Every single company has a story. And sometimes apps are just as interesting as their parent companies. When speaking about Google, there’s always a lot of hype and scandals with rivals and authorities.
In this article, we will mention some fun facts about Google, and more specifically, Google Slides, that will grab your attention. Some of them are more general, others you will find spicy.
Fact 1: The Start of Google Slides – DocVerse acquisition
DocVerse is a company that created a cloud collaboration tool between Microsoft Office products. They have developed online PowerPoint. In 2010, Google acquired DocVerse and integrated the service into its G Suite which lays the foundation of modern-day Google Slides, Google Sheets, etc.
Fact 2: “The Father of Collaborations” and Writely
Sam Schillace is considered the “Father of Collaborative editing”. A fun fact is that he and his team find a way that browsers can support collaborations (because of the invention of Gmail), so they ran an experiment that worked. And it was named Writely and it was an online word processing tool. When Google bought it, they enabled Google Slides users to work together on a single slide without interruption.
Fact 3: Google Slides has a Microsoft DNA
Did you know that the people behind Writely and DocVerse are actually ex-Microsoft employees? It means Google Slides has a Microsoft DNA.
Fact 4: DocVerse was created to make PowerPoint solid online
DocVerse creates the online version of PowerPoint but it aims to add value to PowerPoint users by allowing them to work together, rather than steal market share. In fact, the DocVerse team was well regarded among Microsoft executives before the swift move by Google.
Fact 5: Google’s CEO doesn’t like bullet points
Google’s CEO – Sundar Pichai, has a different perspective on how a good presentation should look. During a Google Slides conference in 2017, he said “Since stories are best told with pictures, bullet points, and text-heavy slides are increasingly avoided at Google.” Is it necessary to say that we can find mainly pictures and just a few words in his presentation?
Fact 6: Google Slides has more languages available than PowerPoint
Did you know that not every language from Google Translate is available in Google Slides? Yet, it has more than 75 languages and dialects (compared to PowerPoint’s 62).
Fact 7: Google Slides is updated automatically
Unlike other apps that notify you when there is a scheduled update, Google automatically reworks Slides, so you never know when an update has been completed. There have been 4 updates in 2021.
Fact 8: Google Slides rebranding
Google Slides is not the original name that the parent company gave. Officially launched in 2007, the presentation software had the name “Google Presentations” before its renaming in 2012.
Fact 9: Comments – the vulnerable place
According to a report, the comment section in Google Slides, Docs, and Sheets is the area where people can add infected links to steal information which is why editors should not check comments that contain links or come from people they don’t know.
Fact 10: Google prioritizes skills over diplomas
Google Slides’ developers are selected for their talents, as the company policy has never admired GPA results. It focuses on logical tasks for the interviews.
*GPA – Grade Points Average. It’s the American school grading standard. It’s a scale between 0-4 points. Typically, Ivy League university students have around 3.8-4 GPA which equals A+/A- marks only.
Fact 11: Google is considered a “dog company”
Google Slides team members will most likely be dog owners rather than cat owners. Why? Because the company has one of the most dog-friendly offices in the world and many people there own dogs. Of course, if you’re good, you won’t get fired if you are a cat lover. But you will be surrounded by dog people.
Fact 12: When did Google Slides get its app versions?
Google Slides became available for iOS and Android in 2014.
Fact 13: The Explore Function
Did you know that the “Explore” function actually uses machine learning to improve its results?
Fact 14: The “Golden Standard” for slides number
Experts say that you should input between 30 and 60 slides for an hour-long Google Slides presentation. 1 slide per minute or two is the golden standard.
Fact 15: You can create a jeopardy game
Do you know that Google Slides is a very popular app for creating not only presentations but also jeopardy games?
Fact 16: The Good Censor
In 2018, a presentation with the name “The Good Censor” was leaked, indicating that Google tries to find the balance between harmful content and free speech, often choosing free speech despite the consequences.
Fact 17: The link between Edward Snowden and Google
A massive scandal arose in 2013 when Edward Snowden leaked a slide showing how NSA can infiltrate Google Cloud (including Slides) and access data from it.
Fact 19: No Save Button
There is no “Save” button on Google Slides.
Fact 20: Q&A section can be anonymous
You can bombard the Google Slides presenter with questions if you have a link. And the best of all is you can remain anonymous. Well, if the audience consists of 3-5 people, everyone would easily guess your name.
Fact 21: Google is aiming to replace legacy G Suite accounts with Google Workspace
Starting from May 1, 2022, Google started charging users who were on the legacy G Suite accounts. They will have to upgrade to Google Workspace plans accordingly via adding payment details, or the accounts will be suspended, meaning you could lose all Google Slides presentations.
Fact 22: Google Slides will get bigger
Despite the lack of transparent information, small representative samples predict that Google Slides has about a 3% market share. However, the expected market share of Google Slides and the other major apps is about to increase by 7.4% CAGR during the forecast period between 2021 and 2028. Most of the Google Slides’ new clients are supposed to be new users and a fraction of them might be ex-PowerPoint users who are moving to Google Workspace.
*CAGR – Compound Annual Growth Rate – this is the year-to-year growth. 1% CAGR of 100 million is 101 million for Year X. The value will be 1% of 101 million in year X+1.
Fact 23: 6 million Google Workspace subscribers – or 0.23% of all users
Even though less than 0.25% of Google Workspace users are actually paying subscriptions, there are around 6 million paying customers.
Fact 24: You can email your Google Slides presentation
Google is the king of simplifying user experiences and it should not surprise you that you can save time and send your presentation as an email, rather than downloading and attaching it at a later stage.
Fact 25: Google Slides performs better in App Store
Currently, Google Slides is ranked #27 in the Productivity category in Similarweb in Google Play Store, and it climbs the Apple App Store charts for iPhones (15th place), it ranks 7th for iPads.
Fact 26: The Android Saga
Oracle sued Google over the attempt to create a mobile OS with their proprietary product. However, according to some leaked Google Slides, Oracle never really had the capacity to create an operating system like Android, and in fact, even Java’s old CEO admired what Google has accomplished.
Fact 27: You can start a meeting in Google Slides
Just a few weeks ago, Google announced that you could start a Google Meet in a presentation mode from Google Slides, Google Docs, and Google Sheets directly. The button is right next to the “Share” option.
Fact 28: Google Slides has over a billion app installs
Two years after PowerPoint, Google Slides reached 1 billion app installs in Google Play Store in February’22.
Fact 29: The original post from Writely after the acquisition
Do you remember Blogspot – the legacy blogging domain? Here, you kind find the news of Writely being acquired by Google in 2006. If you’re in your mid 30’s or older, it will bring so many sweet memories.
Fact 30: Google Slides is an institution
When one of the main competitors Prezi (a company with 100 million users, according to CEO Jim Szafranski) enabled users to import their Google Slides presentations into Prezi Video, it meant one thing – Google Slides is a name in the industry.
Fact 31: Markdown format is a thing
Coincidence or not, Google has expanded its Markdown syntax feature, which could give Google Slides presentations better longevity (if Google ceases to support Slides) and better portability, meaning the text will be recognizable to many different readers.
Fact 32: Google Slides surpassed Microsoft by 5 years
Although Microsoft didn’t recognize Google’s acquisition of DocVerse as a threat, five years later (in 2015), it bought LiveLoop to make PowerPoint web-friendly and “unofficially” admitted its mistake without actually doing so.
Fact 33: Google Slides has an add-ons marketplace
Since “Add-ons” became an option in 2014, there have been plenty of add-ons created for Google Slides. These third-party apps can help create a better experience for Slides users. There are approximately 300 Google Slides add-ons but you cannot see more than 100 at once.
Fact 34: 1 million presentations a day
Given the statistics, about 35 million PowerPoint presentations are created daily, which means that about 1 million (roughly) presentations are created in Google Slides every day. Or 41,667 per hour, 694.4 per minute, and 11.57 presentations per second.
Fact 36: Google Slides is always the last to receive updates
Google Slides is considered the smallest kid of the Google family that includes Docs and Sheets; thus, it receives all updates a little bit later.
Fact 37: You can edit a slide offline
Although Google Slides is a web-based app, since 2013, it can work in an “offline mode,” allowing you to create and edit slides regardless of your location and internet access. Once you are connected to a network, your edits are updated.
Fact 38: Google Slides has more than 70 Shortcut keys
Over 70 shortcut keys in Google Slides (74, to be precise) can easily help you access different functions and save precious time.
Fact 39: You can access a dictionary from Google Slides
How cool is that? You can try and find synonyms of words that you have used to make your texts more flashy or check if the word is used appropriately.
Fact 40: Google Slides has a script editor
The tool “Script Editor” lets you write scripts that allow you to do many things, like reading data from a Spreadsheet, for example. Once you modify the data in the Spreadsheet, the Google Slides information is automatically corrected.
Fact 41: Braille display
Google Slides allows people with impaired vision (or blind) to utilize the platform. However, it doesn’t work without braille hardware.
Fact 42: Google Slides is no longer available on Wear OS (IoT version of Android)
For those wondering what is Wear OS – it’s Google’s Android OS for wearable devices (smartwatches, bands, etc.) Google Slides will no longer be supported in the app store. For many, it’s not a big loss but if you work together with colleagues, having no chance to receive a notification for
Fact 43: Default Side Slide
The default slide size of Google Slides is 16:9 Widescreen. But it wasn’t always like that. Google changed the aspect ratio for Google Slides from 4:3 to 16:9 in October 2013. Both PowerPoint and Keynote also use 16:9 today.
Fact 44: Reddit community
Despite its popularity, the Google Slides topic has only 235 members on Reddit. In comparison, PowerPoint has more than 13,500. But it can be worse. Keynote has just 185.
Fact 45: Google Slides vs PowerPoint search results
There are over 788 million search results when you type in Google Slides. In comparison, Microsoft PowerPoint has “only” 358 million, or 2.2 times fewer. Google Slides has 4.6M monthly search volume while PowerPoint has almost twice less – 2.4M.
Fact 46: You can edit Google Slides while chatting
A recent Google update made it possible to directly access and edit Google Slides presentations in chat. Basically, you can communicate with your colleagues while working on Google Slides presentations without leaving the chat tab, as the app is integrated.
Conclusion
As you could see, Google Slides is an interesting presentation app that has a lot of history behind it – from consistent updates to investigation scandals.
But what we can say for sure is that Google will keep investing in their simple, yet very powerful app to keep ranking as one of the best presentation software on the market.
If you’ve set up your mind on Google Slides, you can also read some of our tutorials related to the program: