A word processor ( WP ) is a device or computer program that provides for input, editing, formatting, and output of text, often with some additional features.
98-487: WordStar is a discontinued word processor application for microcomputers . It was published by MicroPro International and originally written for the CP/M -80 operating system , with later editions added for MS-DOS and other 16-bit PC OSes. Rob Barnaby was the sole author of the early versions of the program. Starting with WordStar 4.0, the program was built on new code written principally by Peter Mierau. WordStar dominated
196-540: A RAM disk board, and copying the WordStar program files into it. WordStar would still access the "disk" repeatedly, but the far faster access of the RAM drive compared to a floppy disk yielded a substantial speed improvement. However, edited versions of a document were "saved" only to this RAM disk, and had to be copied to physical media before rebooting. InfoWorld described WordStar as "notorious for its complexity", but by 1983 it
294-549: A word processor , WordMaster, and a sorting program, SuperSort, in Intel 8080 assembly language . After Rubinstein obtained a report that discussed the abilities of contemporary standalone word processors from IBM , Xerox , and Wang Laboratories , Barnaby enhanced WordMaster with similar features and support for the CP/M operating system. MicroPro began selling the product, now renamed WordStar , in June 1979. Priced at $ 495 and $ 40 for
392-414: A "literary piano". The only "word processing" these mechanical systems could perform was to change where letters appeared on the page, to fill in spaces that were previously left on the page, or to skip over lines. It was not until decades later that the introduction of electricity and electronics into typewriters began to help the writer with the mechanical part. The term “word processing” (translated from
490-623: A Canadian science-fiction writer, continues to use WordStar 7.0 for DOS (the final release, last updated in 1992) to write his novels, All twenty-five of his novels were written with WordStar. As the app is now "abandonware", and there was no proper archive of WordStar 7.0 for DOS available online, he decided to create one. He put together as complete a version of WordStar 7 as might exist. He bundled together over 1,000 pages of scanned manuals that came with WordStar, related utilities, his own README guidance, ready-to-run versions of DOSBox-X and VDosPlus, and WordStar 7 Rev. D and posted them on his website as
588-529: A co-founder of Lifeboat Associates financed the magazine in the early stages. The magazine grew beyond the capital required to publish it; to solve this problem, Gold sold the magazine to Ziff-Davis, moving from California to New York City . By February 1983 it was published by PC Communications Corp., a subsidiary of Ziff-Davis Publishing Co., Bunnell and his staff left to form PC World magazine. The first issue of PC carried an interview with Bill Gates , made possible by his friendship with David Bunnell, who
686-491: A complete macro language as well as support for over 500 printers. It also featured style sheets and mouse support. Columnist John Dvorak noted: "WordStar may have been the most pirated software in the world, which in many ways accounted for its success. (Software companies don’t like to admit to this as a possibility.) Books for WordStar sold like hot cakes and the authors knew they were selling documentation for pirated copies of WordStar. The company itself should have just sold
784-640: A computer-based word processing dedicated device with Japanese writing system in Business Show in Tokyo. Toshiba released the first Japanese word processor JW-10 [ jp ] in February 1979. The price was 6,300,000 JPY, equivalent to US$ 45,000. This is selected as one of the milestones of IEEE . The Japanese writing system uses a large number of kanji (logographic Chinese characters) which require 2 bytes to store, so having one key per each symbol
882-453: A corporate sales program until December 1983, developed a poor reputation among customers. PC Magazine wrote in 1983 that MicroPro's "motto often seems to be: 'Ask Your Dealer'", and in 1985 that Almost since its birth 4 years ago, MicroPro has had a seemingly unshakable reputation for three things: arrogant indifference to user feedback ("MicroPro's classic response to questions about WordStar was, "Call your dealer"); possession of one of
980-438: A default installation on a 25-line screen, the top third of the screen contained a menu of commands and a status line; the lower two-thirds of the screen displayed the text of the user's document. A user-configurable option to set the help level released this space for user text. The help system could be configured to display help a short time after the first key of a command sequence was entered. As users became more familiar with
1078-535: A number of non-IBM-compatible PCs that used 8086 or 80186 CPUs). As such, it used only DOS's API calls and avoided any BIOS usage or direct hardware access. This carried with it an unfortunate performance penalty as everything had to be "double" processed (meaning that the DOS API functions would handle screen or keyboard I/O first and then pass them to the BIOS). The first DOS version of WordStar, demoed by Jim Fox and executed by
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#17328520757341176-583: A popular DOS outliner then available from Brown Bag Software, Inc. in California. PC-Outline text had to be exported to a WordStar-format file, as the programs were not developed to be internally compatible. Around 1978, Elbit Systems in Israel developed a CP/M-capable microcomputer named the DS2100 . CP/M machines were readily available and Elbit needed something to differentiate their product from others. An agreement
1274-474: A resizable window at the top of the screen) made it easy to use an illegal copy. At the time, the IBM Displaywriter System dominated the dedicated word processor market. IBM's main competition was Wang Laboratories . Such machines were expensive and were generally accessed through terminals connected to central mainframe or midrange computers. When IBM announced it was bringing DisplayWrite to
1372-425: A second version, and many WordStar users switched to it. A third version appeared in 1986; The New York Times wrote that NewWord 3 "provides the perfect excuse for WordStar users to switch software, as if WordStar users needed an excuse". In February 1985 MicroPro promised updates to WordStar 3.3, but none appeared until new management purchased NewWord and used it as the basis of WordStar 4.0 in 1987, four years after
1470-547: A set of stick-on "keycaps" describing the function were provided with the software. Lexitype was popular with large organizations that had previously used the Lexitron. Eventually, the price differences between dedicated word processors and general-purpose PCs, and the value added to the latter by software such as “ killer app ” spreadsheet applications, e.g. VisiCalc and Lotus 1-2-3 , were so compelling that personal computers and word processing software became serious competition for
1568-718: A team of Irish programmers in April 1982, was a port of the CP/M-86 version of WordStar, which in turn had been ported from the CP/M-80 version in September 1981. This had been started by Diane Hajicek and was completed by an Irish team of programmers under ISIS-II , probably using Intel 's source-to-source translator CONV86 . Thus the main program executable was a .COM file which could only access 64 kB of memory. Users quickly learned they could make WordStar run dramatically faster by installing
1666-452: A typewriter) was patented in 1714 by Henry Mill for a machine that was capable of "writing so clearly and accurately you could not distinguish it from a printing press". More than a century later, another patent appeared in the name of William Austin Burt for the typographer . In the late 19th century, Christopher Latham Sholes created the first recognizable typewriter, which was described as
1764-450: A user interface that was substantially different from the original WordStar, and the company did little to advertise this. However, its lasting legacy on the word processing industry was the introduction of three keyboard shortcuts that are still widely used, namely, Ctrl+B for boldfacing , Ctrl+I for italicizing , and Ctrl+U for underlining , text. WordStar became popular in large companies without MicroPro. The company, which did not have
1862-500: A user to rewrite text that had been written on another tape, and it also allowed limited collaboration in the sense that a user could send the tape to another person to let them edit the document or make a copy. It was a revolution for the word processing industry. In 1969, the tapes were replaced by magnetic cards. These memory cards were inserted into an extra device that accompanied the MT/ST, able to read and record users' work. Throughout
1960-418: A version for the commercially successful Windows 3.0 . The company purchased Legacy, an existing Windows-based word processor, which was altered and released as WordStar for Windows in 1991. It was a well-reviewed product and included many features normally only found in more expensive desktop publishing packages. However, its delayed launch meant that Microsoft Word had already firmly established itself as
2058-417: A word processor and a desktop publishing program has become unclear as word processing software has gained features such as ligature support added to the 2010 version of Microsoft Word . Common word processor programs include LibreOffice Writer , Google Docs and Microsoft Word . Word processors developed from mechanical machines, later merging with computer technology. The history of word processing
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#17328520757342156-517: Is an American computer magazine published by Ziff Davis . A print edition was published from 1982 to January 2009. Publication of online editions started in late 1994 and continues as of 2024 . PC Magazine provides reviews and previews of the latest hardware and software for the information technology professional. Other regular departments include columns by long-time editor-in-chief Michael J. Miller ("Forward Thinking"), Bill Machrone, and Jim Louderback , as well as: For several years in
2254-591: Is infeasible. Japanese word processing became possible with the development of the Japanese input method (a sequence of keypresses, with visual feedback, which selects a character) -- now widely used in personal computers. Oki launched OKI WORD EDITOR-200 in March 1979 with this kana-based keyboard input system. In 1980 several electronics and office equipment brands including entered this rapidly growing market with more compact and affordable devices. For instance, NEC introduced
2352-462: Is the story of the gradual automation of the physical aspects of writing and editing, and then to the refinement of the technology to make it available to corporations and Individuals. The term word processing appeared in American offices in the early 1970s centered on the idea of streamlining the work to typists, but the meaning soon shifted toward the automation of the whole editing cycle. At first,
2450-467: Is then displayed in the normal text area displacing the actual text. It nonetheless made it absolutely clear where formatting started and finished. Page and section formatting was handled differently by the addition of formatting lines. A formatting line was indicated by the line starting with a full stop. Some third-party WordStar books called formatting lines "dot commands". A few examples: .lh (line height) .lm (left margin) .rm (right margin) - each of which
2548-862: The Gypsy word processor). These were popularized by MacWrite on the Apple Macintosh in 1983, and Microsoft Word on the IBM PC in 1984. These were probably the first true WYSIWYG word processors to become known to many people. Of particular interest also is the standardization of TrueType fonts used in both Macintosh and Windows PCs. While the publishers of the operating systems provide TrueType typefaces, they are largely gathered from traditional typefaces converted by smaller font publishing houses to replicate standard fonts. Demand for new and interesting fonts, which can be found free of copyright restrictions, or commissioned from font designers, developed. The growing popularity of
2646-514: The Internet , which made computer magazines less necessary. This is also the primary reason for the November 2008 decision to discontinue the print version. It has adapted to the new realities of the 21st century by reducing its once-standard emphasis on massive comparative reviews of computer systems, hardware peripherals, and software packages to focus more on the broader consumer-electronics market. From
2744-601: The NWP-20 [ jp ] , and Fujitsu launched the Fujitsu OASYS [ jp ] . While the average unit price in 1980 was 2,000,000 JPY (US$ 14,300), it was dropped to 164,000 JPY (US$ 1,200) in 1985. Even after personal computers became widely available, Japanese word processors remained popular as they tended to be more portable (an "office computer" was initially too large to carry around), and become commonplace for business and academics, even for private individuals in
2842-483: The "Complete WordStar 7.0 Archive". As of 2020, fantasy author George R. R. Martin used the MS-DOS version of WordStar 4.0. Andy Breckman , the creator of Monk , is a devoted WordStar user. Novelist Anne Rice was another faithful user of WordStar who struggled to have it installed on newer computers until it could no longer reasonably be done. She then grudgingly transitioned to Microsoft Word, whose design she felt
2940-457: The "Control" key, which on keyboards of the time was conveniently next to the letter A in the position now usually occupied by the Caps Lock key. For touch typists, in addition, reaching the function and cursor keys generally requires them to take their fingers off the "home keys" with consequent loss of typing rhythm. For example, the "diamond" of Ctrl-S/E/D/X (s=left, e=up, d=right, x=down) moved
3038-406: The $ 10,000 range. Cheap general-purpose personal computers were still the domain of hobbyists. In Japan, even though typewriters with Japanese writing system had widely been used for businesses and governments, they were limited to specialists and required special skills due to the wide variety of letters, until computer-based devices came onto the market. In 1977, Sharp showcased a prototype of
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3136-612: The 1960s and 70s, word processing began to slowly shift from glorified typewriters augmented with electronic features to become fully computer-based (although only with single-purpose hardware) with the development of several innovations. Just before the arrival of the personal computer (PC), IBM developed the floppy disk . In the 1970s, the first proper word-processing systems appeared, which allowed display and editing of documents on CRT screens . During this era, these early stand-alone word processing systems were designed, built, and marketed by several pioneering companies. Linolex Systems
3234-471: The 1980s, PC Magazine gave significant coverage to programming for the IBM PC and compatibles in languages such as Turbo Pascal , BASIC , Assembly and C . Charles Petzold was one of the notable writers on programming topics. Editor Bill Machrone wrote in 1985, that If an article doesn't evaluate products or enhance productivity, "chances are it doesn't belong in PC Magazine ". In an early review of
3332-583: The 650,000 cumulative copies of WordStar for the IBM PC and other computers sold by that fall was more than double that of the second most-popular word processor, and that year MicroPro had 10% of the personal computer software market. By 1984, the year it held an initial public offering , MicroPro was the world's largest software company with 23% of the word processor market. A manual that PC Magazine described as "incredibly inadequate" led many authors to publish replacements. One of them, Introduction to WordStar ,
3430-467: The DAT file. Mass mailings could thereby be prepared with each letter copy individually addressed. Other add-on programs included SpellStar, a spell checker program, later incorporated as a direct part of the WordStar program; and DataStar, a program whose purpose was specifically to expedite creating of the data files used for merge printing. These were revolutionary features for personal computer users during
3528-525: The German word Textverarbeitung ) itself was possibly created in the 1950s by Ulrich Steinhilper , a German IBM typewriter sales executive, or by an American electro-mechanical typewriter executive, George M. Ryan, who obtained a trademark registration in the USPTO for the phrase. However, it did not make its appearance in 1960s office management or computing literature (an example of grey literature ), though many of
3626-550: The IBM PC had arrow keys and separate function keys, the traditional "WordStar diamond" and other Ctrl-key functions were retained, leading to rapid adoption by former CP/M users. WordStar's ability to use a "non-document" mode to create text files without formatting made it popular among programmers for writing code. Like the CP/M versions, the DOS WordStar was not explicitly designed for IBM PCs, but rather for any x86 machine (as there were
3724-449: The MS-DOS keyboard, and that is one explanation for its demise. By that point, MicroPro had dropped the generic MS-DOS support and WordStar 4.0 was exclusively for IBM compatibles, which differed from MS-DOS-compatible programs in terms of screen addressing. It was the first version of WordStar supporting directories—a feature nearly mandatory to be usable on machines with hard disks. Also introduced were simple macros (shorthand) and
3822-504: The Microsoft Word system of highlighting with a mouse and then being forced by Word's select-then-do approach to immediately deal with the marked block, lest any typing replace it. The subsequent WordStar 2000 retained WordStar's distinctive functionality for block manipulation. As part of the ^K sequence of shortcuts, it offered true bookmarks (^K1 to ^K9) allowing the editor to move about in large documents with ease. Column Mode editing
3920-450: The PC, MicroPro focused on creating a clone of it which they marketed, in 1984, as WordStar 2000 . WordStar 2000 supported features such as disk directories, but lacked compatibility with the file formats of existing WordStar versions and also made numerous unpopular changes to the interface. Gradually competitors such as WordPerfect reduced MicroPro's market share. MultiMate , in particular, used
4018-493: The Windows operating system in the 1990s later took Microsoft Word along with it. Originally called "Microsoft Multi-Tool Word", this program quickly became a synonym for “word processor”. Early in the 21st century, Google Docs popularized the transition to online or offline web browser based word processing. This was enabled by the widespread adoption of suitable internet connectivity in businesses and domestic households and later
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4116-456: The WordStar interface, but have been based on WordStar DOS file formats, allowing WordStar users who no longer have a copy of the application to easily open and edit their files. There are WordStar keyboard command emulators and keymappings, both freeware and shareware, for current versions of Microsoft Word . Popular modern word processing software WordPerfect can open or save to WordStar documents, enabling users to move back and forth. MailMerge
4214-423: The ability to automatically reformat paragraphs to fit the current margins as text was added or deleted; a command had to be issued to force reformatting. The subsequent WordStar 2000 (and later versions of WordStar for DOS) added automatic paragraph reformatting (and all versions of WordStar had commands to manually reformat a paragraph (^B) or the rest of the document (^QQ^B and, as a later synonym, ^QU)). WordStar
4312-827: The character under the cursor. Ctrl-H would backspace and delete. Commands to enable bold or italics, printing, blocking text to copy or delete, saving or retrieving files from disk, etc. were typically a short sequence of keystrokes, such as Ctrl-P-B for bold, or Ctrl-K-S to save a file. Formatting codes would appear on screen, such as ^B for bold, ^Y for italics, and ^S for underscoring. Although many of these keystroke sequences were far from self-evident, they tended to lend themselves to mnemonic devices (e.g., Ctrl- P rint- B old, Ctrl-bloc K - S ave), and regular users quickly learned them through muscle memory , enabling them to rapidly navigate documents by touch, rather than memorizing "Ctrl-S = cursor left." Early versions of WordStar lacked features found in other word processors, such as
4410-436: The command sequences, the help system could be set to provide less and less assistance until finally all on-screen menus and status information would be turned off. The original computer terminals and microcomputers for which WordStar was developed, many running the CP/M operating system , did not have function keys or cursor control keys (arrow keys, Page Up/Page Down). WordStar used sequences of alphabetic keys combined with
4508-668: The company after a January 1984 heart attack. His replacements canceled the promising office suite Starburst, purchased a WordStar clone, and used it as the basis of WordStar 2000, released in December 1984. It received poor reviews—by April 1985 PC Magazine referred to WordStar 2000 as "beleaguered"—due to not being compatible with WordStar files and other disadvantages, and by selling at the same $ 495 price as WordStar 3.3 confused customers. Company employees were divided between WordStar and WordStar 2000 factions, and fiscal year 1985 sales declined to $ 40 million. By 1984, NewWord had released
4606-457: The company's extensive sales and marketing efforts, and bundling deals with Osborne and other computer makers, MicroPro's sales grew from $ 500,000 in 1979 to $ 72 million in fiscal year 1984, surpassing earlier market leader Electric Pencil . By May 1983 BYTE magazine called WordStar "without a doubt the best-known and probably the most widely used personal computer word-processing program". The company released WordStar 3.3 in June 1983;
4704-605: The corporate standard during the two previous years. WordStar is abandonware. It was last updated in December 1992. WordStar was the program of choice for conservative intellectual William F. Buckley, Jr. , who used the software to write many works, including his last book. His son Christopher Buckley wrote of his father's loyalty to WordStar, despite the increasing difficulty of installing it on newer computers. The elder Buckley said of WordStar, "I'm told there are better programs, but I'm also told there are better alphabets". Ralph Ellison also used WordStar. Robert J. Sawyer ,
4802-464: The cursors one character or line to the left, up, right, or down. Ctrl-A/F (to the outside of the "diamond") moved the cursor a full word left/right, and Ctrl-R/C (just "past" the Ctrl keys for up and down) scrolled a full page up/down. Prefacing these keystrokes with Ctrl-Q generally expanded their action, moving the cursor to the end/beginning of the line, end/beginning of the document, etc. Ctrl-G would delete
4900-480: The dedicated machines and soon dominated the market. In the late 1980s, innovations such as the advent of laser printers , a "typographic" approach to word processing ( WYSIWYG - What You See Is What You Get), using bitmap displays with multiple fonts (pioneered by the Xerox Alto computer and Bravo word processing program), and graphical user interfaces such as “copy and paste” (another Xerox PARC innovation, with
4998-587: The designers of word processing systems combined existing technologies with emerging ones to develop stand-alone equipment, creating a new business distinct from the emerging world of the personal computer. The concept of word processing arose from the more general data processing, which since the 1950s had been the application of computers to business administration. Through history, there have been three types of word processors: mechanical, electronic and software. The first word processing device (a "Machine for Transcribing Letters" that appears to have been similar to
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#17328520757345096-421: The documentation alone to increase sales. This was the wink-wink-nudge-nudge aspect of the industry at the time and everyone knew it. So when WordStar 2000 arrived with a copy protection scheme, everyone should have predicted its immediate demise." Besides the ready availability of third-party books explaining WordStar in detail, the program's extensive and configurable onscreen help facility (help text appeared in
5194-556: The early 1980s, these problems allowed WordPerfect to take WordStar's place as the most widely used word processor from 1985 on. Seymour I. Rubinstein was an employee of early microcomputer company IMSAI , where he negotiated software contracts with Digital Research and Microsoft . After leaving IMSAI, Rubinstein planned to start his own software company that would sell through the new network of retail computer stores. He founded MicroPro International Corporation in September 1978 and hired John Robbins Barnaby as programmer, who wrote
5292-416: The early-to-mid-1980s. A companion spreadsheet, CalcStar, was also produced using a somewhat WordStar-like interface; collectively, WordStar (word processing), DataStar/ReportStar (database management, a.k.a. InfoStar), and CalcStar (spreadsheet) comprised StarBurst, the first-ever office suite of personal computer programs. As a product enhancement, in the late 1980s WordStar 5 came bundled with PC-Outline,
5390-543: The feature could also be used to calculate the total of a column of numbers and place the result at the insertion point. Formatting with WordStar was carried out before the text to be formatted—unlike many other word processors where the formatting of a paragraph is 'buried' within the usually hidden paragraph marker at the end of the paragraph. This latter method leaves the user unclear where formatting starts. In normal editing, WordStar hides formatting markers but these are easily displayed with ^OD command. Formatting information
5488-417: The function, but current word processors are word processor programs running on general purpose computers. The functions of a word processor program fall somewhere between those of a simple text editor and a fully functioned desktop publishing program. While the distinction between a text editor and a word processor is clear—namely the capability of editing rich text —the distinctions between
5586-511: The ideas, products, and technologies to which it would later be applied were already well known. Nonetheless, by 1971, the term was recognized by the New York Times as a business " buzz word ". Word processing paralleled the more general "data processing", or the application of computers to business administration. Thus, by 1972, the discussion of word processing was common in publications devoted to business office management and technology; by
5684-422: The install program was completely updated to include features like reprogramming function keys and an extensive printer support. During the second half of the 1980s, the fully modernized WordPerfect overtook it in sales. WordStar 5 (released in 1989) added footnote and endnote capability and a fairly advanced Page preview function. Versions 5.5 and 6 had added features, and version 7 (released 1991) included
5782-457: The late 1990s, the magazine more frequently reviewed Macintosh software and hardware. PC Magazine was one of the first publications to have a formal test facility, which they called PC Labs. The name was used early in the magazine, and a physical PC Labs was built at the magazine's 1 Park Avenue, New York facility in 1986. William Wong was the first PC Labs Director. PC Labs created a series of benchmarks, of which older versions can be found on
5880-411: The magazine replied to the reader's proposal with "Please say you're kidding about the bi-weekly schedule. Please?", after the December 1983 issue reached 800 pages in size, in 1984 PC began publishing new issues every two weeks, with each about 400 pages in size. In January 2008 the magazine dropped back to monthly issues. Print circulation peaked at 1.2 million in the late 1990s. In November 2008 it
5978-401: The manual, by early 1980, MicroPro claimed in advertisements that 5,000 people had purchased WordStar in eight months. WordStar was the first microcomputer word processor to offer mail merge and textual WYSIWYG . Besides word-wrapping (still a notable feature for early microcomputer programs), this last was most noticeably implemented as on-screen pagination during the editing session. Using
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#17328520757346076-421: The market in the early and mid-1980s, succeeding the market leader Electric Pencil . WordStar was written with as few assumptions as possible about the operating system and machine hardware, allowing it to be easily ported across the many platforms that proliferated in the early 1980s. Because all of these versions had relatively similar commands and controls, users could move between platforms with equal ease. It
6174-605: The mid-1970s, the term would have been familiar to any office manager who consulted business periodicals. By the late 1960s, IBM had developed the IBM MT/ST (Magnetic Tape/Selectric Typewriter). It was a model of the IBM Selectric typewriter from earlier in 1961, but it came built into its own desk, integrated with magnetic tape recording and playback facilities along with controls and a bank of electrical relays. The MT/ST automated word wrap, but it had no screen. This device allowed
6272-494: The more difficult-to-use word processors on the market; and possession of the most powerful word processor available. By late 1984, the company admitted, according to the magazine, that WordStar's reputation for power was fading, and by early 1985, its sales had decreased for four quarters while those of Multimate and Samna increased. Several MicroPro employees meanwhile formed rival company NewStar. In September 1983, it published WordStar clone NewWord, which offered several features
6370-879: The most popular systems of the 1970s and early 1980s. The Wang system displayed text on a CRT screen, and incorporated virtually every fundamental characteristic of word processors as they are known today. While early computerized word processor system were often expensive and hard to use (that is, like the computer mainframes of the 1960s), the Wang system was a true office machine, affordable to organizations such as medium-sized law firms, and easily mastered and operated by secretarial staff. The phrase "word processor" rapidly came to refer to CRT-based machines similar to Wang's. Numerous machines of this kind emerged, typically marketed by traditional office-equipment companies such as IBM, Lanier (AES Data machines - re-badged), CPT, and NBI. All were specialized, dedicated, proprietary systems, with prices in
6468-525: The new IBM PC , Byte reported that PC: The Independent Guide to the IBM Personal Computer "should be of great interest to owners". The first issue of PC , dated February–March 1982, appeared early that year. (The word Magazine was added to the name with the third issue in June 1982, but not added to the logo until January 1986.) PC Magazine was created by David Bunnell , Jim Edlin, and Cheryl Woodard (who also helped Bunnell found
6566-443: The number of lines-per-page given by the user during program installation, WordStar would display a full line of dash characters onscreen showing where page breaks would occur during hardcopy printout. Many users found this very reassuring during editing, knowing beforehand where pages would end and begin, and where text would thus be interrupted across pages. Barnaby left the company in March 1980, but due to WordStar's sophistication,
6664-540: The original WordStar interface, and did not consider the changes to be improvements. Although WordStar 2000 was meant as the successor to WordStar, it never gained substantial market share. The original WordStar interface left a large legacy, and many of its control-key command are still available (optionally or as the default) in other programs, such as the modern cross-platform word processing software TextMaker and many text editors running under MS-DOS, Linux , and other UNIX variants. Some Borland products, including
6762-541: The original lacked, such as a built-in spell checker and support for laser printers . Advertisements stated that "Anyone with WordStar experience won't even have to read NewWord's manuals. WordStar text files work with NewWord". Despite competition from NewStar, Microsoft Word, WordPerfect , and dozens of other companies, which typically released new versions of their software every 12 to 18 months, MicroPro did not release new versions of WordStar beyond 3.3 during 1984 and 1985, in part because Rubinstein relinquished control of
6860-459: The popular Turbo Pascal compiler, and Borland Sidekick , used a subset of WordStar keyboard commands, the former in its IDE and the latter in the "Notepad" editors. The TEXT editor built into the firmware of the TRS-80 Model 100 portable computer supported a subset of the WordStar cursor movement commands (in addition to its own). Home word processing software like Write&Set not only use
6958-606: The popularity of smartphones . Google Docs enabled word processing from within any vendor's web browser, which could run on any vendor's operating system on any physical device type including tablets and smartphones, although offline editing is limited to a few Chromium based web browsers. Google Docs also enabled the significant growth of use of information technology such as remote access to files and collaborative real-time editing , both becoming simple to do with little or no need for costly software and specialist IT support. PC Magazine PC Magazine (shortened as PCMag )
7056-405: The position of editor-in-chief from July 2007 to July 2011. Jim Louderback was editor-in-chief before Ulanoff, from 2005, and left to become chief executive officer of online media company Revision3 . The magazine evolved significantly over the years. The most drastic change was the shrinkage of the publication due to contractions in the computer-industry ad market and the easy availability of
7154-479: The previous version. Word (four versions from 1983 to 1987) and WordPerfect (five versions), however, had become the market leaders. More conflict between MicroPro's two factions delayed WordStar 5.0 until late 1988, again hurting the program's sales. After renaming itself after its flagship product in 1989, WordStar International merged with SoftKey in 1993. Like many other producers of successful DOS applications, WordStar International delayed before deciding to make
7252-490: The printout though the document would continue on the printout without any error reported. WordStar 2000 added few new commands, but completely rewrote the user interface, using simple English-language mnemonics (so the command to remove a word, which had been ^T in WordStar, became ^RW in WordStar 2000; the command to remove the text from the rest of the line to the right of the cursor changed from ^QY to ^RR). However, many in WordStar's large installed user based were happy with
7350-412: The public. By the late 1970s, computerized word processors were still primarily used by employees composing documents for large and midsized businesses (e.g., law firms and newspapers). Within a few years, the falling prices of PCs made word processing available for the first time to all writers in the convenience of their homes. The first word processing program for personal computers ( microcomputers )
7448-439: The same key sequences as Wang word processors, which made it popular with secretaries switching from those to PCs. BYTE stated that WordStar 2000 had "all the charm of an elephant on motorized skates", warning in 1986 that an IBM PC AT with hard drive was highly advisable to run the software, which it described as "clumsy, overdesigned, and uninviting ... I can't come up with a reason why I'd want to use it". WordStar 2000 had
7546-491: The second half of the 1980s. The phrase "word processor" has been abbreviated as "Wa-pro" or "wapuro" in Japanese. The final step in word processing came with the advent of the personal computer in the late 1970s and 1980s and with the subsequent creation of word processing software. Word processing software that would create much more complex and capable output was developed and prices began to fall, making them more accessible to
7644-452: The subsequent PC World and Macworld magazines). David Bunnell, Edward Currie and Tony Gold were the magazines co-founders. Bunnell and Currie created the magazine's business plan at Lifeboat Associates in New York which included, in addition to PC Magazine, explicit plans for publication of PC Tech, PC Week and PC Expositions (PC Expo) all of which were subsequently realized. Tony Gold,
7742-457: The time, (about $ 60,000 adjusted for inflation). The Redactron Corporation (organized by Evelyn Berezin in 1969) designed and manufactured editing systems, including correcting/editing typewriters, cassette and card units, and eventually a word processor called the Data Secretary. The Burroughs Corporation acquired Redactron in 1976. A CRT-based system by Wang Laboratories became one of
7840-436: The value. If any invalid formatting commands are encountered, when printing WordStar (version 3.3 at least) will ignore the line (all text until the next carriage return terminating the line). This could confuse novice users who unintentionally began a line with a decimal point (same as period or dot character) and WordStar would not print the line. For instance, a line reading: ".05 percent text text text..." would not appear in
7938-457: Was Electric Pencil , from Michael Shrayer Software , which went on sale in December 1976. In 1978, WordStar appeared and because of its many new features soon dominated the market. WordStar was written for the early CP/M (Control Program–Micro) operating system, ported to CP/M-86 , then to MS-DOS , and was the most popular word processing program until 1985 when WordPerfect sales first exceeded WordStar sales. Early word processing software
8036-451: Was already popular when its inclusion with the Osborne 1 portable computer made the program the de facto standard for much of the small computer word-processing market. As the market became dominated by the IBM PC and later Microsoft Windows , this same portable design made it difficult for the program to add new features, and affected its performance. In spite of its great popularity in
8134-472: Was among the first journalists and writers to take an interest in personal computing. By its third issue PC was square-bound because it was too thick for saddle-stitch . At first the magazine published new issues every two months, but became monthly as of the August 1982 issue, its fourth. In March 1983 a reader urged the magazine to consider switching to a biweekly schedule because of its thickness. Although
8232-441: Was an add-on program (becoming integrated from WordStar 4 onwards) which facilitated the merge printing of bulk mailings, such as business letters to clients. Two files were required: The writer would insert placeholders delimited by ampersands into the master document, e.g., &TITLE&, &INITIAL&, &SURNAME&, &ADDRESS1&. In each copy of the letter the placeholders would be replaced with strings read from
8330-457: Was announced that the print edition would be discontinued as of the January 2009 issue, but the online version at pcmag.com would continue. By this time print circulation had declined to about 600,000. In the December 2022 issue, it was announced that the issue was the last one following the magazine format, and focus was shifted to the pcmag.com website. The magazine had no ISSN until 1983, when it
8428-442: Was assigned ISSN 0745-2500 , which was later changed to ISSN 0888-8507 . PC Magazine uses Google Books as the official archive of its 27 years as a print publication. Wendy Sheehan Donnell was appointed editor-in-chief of PCMag.com in January 2022. Donnell had been deputy editor under the previous editor-in-chief, Dan Costa . Costa was editor-in-chief from August 2011 to December 2021. Lance Ulanoff held
8526-403: Was comparatively unintuitive and illogical. Rice noted "WordStar was magnificent. I loved it. It was logical, beautiful, perfect," adding, "Compared to it, MS Word which I use today is pure madness." This is a list of the various WordStar versions released over the years for different machines. Prior to WordStar, word processors split text entry and formatting into separate functions; the latter
8624-407: Was followed by a number. The number was assumed to be points (pt) but could be easily modified to inches or mm by the addition of " or mm after the number. .lm and .rm were never equal as both values were from the left hand edge of the page. Setting .rm to 0 made text lines infinitely long. Margins could also be set either absolutely or relatively (by preceding the value with either - or +) when setting
8722-445: Was founded in 1970 by James Lincoln and Robert Oleksiak. Linolex based its technology on microprocessors, floppy drives and software. It was a computer-based system for application in the word processing businesses and it sold systems through its own sales force. With a base of installed systems in over 500 sites, Linolex Systems sold 3 million units in 1975 — a year before the Apple computer
8820-431: Was made with MicroPro to develop a version of WordStar that supported both English and Hebrew input. The concept was revolutionary, as Hebrew is written right-to-left and all word processors of the time assumed left-to-right. WordStar, as developed by Elbit, was the first word processor that offered bidirectional input and mixed alphabets. Word processor Early word processors were stand-alone devices dedicated to
8918-588: Was not as intuitive as word processor devices. Most early word processing software required users to memorize semi-mnemonic key combinations rather than pressing keys such as "copy" or "bold". Moreover, CP/M lacked cursor keys; for example WordStar used the E-S-D-X-centered "diamond" for cursor navigation. A notable exception was the software Lexitype for MS-DOS that took inspiration from the Lexitron dedicated word processor's user interface and which mapped individual functions to particular keyboard function keys , and
9016-458: Was often not done until a document was about to be printed. WordStar was one of the first " what you see is what you get " word processors, showing accurate line breaks and page breaks on the computer screen. It was a major breakthrough to be able to see and modify where line breaks and page breaks would fall—even though, being a text-based program, WordStar couldn't accurately display different typefaces such as bold and italic until version 5.0. In
9114-406: Was probably unique to WordStar. As a basic text editor, the interface showed all characters to be the same width - hence 80 characters across an 80 column screen resolution. By switching on column mode editing a rectangle of text spanning several characters and several lines could be selected and manipulated. This was very handy for manipulating columns of numbers and non-standard files. Once selected,
9212-411: Was rare among word processing programs in that it permitted the user to mark (highlight) a block of text (with ^KB and ^KK commands) and leave it marked in place, and then go to a different position in the document and later (even after considerable work on other things) copy the block (with ^KC) or move it to a new location (with ^KV). Many users found it much easier to manipulate blocks this way than with
9310-486: Was released. At that time, the Lexitron Corporation also produced a series of dedicated word-processing microcomputers. Lexitron was the first to use a full-sized video display screen (CRT) in its models by 1978. Lexitron also used 5 1 ⁄ 4 inch floppy diskettes, which became the standard in the personal computer field. The program disk was inserted in one drive, and the system booted up . The data diskette
9408-439: Was the leading word processing system. Although competition appeared early (the first version of WordPerfect debuted in 1982 and Microsoft Word in 1983), WordStar was the dominant word processor on x86 machines until 1985. It was part of the software bundle that accompanied Kaypro computers. At that time, the evolution from CP/M to MS-DOS, with an "Alt" key, had taken place. WordStar had until then never successfully exploited
9506-414: Was then put in the second drive. The operating system and the word processing program were combined in one file. Another of the early word processing adopters was Vydec, which created in 1973 the first modern text processor, the "Vydec Word Processing System". It had built-in multiple functions like the ability to share content by diskette and print it. The Vydec Word Processing System sold for $ 12,000 at
9604-407: Was written by future Goldstein & Blair founder and Whole Earth Software Catalog contributor Arthur Naiman, who hated the program and had a term inserted into his publishing contract that he not be required to use WordStar to write the book, using WRITE instead. WordStar 3.0 , the first version for MS-DOS , appeared in April 1982. The DOS version was very similar to the original, and although
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