Adobe Persuasion

Infobox Software
name = Adobe Persuasion


caption = Persuasion running under System 7.
developer = Adobe, Aldus
latest release version = 4.0
latest release date = 1996
operating system = Mac OS, Windows
genre = Presentation
license = Proprietary
website = N/A

Adobe Persuasion (formerly Aldus Persuasion) was a presentation program developed for the Macintosh platform by Aldus Corporation. After it was acquired by Adobe Systems in 1994, when the two companies merged, a Microsoft Windows version was released. Adobe discontinued production from September 1997.

Reportedly, the main reason Persuasion was canceled was Microsoft's switch from OLE 1.0 to OLE 2.0. Microsoft ceased all support for 1.0 but OLE 2.0 was not available for Macintosh. Since Persuasion had originally been a Macintosh-only product, Adobe had to choose whether to proceed with Windows-only or stay with OLE 1.0. The cancellation of the Persuasion for Mac led to the eventual demise of the product.

A key feature of Persuasion, which distinguished it from Microsoft PowerPoint at the time, was the use of an outline to represent the text content of the slides, which was immediately reflected on the slides (and vice versa). PowerPoint eventually copied this feature.

Versions history

* Aldus Persuasion 1. For Macintosh only. Created by Peter Polash.
* Aldus Persuasion 2.0
* Aldus Persuasion 2.x
* Adobe Persuasion 3.0 had both Mac and Windows versions, and was released in 1995. It was bundled with the Persuasion Player.
* Adobe Persuasion 4.0 was released in 1996. The Mac and Windows versions shipped together, with a simultaneous end-user license for each platform. It was bundled with Adobe Acrobat Distiller 3.0, Acrobat Reader 3.0, Persuasion Player, Adobe Type Manager, and a collection of clip art, movies, sounds, and 20 fonts. It included a utility to directly convert Microsoft PowerPoint files. PowerPoint being Persuasion's primary competitor on the popular Windows platform, compatibility was an important feature.

External links

* ATPM e-zine [http://www.atpm.com/3.01/page10.shtml review of Persuasion 4.0] from January 1997.
* [http://www.admin.mtu.edu/admin/prov/presenta/jan97bud.pdf An example of a presentation] (.pdf, 401KB) made using Persuasion, from the Administration Department at Michigan Technological University. Includes line and bar graphs.