Word processor program: Difference between revisions

Revision as of 12:56, 21 July 2025

Latest revision as of 09:04, 2 August 2025

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== History ==

The first known electronic [[word processor]] program was [[Electric Pencil]], released in 1976, as a tool for programmers to write documentation and manuals for their code. Electric pencil featured basic formatting and navigation, and supported external devices such as cassette recorders and printers. Electric Pencil II was released shortly after, targeting the [[CP/M]] operating system. Several other word processing programs were released shortly after, including [[EasyWriter]] and [[WordStar]].<ref name="origins-2006">{{cite journal |last1=Bergin |first1=Thomas J. |title=The Origins of Word Processing Software for Personal Computers: 1976-1985 |journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |date=October 2006 |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=32–47 |doi=10.1109/MAHC.2006.76 |s2cid=18895790 |urlbibcode=https://ieeexplore2006IAHC.ieee.org/document/4042484.28d..32T |access-dates2cid=29 June 202218895790 |issn=1934-1547|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

[[File:WordStar.png|thumb|A screenshot of WordStar 3.0 in use]]

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[[WordStar]] was created in four months by Seymour Rubinstein after founding [[MicroPro International]] in 1978. WordStar is commonly attributed as the first [[WYSIWYG]] (what you see is what you get) editor, as the WordStar editor replicated the printed output.

Inspired by the success of WordStar by 1982 many competitors began to release their offerings,<ref name="iw19820412">{{Cite magazine |lastlast1=Freiberger |firstfirst1=Paul |last2=Dvorak |first2=John C. |date=1982-04-12 |title=West Coast Computer Faire draws 40,000 people |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YjAEAAAAMBAJ&lpg=PA3&pg=PA1#v=onepage&q&f=true |access-date=2025-03-16 |magazine=InfoWorld |pages=1, 6-76–7}}</ref> including [[WordPerfect]] in 1979, [[MultiMate]] in 1982, and [[Microsoft Word]] in 1983.<ref name="origins-2006" /><ref name="proliferation-2006">{{cite journal |last1=Bergin |first1=Thomas J. |title=The Proliferation and Consolidation of Word Processing Software: 1985-1995 |journal=IEEE Annals of the History of Computing |date=October 2006 |volume=28 |issue=4 |pages=48–63 |doi=10.1109/MAHC.2006.77 |s2cidbibcode=20785663 |url=https://ieeexplore2006IAHC.ieee.org/document/4042485.28d..48T |access-dates2cid=29 June 202220785663 |issn=1934-1547|url-access=subscription }}</ref>

== List of word processor programs ==