Adobe Persuasion (formerly Aldus Persuasion) is a discontinued 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.

Adobe Persuasion
Original author(s)Peter Polash[1][2]
Developer(s)Aldus Corporation
Initial releaseNovember 1988; 35 years ago (1988-11)[3]
Final release
4.0 / 1996; 28 years ago (1996)
Operating systemClassic Mac OS and Microsoft Windows
TypePresentation program
LicenseProprietary commercial software

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 provided an equivalent feature.

Versions history edit

  • Aldus Persuasion 1.0. Made for Macintosh only. Created by Peter Polash in 1988.[4]
  • Aldus Persuasion 2.0. Made for Macintosh in 1989[5] and for Windows in 1991.[6]
  • Aldus Persuasion 2.x[7]
  • Adobe Persuasion 3.0. Had both Mac and Windows versions, and was released in 1995.[8][9] 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.

References edit

  1. ^ "Arabesque Quick Facts:Senior Management Pete Polash, wrote Persuasion,He sold its marketing rights to Aldus Corp. in 1988". Archived from the original on 2007-07-20. Retrieved 2016-06-06.
  2. ^ My Own Successful Startup Story ... In 1984, By Andrew Wulf, Mar 25, 2007, The Codist, ...I gathered the engineers and support folks together and we started a Mac consulting business, which went on to work on portions of Persuasion (for a guy named Peter Polash who sold it to Aldus and made a fortune)...
  3. ^ Aldus Release Persuasion 1.0 for Mac, By Stuart J. Johnston, InfoWorld, 28 Nov 1988, Page 31
  4. ^ Aldus Persuasion (Computer file, 1988), WorldCat.org, Author: Peter Polash; Aldus Corporation. / Publisher: Seattle, WA : Aldus Corp., ©1988. Summary: A comprehensive desktop presentation program with built-in outlining, AutoTemplate technology, and advanced drawing and charting tools. Users can produce overheads, 35 mm. slides, handouts, and speaker notes.
  5. ^ Corrections:Report Card: Aldus Persuasion Version 2.0, InfoWorld, 15 Jan 1990, Page S12
  6. ^ Waiting in the Wings - Lotus Freelance Graphics and Aldus Persuasion for Windows, By Tracy Capen, InfoWorld, 19 Nov 1990, Page 66
  7. ^ Persuasion Adds Runtime Slide Show Player, DDE, and OLE, PC Mag, 31 Mar 1992, Page 60, Aldus is now shipping Aldus Persuasion for Windows, Version 2.1...
  8. ^ Graphics:Desktop Presentations:Looking Ahead:Impact and Persuasion, By Lance Ulanoff, PC Mag, 27 Sep 1994, Page 278, ...expected to be released in the next six months. Aldus Persuasion, Version 3.0,...
  9. ^ First Looks:Presentations:Aldus Persuasion Makes Multimedia Work, By David Haskin, PC Mag, 7 Feb 1995, Page 37

External links edit