Sweating Bullets: Notes about Inventing PowerPoint

by Robert Gaskins

Overview

PowerPoint was the first presentation software designed for Macintosh and Windows, received the first venture capital investment ever made by Apple, then became the first significant acquisition ever made by Microsoft, and now, twenty-five years later, it is installed on over one billion computers worldwide. In this book Robert Gaskins (who invented the idea, managed its design and development, and then headed the new Microsoft group) tells the story of its first years, recounting the perils and disasters narrowly evaded as a startup, dissecting the complexities of being the first distant development group in Microsoft, and explaining decisions and insights that enabled PowerPoint to become a lasting success well beyond its original business uses.

Product Details

BN ID:	2940015867473
Publisher:	Vinland Books
Publication date:	04/20/2012
Sold by:	Barnes & Noble
Format:	eBook
Pages:	512
Sales rank:	810,205
File size:	10 MB

About the Author

Robert Gaskins invented PowerPoint, drawing on ten years of interdisciplinary
graduate study at Berkeley and five years as manager of computer science research for an
international telecommunications R&D laboratory in Silicon Valley.

Gaskins managed the design and development of PowerPoint as a startup where it attracted
the first venture capital investment ever made by Apple Computer. Soon after PowerPoint
was released for Macintosh, in 1987, it became the first significant acquisition ever
made by Microsoft, who set up a new business unit in Silicon Valley to develop it
further. Gaskins then headed this new Microsoft group for another five years, completing
versions of the PowerPoint product through the explosive initial growth of Microsoft
Windows and the creation of the Microsoft Office bundle including PowerPoint.