It is hard not to have some relationship with PowerPoint when you are in business or higher education. It is everywhere. The dominance reminds me of the dark years of corporate email when every mail message was simply an attachment to an MS Word document. Style trumps content for so many people.

Robert Gaskins is generally considered the creator of PowerPoint and very few historical disputes exist. His site is full of interesting tidbits about PowerPoint. As I remember it, Aldus Persuasion was bought by Adobe so that Adobe could get into the presentation market. Microsoft responded by buying PowerPoint from Forethought (who also created FileMaker). FileMaker would be acquired by Apple's short lived Claris software division. Read Gaskins 20 year essay.

Love it or hate it, PowerPoint has advocates on both sides.

• David Byrne loves PowerPoint
• Edward Tufte is not a fan

PowerPoint can be used for good or for nothing in particular. It is one of the classic case studies for the democratization of technology and the struggle for using tools without training. Here are some examples.

• Joyeux Noel My friend H sent this to me. It is an amazing amount of effort.
• Columbus pitches his journey in this mock up of PPT in the late 1400s.
• What a Night - one of the many humorous uses of PowerPoint.
• Enron analysis in PowerPoint. In academic circles, PowerPoint is sometimes an acceptable equivalent to PostScript.