Sweating Bullets: Notes about Inventing PowerPoint

by Robert Gaskins

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 is now, twenty-five years later, installed on over one billion computers worldwide. Robert Gaskins (who invented the idea, managed its design and development, and then headed the new Microsoft group) has written this book to commemorate the twenty-fifth anniversary of PowerPoint, recounting stories of the perils 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.

Genres: Business, Technology

512 pages, Hardcover

First published April 20, 2012

About the author

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, who set up a new Graphics Business Unit in Silicon Valley to develop it further. Now, twenty-five years later, PowerPoint is familiar to almost everybody.

Microsoft says that PowerPoint is now installed on more than one billion computers, in every country worldwide. Just about every organization in the world uses it, not only companies large and small but entrepreneurs, artists, non-profits, students, governments, and religious leaders. But twenty-five years ago PowerPoint was the unknown product of a tiny startup in Silicon Valley that was struggling to stay alive long enough to finish it.

In this book, Robert Gaskins (who invented the PowerPoint 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.

We look back now from a time when primary school children must pass exams in PowerPoint, because their teachers believe that knowing it will be vital to their future success at all levels of education, and in their careers. Steven Pinker says that "these days scientists ... cannot lecture without PowerPoint." Sermons are delivered using PowerPoint in church buildings rebuilt to incorporate large screens for the purpose. The Secretary of State uses PowerPoint to address the United Nations on questions of war and peace. Newspapers and magazines and books mention PowerPoint casually with no explanation needed. Novelists write chapters of their books in PowerPoint. Rich Gold says that "within today's corporation, if you want to communicate an idea to your peers or to your boss or to your employees or to your customer or even to your enemy, you use PowerPoint."

Although the software has become very familiar, the story is not so well known of how this software invention rapidly became the international standard for business users, how it actually replaced the overheads and 35mm slides that it was originally designed to produce, and how after that it has gone on to play a wider part in contemporary culture.

Reviews

[Victor Muthoka · Rating 3 out of 5]

A bit tedious but valuable,e is nights along the way.

The book is basically the story of how PowerPoint came to be. Through the writer's intense analysis, I got to see the way a sold out team can save a startup from near death.

The transition from startup to Microsoft unit and the attendant political move,nets are essential in learning to navigate a big firm. I'm quite impressed by Bill Gates' guidance to this team. Icahn certainly see why he became the leader he is today.

If you're looking to learn about tech creation, perseverance & consistent strategy analysis, I recommend this read.

NB: It's a bit tedious though as there are many details he could've left out so prepare to skip certain parts & rally against the laborious feeling at times.

[Rich B · Rating 4 out of 5]

This interesting take from the co-founder of Powerpoint is a hard book to classify. It’s partly a biography, partly a company history and partly the author’s reflections on the dramatic changes brought about by technology in general, and Powerpoint specifically, from the mid 1980s to the start of the 21st Century.

It’s mostly an enjoyable and somewhat nostalgic read for anyone who ever had to use Overhead Projectors and / or 35mm slides to present. Probably its only fault is its overly detailed in places making it a long read. Plus, several passages get repeated. Suspect the author had to make a choice between thoroughness and readability somewhere along the way, and decided to go for the former.

That’s not to say individual sections aren’t readable, because they are. He gives some great insights into what the team at Forethought and later Microsoft did and didn’t do right with Powerpoint. It’s very honest, shares some very interesting learnings, and feels very genuine. There’s lots of recognisable situations and challenges he talks about, particularly around company culture.

At times it goes into super-nerd levels of detail to the point where you suspect he may have some sort of minor OCD. There’s probably around 20-25% of this book could have been cut out to make it a tighter, more compelling read.

But if you can get past that, what’s left is lots of interesting stories and insights into a piece of technology that’s transformed how people communicate with each other.

It won’t be for everyone. But anyone who’s got an interest in how businesses work, and the role of technology in how people interact with each other will get lots out of reading this.

[Vignesh · Rating 4 out of 5]

It was a good read, but the book was unnecessarily long and repeating a lot of things twice in different chapters. It could've been edited to only 300 pages and still conveyed everything it wanted to. I skipped the last 50 pages because that wasn't interesting. The pages before that was really insightful.

Learning how OS, PCs evolved and how software was developed before the internet was something that blew my mind. It talks about how internet changed software development and distribution by explaining how hard things were before the internet.

It also talks about market research, pivoting a product/startup, acquisition, navigating in a big firm, etc. This gives a picture of how PCs evolved and how Windows became the dominant OS, the advises Bill gates gave to this team and the freedom that they allowed to operate are the things that lacks in most organizations.

Great book, I recommend it.

[Hamid · Rating 4 out of 5]

What a wonderful read

Ok, to start with, this is an incredibly dense read. There’s a lot of detail and superfluous information, which is arguably part of Gaskins’s 1980s developer charm. Gaskins, as he says upfront, kept vast binders of meticulous meeting notes and wrote company histories so he draws from these as well as from discussions with others.

The result is an excellent overview of successful product design and management, business strategy and management and how culture changes. There isn’t any lurid detail and the closest you feel to some of the more human aspects are some brief moments of praise for colleagues (and Bill Gates). He’s clearly affectionate for his time with Forethought and Microsoft but this isn’t an emotional tell-all.

This is a surprising find and I’m glad I read it.

[Palash Karia · Rating 5 out of 5]

This is a brilliant, insightful book which makes you think about the most basic interactions in current software, & how they might've been affected by older software, like PowerPoint!
This is the stuff of legends, much like how film-making works, where you can see clear influences from the likes of Citizen Kane in current films.

You also see how messed up the whole Windows ecosystem was, how far ahead was the Mac & how PowerPoint (possibly) helped breach the gap!
Of course, Robert Gaskins is brilliant in his own way, with his meticulous, voluminous notes, & careful little details, which give you great context, & a good idea of what went into making of PowerPoint.

[Greg · Rating 4 out of 5]

Very focused vision, clear strategy, some big risks, but it turned into a big success.

You don't have to try to disrupt the current thing to do it - start by helping make it easier, and then replace it when that makes sense.

Don't forget to look for what the trend that will replace you is - who owns the user? - Genigraphics was loving the business of printing PowerPoint slides until the projector cutout that step and their business.

[Simon Semelin · Rating 2 out of 5]

The 450 pages is sooo lengthy. As another reviewer said the author would have needed an edition that reduced it to 50%. It’s just so many details on uninteresting topics. There are a few gems, but they usually derive from quotes from others and not by Gaskins himself.

Interesting read since PowerPoint is such a fundamental part of the business world today but it’s just so much that I skimmed probably 200 pages.

[Manoj Aggarwal · Rating 5 out of 5]

What a wonderful re-telling of the story of one of the most seminal enduring products. Bob does a good job talking about how the company started, its struggles, and eventual success.

[Andy Parkes · Rating 4 out of 5]

PowerPoint...

You'd be hard pressed to find someone who has used a computer for work or school that hasn't come into contact with it.

This book is written by it's chief creator and covers everything from its inception to its coming together and it'd continued use.

This is VERY detailed so the casual reader may be put off but it's a fascinating insight into every aspect of how PowerPoint came into being (design decisions, market research, funding and more)

My only criticism was that some chunks of it seemed to repeat itself but it didn't take away from my enjoyment of the book