because it doesn’t need them? In fact, I’m not sure what core features would make it better than it is, other than maybe just modernizing or simplifying the UI.

Continuing the theme of Microsoft’s priorities, it is worth remembering that PowerPoint made a choice in favor of Office 2024one of four applications (along with Excel, Word, and OneNote) that Microsoft deemed important and popular enough to be included in this one-time software package. It’s clear that Microsoft still considers it a necessary and valuable tool for its customers.

PowerPoint is more versatile than it’s given credit foroffering a variety of uses beyond boardrooms and classrooms. For example, creative leaders can use it to make learning more focused, wedding planners can create a traveling lovebird photo gallery, and students can find ways to use it as a self-study tool. Even when used in more traditional contexts, PowerPoint helps meetings stay on topic, guides presenters and audiences, and can visualize complex concepts for different types of learners.

Although this seems like an old-fashioned approach, there is still a lot of value in standing in front of a screen and talking to your audience—there’s a reason this approach has been popular for years! According to the Visual Teaching Alliance (via E-learning industry), 90% of the information sent to the brain is visual, graphics are processed 60,000 times faster than text, and the human eye can register 36,000 visual messages per hour.

Given these statistics and the fact that PowerPoint has been the world leader in presentation software for some time now, it seems difficult to justify the notion that PowerPoint will be a thing of the past anytime soon.

PowerPoint has evolved in an increasingly competitive environment. For example, in 2016, Microsoft added the Morph transition to compete with the uniqueness of Prezi’s scaling. Later that year, the company received an impressive Designer tool to make presentations attractive and unique. Personally, having previously used Google Slides in the classroom and tried Keynote as an Apple client, I still prefer PowerPoint because of its comprehensiveness and versatility.

Is PowerPoint becoming a thing of the past?

Looking at both sides of the coin, I think it’s fair to say: no, PowerPoint isn’t going away anytime soon.

Almost every suggestion that PowerPoint will soon be a thing of the past (it doesn’t have any major updates planned, it faces increasing competition, it’s unfavorable to Microsoft, and trends are changing) is heavily outweighed by the compelling counterarguments that it doesn’t need any updates. It’s more powerful and versatile than its competitors, it’s included in Office 2024, and visual presentations are still very relevant today.

Since PowerPoint isn’t going anywhere, be sure to check out the best things to include in a professional presentationmost useful buttons that will be on the quick access toolbarand different what can you do to make your PowerPoint file run smoothly.