In defense of PowerPoint

Some minor computing issues become major when repeatedly made public. The denigration of PowerPoint is such an issue, one that, like influenza, seems to come in seasonal waves. PowerPoint is no more responsible for bad presentations. Computing professionals who blame their machinery for their failures set a bad example for computer users already prone to using the computer as a scapegoat. Professionals, not the software packages they use, are responsible for the presentations they make. Countering silly arguments about PowerPoint requires a full appreciation of presentation technology and of the uses to which it might be put. PowerPoint is just presentation technologyʹs latest iteration and will eventually be replaced by something else.