Remember WORDPERFECT? - Where Are They Now

[@Platypi007]

My parents used an old version of Word Perfect until about 8 years ago. They kept complaining about not being able to open files from other people and other people not being able to read their files, or if they could open them the formatting was wrong. Finally convinced them to switch to Libra Office and once they got past things not being exactly like Word Perfect they have been happy.

[@garydesesa6996]

I was one of the first users of WordPerfect and had to go to battle with NYU to be the first to write a Ph.D. dissertation on a word processor. I also had to go to battle with the IRS who would only allow a tax deduction for a professional typist. I won that one! Word Perfect had everything I needed - WYSIWYG formatting, automatic footnotes (essential for a dissertation), page numbering, etc. I used a Victor 9000 computer, a magnificent machine for its time with easy-on-the-eyes monochrome textured screen and an amazing keyboard. That being said, any discussion of older word processing programs should including the greatest, and still greatest word processing programs of all time - AmiPro. Simply the most intuitive, productive, time-saving word processor of them all!

[@klyanadkmorr]

I used a coal shovel and chalk so NYEAH!😂

[@saurondp]

Used AmiPro extensively when I was in the military. It was quite nice and just as easy to use as MS Word.

[@salemengineer2130]

I used both WordPerfect and MS Word back in the day. I thought WordPerfect was better. In my opinion, Microsoft succeeded edging out WP through better marketing rather than a better product.

[@MindBodySoulOk]

Wordperfect didn't get wysiwyg fast enough and Word took it from them.

[@lepompier132]

Office Word is pure junk and useless. In the last two years I've been trying to standardize formed templates for a non profit oranization for their meeting minutes and lot of other documents. I've tried to do them in Word and with Libre Office Write and when you creat the template the first time and save it, the document looks fine. BUTif you modify the document and save it under the final name. The formated header are destroyed and you have to rewrite from scratch, save it and convert it to PDF if you want to freeze the format. If you need to make a correction you have to start over. With WordPerfect I create a format for a document and the format will stay the same no matter how many times you edit the document, And with WordPerfect adding a watermark is easy, but with Office Word or Libre Office writer, it's complicated.

[@jesseleeward2359]

Wordperfect was better. I switched to MS Office because of compatibility. I always preferred Wordperfect and I am considering returning to it.

[@noelrichard1210]

WP is still available at Corel.

[@balesjo]

While WP was hands down the better word processor of the two, WP was not able to offer compelling products in an office suite (database, spreadsheet, presentation software, etc. - WP went into a co-licensing agreement with Borland to use their products in their suite) while MS offered a more cohesive, integrated product in Office. It didn't help that WP also passed through multiple hands, being acquired by Novell in 1994, who then sold it to Corel in 1996.

[@DeG969]

You missed to talk about Sun`s Star Office and his genesis through the years as well as his sucessors Open and Libre Office. It`s a part of computer history for sure and it`s a pity not to mention it!

[@fredschmitt456]

StarOffice is mentioned above because it existel long before Sun purchased the company...

[@acmenipponair]

He mentioned Star Office in an odd way: Google uses the core of it, the OpenOffice core (which is based upon Star Office) for it's applications ;)

[@noelrichard1210]

All the earlier word processors are part of history.

[@acmenipponair]

@lbialk My first "Star Office App" was Star Writer 1.0 on the CPC 6128. It was the first good text programme for that computer, that didn't required CP/M.

[@fullmetaljacket7]

My friend had an old 286 back in the day that his dad used for Lotus123 (DOS) . The screen had an insane amount of burn-in. You could see the spreadsheet thing with the computer turned off.

[@PeterJohnston42]

Got one for you. I got into Desktop Publishing, as it was then called, in 1989. I turned down Photoshop and Pagemaker as they required me to buy a Postscript printer (then costing over GBP5,000) and chose a program called 3B2. Obviously in those days we only took output as far as files to send to a Linotype bureau, who then integrated it with pictures etc. before making plates, but 3B2 saved me fortunes on proofing.

[@dingus153]

I remember how happy my mum was when her federal government department switched from Lotus Notes to MS Office, I can't even imagine how much time it saved her

[@adrianwilliams763]

Actually, Wordstar was part of a ‘suite’. You could get Calcstar (spreadsheet) and Datastar (database). Remember using those programs on CP/M.

[@robodabbler]

Long ago in a galaxy far away I wrote a feature clone of that suite called 'Nerdstar' for my business clients. It's long ago lost in the mists of history.

[@PWingert1966]

One of the reasons wordstar could not transition to a graphical interface was it was written in obfuscated assembly language. Trying to rewrite nearly bankrupt Wordstar Inc.

[@MrTibbs90]

I took a Wordstar class in the mid 80's. We used Kaypro CPM computers to run it.

[@adrianwilliams763]

MrTibbs90 - yes I used an Kaypro computer for a number of years. Found it a great machine

[@proehm]

I still have a copy of Paradox and Peachtext for CP/M.

[@Erin-Thor]

I remember WordPerfect well, the shortcuts were all easy to remember and simple to use. It was also an exceptional word processor program in many ways.

[@lepompier132]

Still is the best. Try do a template for business card from scratch in Word, it's hell. But in WordPerfect the feature is built in or making one from scratch is easy. I can build a template for a letter head with logo without using table. With Office Word you need tables and cells to build a letter head with a Logo. Try adding a watermark in Word. With WordPerfect it's a breeze.

[@jesseleeward2359]

I am gonna start using it again.

[@todesziege]

A lot of the keyboards back then had those slots for a paper slip with keyboard commands, making those F-key commands far less obscure.

[@noelrichard1210]

@@jesseleeward2359 Hands down Wordperfect is better. It's my daily driver. I tried to use Word to do my stuff and I always end up moving my work to Word Perfect to do the work. To do the same with Microsoft suite, I had to use two, when I could do all with one (Word perfect) My first encounter was with version WP 4.2 (dos) and purchased version 5.1 for dos and used it ever since, with the exception of trying MS Word. Now these days I use Word Perfect X9 office suite.

[@wickham53]

One of the primary benefits of Wordperfect over Wordstar which I had been using, was that it was the first program to understand proportionally spaced fonts. WordStar limited you to monospaced fonts like courier, so your finished product always looked as though it had been typed on a typewriter.

[@klyanadkmorr]

I use free software like Libra Office or OpenOffice suites

[@Martian74]

Yeah, why didn’t he even mention these choices? I use Libra and Open office suites and they are more than acceptable. The only thing I prefer Microsoft Office for is the suggested formats in PowerPoint, they work really well. I used open office for years till Libra became the better choice and it is definitely worth the small cost of time to learn how to use it. Better than pirating paid programs.

[@charlieross1527]

I recently tired to use libra office during a meeting, and it was not very stable. Back to MS Office I go...

[@ghshinn]

@@charlieross1527 Strange. I've been using Open Office and then Libre Office since they were first introduced. I've never had any stability problems, and that's over several platforms. Currently I'm using it on both my laptop and desktop machines, and transfer files regularly with no problems.

[@charlieross1527]

@@ghshinn I can't explain it. I was using it on my surface pro, maybe the ms product attacked it, lol

[@geoffmooregm]

If I didn't get MS Office supplied to me for free I would do the same. My old Linux laptop used Libre and GIMP. They worked very well for me.

[@TheRealMisterProtocol]

I wrote a monthly trade-press column called "Ask Mr. Protocol" for twelve years, using software called Ami Pro, which I loved.

[@TonyElliott]

My wife, a teacher, and I used Ami Pro for a couple of years.

[@MatthewMakesAU]

I loved Ami Pro. There's a fan page on Facebook

[@rickwightman2366]

LeScript was a word processor for TRS-90 in the mid 80s - wrote my undergraduate thesis on it. Lovely program for a 48K memory machine!

[@PanduPoluan]

I remember using WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS. It was AWESOME. The "Reveal Codes" feature is helpful for troubleshooting formatting, but even more than that: IT HAD A FULL-FLEDGED EQUATION EDITOR. And super-easy embedding of graphics, to boot! WP51 practically made me & my brother's essays, papers, dissertations etc to be heads & shoulders better than our peers'. PERFECT equations, every time. PERFECT graphic embedding with text flowing around them. The only product that came remotely close to WP51's equation editor at that time was ChiWriter, but that one actually only allows you to type the graphical characters to build the equation... which you then have to align & space manually, often leading to things such as "broken/misaligned integral sign". WP51 constructed its equation using a TeX-like language, and it compiles the TeX-like language into a graphic image behind the scenes, to be blasted as graphic data to the printer. Perfect! I still miss WP.

[@qazmko22]

I still use WordPerfect.. "reveal codes" saves some much time.. it's like "reveal layers" in something like Photoshop. You can really see what is going on in the text document.

[@llicit1833]

Reveal Codes was a real time saver

[@organfairy]

%%#&&¤¤Are%"&&#%%¤"¤you%%#¤¤"&&#talking(¤&&#%%"%¤#about%%¤#&&#%%"the %#%&¤&&annoying))¤&/&&%¤%&#/(setting//¤&&"#%"&that¤/#¤%&"//¤/¤made/¤#%%¤"&your%#¤¤"¤¤#%%%text&#&"%%#¤&&/look%&¤%%&#&&#like&#%%"&#this? I never understood why anybody would use such a feature! I prefer the text to look as it does when it comes out of the printer or pdf writer.

[@frequentlycynical642]

@@organfairy Reveal codes has nothing to do with WYSIWYG.

[@TonyP9279]

@@organfairy Because there are a lot of hidden control characters like Line Feed, hard line breaks, soft line breaks, and of course the Tab vs. Space vs. Indent, that you could "Reveal" which was useful if your document was not formatting correctly. I used that feature a lot.

[@WeedMIC]

Xhtml is even better/more powerful.

[@MoldyStir-Fry]

I remember getting almost done with a 1,000 word essay in middle school and Word Perfect crashed and deleted the whole thing even though I'd been saving every 5 minutes. I've never been so mad at software in my life.

[@yogiyoda]

Old fart here. I actually like this series. brings back lots of glorious nerd memories

[@CanuckGod]

Same, I actually remember using WordPerfect for DOS in class in junior high school XD

[@ptcrusa]

I applied for a job at a law firm 2 years ago where they required WordPerfect proficiency. Might as well require Lotus 123 proficiency while you're at it

[@ThatOnionispog]

Joker so you shut up?

[@ThatOnionispog]

Joker well look who the real joke is

[@funkmon]

Same but medium age fart

[@danarose2677]

I took class for Word Perfect in high school. The teacher said I would need to know how to use it for the next 30 years.

[@davidingram2916]

In the mid 80’s I had a teacher who created a class to teach Wordstar, Lotus 123, and D-base. The collage hated the idea. They would not give it full credit and scheduled it at an unpopular time. This was an office suite before people knew about them. I am so glad I took that course.

[@rae0521]

Those three were my favourites at one time. Lotus 1-2-3 was a terrific program - a lot easier to use and not bloated as Excel has become. I used Wordstar until I became a WordPerfect fan (and teacher). D-base was and is still a powerful programming tool for those with the skill and patience to learn how to apply it. Another program I miss ... askSam... a fabulous searchable database that, for some reason, just went out of business.

[@jody.lumbantoruan]

Greetings and welcome to -LGR's oddware- techquickie's "where are they now" where we taking at -hardware and- software that is odd, forgotten and obsolete

[@Ben-uu7hz]

This is more like LGRs Tech Tales that oddware

[@smartypants4571]

Why did you use a typewriter from the 80's ?

[@BilisNegra]

@@Ben-uu7hz Nearly there but not quite. There's a notorious lack of stories of tech companies going bankrupt.

[@OnlyEpicEmber]

@Galaxy TS2 No, this is not proper English.

[@OnlyEpicEmber]

@Galaxy TS2 Alright, I just assumed you might be foreign.

[@Quake210]

I remember "WordStar". It took my Dad forever to get my Mom to use it instead of writing her reports by hand.

[@Davehaha2001]

Remember when all gray keyboards had a laminated cheat sheets above the Function keys for “word perfect”

[@Ngaemond]

I used Wordperfect 5.1 for DOS throughout graduate school including to write my dissertation. (The tricky part was how to type Hebrew and Greek. I used ScriptureFonts.) Yes it took time to get used to all the keyboard shortcuts but in many ways I prefer that approach. I especially appreciate how Wordperfect lets one look at the formatting codes and to manipulate/change them with macros.

[@mauritsjanssen7176]

You forgot LaTeX, which is still used in for example physics because it is much easier to make formulas in LaTeX than in any other program.

[@christopherpedersen1820]

Pretty sure this was limited to WYSIWYG even though he didn't explicitly say so.

[@grundeir]

@@christopherpedersen1820 That can't be the reason, there are WYSIWYG editors for LaTeX.

[@christopherpedersen1820]

@@grundeir I mean they do exist, but they aren't popular afaik and also defeat the whole point of LaTeX IMO. One of the points of LaTeX is to separate composition and formatting.

[@chaddaifouche536]

LaTeX is still used in many scientific fields, not just in Physics and not only because of the formula : it just still produce better looking results than the Office suits (even MS Words). Of course it could be said that LaTeX "won" in the formula field anyway, try typing "2 \times 3" in the formula editor in Word sometimes (they improved the formatting engine tremendously in recent versions by the way, though they're still less flexible than LaTeX). I still use LaTeX as a math teacher, it's just easier to produce good looking documents with it (and the support for formula and diagrams is great !).

[@jeremyerwin2779]

@@christopherpedersen1820 There's nothing quite like trying to format matrices in LaTeX...

[@penboyasgod6103]

Here's an oldie but a goodie: TI Writer for the TI-99/4a --- it was a 2-pass word processor: Create/Edit on 1st pass, then print on 2nd pass. Even though it seems a simple one, it was actually very capable. Like all of them, you have to get used to something when there's no other choice for your computer.

[@SingleHacksRoadto1M]

LaTeX Gang rise up! 🤘

[@pecewu]

Overleaf gang!

[@leonmaier972]

Still useing it

[@roeiboot4]

This is an absolute must for any academic

[@АлексейГриднев-и7р]

You can do really professionally-looking things with it, MS Word or Libreoffice document won't get even close to the quality of LaTeX output. But the fact that it's not WYSIWYG scares off a lot of people.

[@obedulloa6219]

@@АлексейГриднев-и7р WYSIWYG is for weak peasants [compiles pdf every 5 seconds]

[@MustangblueNYC]

Wordperfect was sold to NOVELL then sold again to Corel

[@PeterParker-tb7ce]

Yeah, Novell even sued M$ for anti-competitive acts over this. This was the time that N$ was using it's monopoly in full force. I remember this is when I switch to M$ office since WP wouldn't run on WIN95.

[@MustangblueNYC]

WP for Dos or WP for Windows didn't run on Win95? I don't remember that, but really curious to know more

[@PeterParker-tb7ce]

@@MustangblueNYC I maybe remembering wrong it maybe Win98 or NT. It's over 20 years ago. It might have been when Novell sold to Corel. I just remember that around that time of one of the WP sales. A new version of Windows came out and WP had trouble working on it. WP finally came out with working version for the new Windows, months later. At the time I just thought it was delayed because of the Sale of WP. Which maybe part of it. But this was also the time M$ was basic forcing OEM to bundle M$ Office with M$ windows.

[@instagraham8]

It was Borland office first

[@MustangblueNYC]

@@instagraham8 That's true but the difference was, Wordperfect was part of the Borland suite as a partnership. Novell bought it later

[@SoulPoetryandOtherWorks]

I remember Scripsit on the TRS80, Tasword on the Sinclair ZX Spectrum, QL Quill on the Sinclair QL, Kindwords 2 on the Amiga, Wordworth versions 1.1 to 6 on the Amiga, Proper Grammar II on the Amiga, Maxiplan on the Amiga. On the PC I used Wordworth 6, Microsoft Word, Word Perfect, Star Office, Open Office and LibreOffice. I still use LibreOffice as my main suite.

[@Stikkzz]

"I am trained in gorilla warfare"

[@Google_Does_Evil_Now]

UFC needs to make this happen.

[@thelegendaryklobb2879]

WTF was that text XD I always picture a squad of cyber-enhanced gorillas armed with machine guns going full apeshit and pounding their chests

[@cashnelson2306]

y'all's pasta game is weak, gorilla warfare is a classic

[@tectorama]

Like many others I remember Wordperfect, as well as dot matrix printers. Those were the days. I then eventually went to MS Office, and now Libre Office

[@Solitaire001]

Another program to mention is LetterPerfect. It was released by the same company that released WordPerfect and was basically a lower-cost, stripped down version of WordPerfect that eliminated some of features of WordPerfect and was also about 1/5th of the price. Its documents were compatible with WordPerfect and used the same function key commands. I used it at home and found it a fine word processor for home use (the removed features were ones I didn't need to use at home).

[@stevebruns1833]

The best thing about Word perfect was the ability to see ALL the hidden formatting codes, a stumbling block of early iterations of Word.

[@Solitaire001]

Another feature I liked about Wordperfect was Initial Codes. When you first started WordPerfect the document was set up with default settings. However, you could go into Initial Codes and insert codes (such as fonts, paragraph spacing and pages settings) that would be applied to all new documents. It made setting up your defaults very easy.

[@happygimp0]

@@Solitaire001 In LibreOffice you can configure a default template that is used for new documents.

[@happygimp0]

LaTeX is best for seeing and changing all the formatting codes.

[@Solitaire001]

@@happygimp0 I will have to give it a try in OpenOffice.org (which is what I'm using). I've tried it before and haven't been able to get it to work. My workaround has been to take a blank document, format it the way I want as a starting point, and then use that to start new documents.

[@Solitaire001]

@@happygimp0 WordStar was good about this too, with the formatting codes and dot commands visible.

[@IrishCarney]

Unmentioned is WordPerfect's killer feature, which has probably kept it alive to this day: Reveal Codes. This shows the hidden tags such as for bolding, underlining etc that can cause frustrating and unavoidable style and placement changes when you backspace or delete. Because when you un-bold something, or remove the bullet-point status of something, etc., that bold or bullet point tag doesn't vanish. It remains in place, together with another tag saying to undo it. So when you backspace or delete, you end up deleting that "unbold" tag and suddenly the text is frustratingly re-bolded. "Reveal Codes" lets you see and remove these tags. It's NOT the same thing as hidden formatting symbols in Word such as the paragraph symbol and such - that command does not show everything that Reveal Codes does. Probably someone else mentioned this below but no way am I going to scroll down over and over to look for it among over 2,300 comments (you'd think Google-owned KZbin would let you easily search KZbin comments).

[@lovebaking2503]

yah.. I missed the reveal codes which my colleague taught me how to use it..

[@antelopeslr5000]

Does anyone else remember Textcraft Plus for the Amiga? This was my go to word processor in the mid to late 80's for school assignments paired with the Star LC-10 Color Dot Matrix printer. Man, that was a noisy printer but it never missed a beat!

[@FuncleChuck]

Lotus Notes is still in use for some critical functions at my “innovative” company.

[@maamold]

Yep - I used Lotus Notes when I worked at IBM

[@dallen521]

Lotus Notes/ Domino is still around - just not by IBM.

[@jeffffff]

Yeah... my company just switched away from it. I know Goodyear is still using it for some stuff.

[@JeffDeWitt]

My company was using it right until the time we closed down (not our fault!). It was really amazing how well it worked considering how old it is. I created a LOT of work instructions using it and the only time there was really any problem was when I put in too many pictures.

[@Ahblair4]

jeff Sirius/XM uses Lotus Notes still, specifically the Howard Stern Show

[@WeedMIC]

"Windows ain't done until Lotus won't run!" M$

[@outsideredge]

Works was what we used in grade school and WordPerfect is what came with my first PC. I used those probably up until 99/2000 when the Office products were really drilled into me in college.

[@BlazerRox]

In college I used "GeoWrite" which was part of the "GeOS" productivity suite on the C64 :)

[@moidock5962]

Ditto.

[@antknee68]

Me too. I used to write articles for a Commodore users group on GEOS.

[@kent.smallville1260]

They also released GeOS for the Apple II but Appleworks (the original, not the Macintosh version) was just too entrenched. Mainly because it was TUI (Text User Interface) using a File Folder Hierarchical Menu Sytem which required less RAM meant it could run on more Apple II's whereas GeOS required a minimum of 128k of RAM. LOL, that's right kids, Office Suites that ran Schools & Small Businesses used to run in less than 1/4 of a megabyte.

[@fturla___156]

I purchased the GeOS software sometime in the early 1990s for installation on a Windows computer. It was okay but there wasn't any upgrade, maintenance, or features options available, so it only last a couple of years before being replaced by Windows and the front end batch software program called DirectAccess. GeOS was just an okay program because it wasn't feature laden, so I kept wondering if there was something missing.

[@t.gadway6729]

@@kent.smallville1260 I think GeOS was written entirely in assembly, which kind of helped.

[@CurtGodwin]

Ami Pro - I loved that one "back in the day".

[@cruikshank]

Curt Godwin forgot about that one. I used it. Didn’t it become part of Lotus SmartSuite?

[@CurtGodwin]

​@@cruikshank Yes, I believe you're right.

[@Okieman46]

@@CurtGodwin Our first server at work had the full Lotus Smart Suite o as our first office type program, loved every bit of it.

[@ThorKCade]

I used to do everything with Ami Pro...

[@fturla___156]

Yes, I got Ami Pro when I purchased Lotus Smartsuite Version 4. The program group was popular but it never lasted beyond its initial 5 year lifespan because the developers placed an error bug into the program suite in order to disable the program for users unless you called customer support to tell you what file you needed to delete to be able to access all the Smartsuite. This is why no one seems to have a workable version 4 program, because no one remembers what little file you are suppose to delete to make the software workable and accessible. Also when you called, the developers gave you the database program called Approach as a free relational database program. I used the program called Alpha Five Database instead though since it was more adaptable at the time.

[@videobiker9131]

Many years ago I was called upon to use Lotus 1-2-3 to make a series of database files that were later to be ported into another filing system. I ended up using the programming language that came with Lotus 123 for a couple of things at another job. The coolest thing that I used Lotus 123 was as a word processor. Since they didn’t give me a word processor to begin with I improvised and used a spreadsheet for a word processing document for the documentation.

[@majormojo]

"WordPerfect" used to be a common answer to "What kind of computer do you have?"

[@babyk2001]

That because WordPerfect was on various platforms, DOS, Windows, Vax, NeXt, NT, Mac, Unix, Atari, and Amiga, so when supporting the software the technicians needed to know which platform the user was on in order to assist them...

[@noelrichard1210]

@@babyk2001 Even Linux at one point and free for a short time.

[@babyk2001]

@@noelrichard1210 yes I missed that one off the list, I used to support it years back

[@kelhapam]

Loved WordPerfect. Best thing was being able to see all the coding. I learned word processing on a Wang computer then on a Lanier

[@ronjenkins4257]

"Reveal Codes" was the bomb. Excellent for troubleshooting.

[@captainkeyboard1007]

I learned word processing on the IBM Displaywriter. I loved it better than doing data entry on a terminal with a keypunch-like keyboard. The IBM PS2 had Word Perfect which had a menu identical to that in TextPak, a program used in the IBM Displaywriter. Today, I have been using Microsoft Word since 1993. I did use WordPerfect in 1996 to 1997. It was better than typing on a typewriter. The secret to using these applications is, "if you can type accurately without looking at the keyboard, you can learn any thing that has a typewriter keyboard.

[@mikosegunial8899]

Hi Ms. Pamela! Can you teach me how to utilize wordperfect? Im trying to apply it making an SOP and trying to use hyperlink function but dont know how to? Appreciate ur help😊

[@Doughy_in_the_Middle]

I remember in the summer of 1994 I was working at a temp agency doing data entry (I had an obscenely high typing rate with few errors back then). When they trained me on my tasks, the office was going to have us use Lotus 1-2-3 which I was already familiar with. What was "new" and they were all giddy over was this "WYSIWYG" thing. In the modern days of computing, "kids these days" don't get how big of a deal "what you see is what you get" was at that time. Unless you're working for a company that uses an AS/400 screen for data entry, EVERYONE uses a graphical user interface. That WYSIWYG stuff was huge.

[@Claro1993]

The irony is that Microsoft Office was released on the Mac first.

[@GeekRedux]

I was surprised this wasn't mentioned.

[@kaldo_kaldo]

It was indirectly mentioned when he talked about MS Office moving to Windows.

[@ivarfiske1913]

@Tucson Jim Great to have people like you her Jim. What a great read. Thank you

[@TopperMcNally]

yeah, they had to beta test it on crap hardware first

[@scality4309]

Gates got Jobs by the balls and Jobs had so sell/give share to microsoft.

[@patmat.]

Yes Lotus 123 in the 90's

[@RobShootPhotos]

Lotus! Word Pro and 123 all the way. While Microsoft was user friendly, you just had so much better control with tables and text in it's day. Then they made basically an Open Office version of Lotus and it was garbage!

[@rkan2]

Lotus Notes ftw

[@gazzacroy]

i loved it. i worked with it all day shame not around now :(

[@jeffffff]

My company just switched from IBM Notes to o365 lmao.

[@_Digitalguy]

Yeah, I don’t understand why they didn’t mention Lotus, I did my university time on it in the 90s...

[@timsullivan2554]

Lots of attorneys, like me, still use WordPerfect

[@balesjo]

Wasn't there a time back in its heyday that Wordperfect was offered in very specialized editions for legal offices, medical offices, etc? I seem to remember something like that. I also was living in Dallas at that time and remember seeing and actual WordPerfect Office at the World Trade Center that offered training, products and support.

[@noelrichard1210]

WP does have features that MS Word doesn't have today for Attorneys.

[@MinecraftLively]

my mom uses it all the time for her lawfirm, shes always complaining about it! Feels bad for Lawyers

[@timsullivan2554]

Ricky Bennett because WordPerfect does things specific to the legal profession such as creating a table if authorities and line numbering, to name a couple

[@cashnelson2306]

So, so many. I do IT and related training for a few small law firms and I'll need to know wordperfect until the day I die

[@paisastic]

I remember using Quattro Pro with an option to load the same menu from lotus-123

[@tls5870]

I like the Audi Quattro S1, and Lotus 211 myself

[@mike_lambert]

Yes it did. I think backslash changed the menu style from Quatro Pro to Lotus 123 and back again. QP was much better than Lotus though.

[@rogermwilcox]

Somewhere, I've still got a copy of the original Quattro (the product that, in later editions, would be called Quattro Pro). It took me a while to get the joke in the name. Lotus was 1-2-3 (uno, dos, tres in Spanish), so obviously Quattro came next!

[@opalprestonshirley1700]

Loved Word Star. Wrote several tech manuals with it. You had a screen capture that allowed you to capture your screen save it and edit to be placed in your document. Also wrote many programs in non-document mode. Really miss it.

[@Foersom_]

WordStar on CP/M was the first serious software I used. I later wrote my engineering master thesis on WordStar 7 on MSDOS and we indeed also used the screen capture and the font kerning feature on HP Deskjet 3P. To this day my fingers still remembers most of the keyboard shortcuts.

[@davejones4946]

This video was only 4 years ago but it feels like another era. I love the calmer editing and narration as well as the lack of music.

[@michaelrhymer9266]

The very best word processor that ever existed was Ami Pro.

[@KalebMarshallDulcimerPlayer]

Our first computer came with Lotus WordPro, which I think was the successor of Ami Pro.

[@RoadTripRuss]

What about Vi? LOL

[@Kezz8888]

Yeah, Ami was the very first version on windows, with the more fully featured version of Ami Pro coming later, and it morphed into Lotus WordPro after Samna (the authors of Ami and Ami Pro) were bought by Lotus Development. I still have a version which still works on win 10 and is still a better word processor than Word... :)

[@Kezz8888]

And prior to Ami Samna produced a dos based word processor called Samna (there were various versions) which was based on a dedicated word processing system from Linnear Systems. They even had Unix versions running on IBM and AT&T kit

[@JeffersonMartinSynfluent]

Ouch! I used that piece of the Lotus suite, as well. And, it was actually pretty good.

[@BAAWAKnight]

I've been using WordPerfect since 5.1 for DOS; I love it.

[@alexmendoza8786]

I still use it too. very efiicient. I even use it on my android phone sometimes when I need to do some serious word procesding on the road.

[@thomasdarby6084]

You did a slight mention at the end of the Lotus Smart Suite, which contained my favorite word processor at the time, AmiPro. Sadly ruined later, then folded into obscurity.

[@mm3nrx]

I remember word perfect as being a blue background with yellow text...

[@JeffersonMartinSynfluent]

Remember the keyboard templates?

[@brianswitala4077]

Ha ha. We used to call it NerdPerfect because it was so user unfriendly. I'm sure the wysiwyg approach fixed it eventually

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

The default text color was white, and a blue background. I used Word Pervert 5.1 a lot in the 90's.

[@JeffersonMartinSynfluent]

@@paulmichaelfreedman8334 Seemed that law offices were really threaded in deep with WordPerfect- as almost a defacto standard for exchanging document, I would imagine.

[@paulmichaelfreedman8334]

@@brianswitala4077 I used to call it Word Pervert

[@GubernareMens]

4:10 ah, I remember the good old days when Adobe Creative Cloud and OneDrive actually sent delivery men to copy my hard drive and store it in their Boeing Datacenter. Nowadays you don't even get customer support with this wireless internet stuff they call the "cloud".

[@k001bluerest9]

ok boomer

[@moow950]

What? Insane!!

[@wickham53]

My presentation Program of choice back then was Aldus Persuasion, which Adobe later bought and then killed. It made the most sophisticated use of templates, and finished presentations looked much more polished than they could in PowerPoint of the time.

[@HarpaxA]

No Kidding, I would think : 1. MS Office 2. Libre Office 3. Open Office (Apache) 4. G-Suite

[@balesjo]

Title of video: "Remember WORDPERFECT? - Where Are They Now". The video was about (mainly) wordprocessers that once held a loyal following and market share that have all but disappeared from general public consciousness. Most did so because of the rise of Word and Office. Since LibreOffice and Open Office are still offered and being used, there was no particular reason to mention them.

[@HarpaxA]

@@balesjo my point was regarding the market share of *current* office products, I disagree if Linus only mentioned MS & G-Suite being used these days

[@bactanite]

Installing and deleting Corel Word Perfect 8 was something that I often did to fix a broken Windows 98 installation. For some unknown reason this worked time after time.

[@OzSteve9801]

My first PC was an Amstrad PCW256, which had a whopping 256k of ram (most others at the time had 64k) and no hard drive or mouse. It operated on a proprietary system which Microsoft allegedly "borrowed" to make DOS. It also came with a word processor application with many of the keyboard shortcuts used by later systems. This machine was not compatible with anything else and had 3" floppy disks instead of the usual 3.5". There wasn't much software around so you generally had to program for yourself using Basic.

[@blueshky]

We were poor we just used "Wordpad" for school projects and such

[@adaml.5355]

@StanCanCount YT My school cracked Windows and then Office.

[@outsideredge]

My yearbook class cracked adobe pagemaker so that everyone could work on the project and not just the machine that had the product key

[@rogermwilcox]

WordPad was bundled with Windows starting with Windows 95. What was bundled with Windows BEFORE Windows 95? MICROSOFT WRITE. I still have a document or two saved in Microsoft Write's ".WRI" format. Nothing alive today can read them.

[@SojournerDidimus]

Save as RTF (Rich Text Format) ❤️

[@rizmut]

@@rogermwilcox Have you try LibreOffice to open that file?

[@sadmancho]

Back in my day we used Lotus 1 2 3.

[@roger1818]

Sadman Chowdhury Lotus 123 was a spreadsheet, not a word processor.

[@scality4309]

Ultra fast keyboard navigation.

[@明瑠恭音ジオバニ]

I used to use Lotus Symphony before finally getting a copy of Office

[@БрухБрух-щ7и]

What Office?

[@明瑠恭音ジオバニ]

@@БрухБрух-щ7и I believe it was Office 2016

[@jaycie5021]

@@明瑠恭音ジオバニ I think they meant to hint at the fact that there are several software suits that have Office in the name not Just MS office.

[@ikannunaplays]

Word Perfect was and is great becasue every shortcut you ever learned still works, and there is a keyboard shortcut for everything, no mouse needed. So much faster.

[@durufle2]

Absolutely. One of the reasons I hated Word for years was forcing fast typists to interrupt their flow with a mouse. And their replacement for macros just was too much hassle.

[@ikannunaplays]

@@durufle2 Precicely, my mother was the fastest typist i've ever seen that could type a full page memo while looking at you and talking about something completely different. It was and still is her choice of software for word processing since the days of DOS. Which is how I came upon it

[@Orchestructive]

How about a "Where are they now?" for Novell networking protocols? :)

[@AzziesPersonalRecordings]

I remember still using those in 2003.

[@michaelhowell7064]

Why? There was only ever one :) :) :)

[@RandomWolf]

For about five months, I used to use an Olympia Monica (a typewriter). On PC, however, the most obscure office suite I ever used has to be either StarOffice or AbiWord. Not the most obscure on Earth, I know, but an increasing number of people have never heard of either of these or any programs that have stemmed off from them. You can still find both of them online, if anyone wants to give them a try.

[@mardus_ee]

There's also the more lightweight Ted, and SiagOffice with its Pathetic Writer.

[@arkdov]

I've been using OpenOffice/Libreoffice for some time now, since Microsoft Office introduced the ribbon menu. But Libreoffice is starting to get in my way with its numerous updates and constant new features. I switched back to OpenOffice for that matter. But WordPerfect was my first word processor and also my favorite of all time.

[@LastSecBloomer]

An episode on file managers like the Norton Commander would be nice...

[@greggv8]

Don't forget XTree. So named because it was originally made to display directories in a Tree format on the IBM PC/XT.

[@cruikshank]

I miss those utilities

[@foersom5928]

Total Commander, the first application I install when using a new computer.

[@ridethelapras]

And TabWorks.

[@maineboy1979]

My favorite word processor in the ‘90s was MacWrite Pro, which was another Claris product if I remember correctly. I used it throughout high school as well as when I worked for a local newspaper.

[@jezdimir2007]

I loved Q&A write but Ashton Tate's Framework 2 was my favorite through high school. The storyboard feature, how you could construct a table of contents then zoom into each to construct your essay was an extraordinary function for kids to get there thoughts in logical step for more technical assignments. It was Dos based, wysiwyg and text based, but great.

[@mikegord]

They were quick and small in size. Window's apps are bloated monsters.

[@typograf62]

Borlands Sprint. A "look like them all-program". But for a computer word processor the most likeable I've ever worked on. I guess that weird command sequences work well for me. WordPerfect was quite popular in Denmark - and gained some bad reputation for a spelling mistake in the Danish dictionary. I used StarOffice for some time, now I'm hooked on LibreOffice. Everytime I use Word (at work) I love LibreOffice even more.

[@supermodes]

My first PC was a 486 and I did all my reports with Lotus AmiPro. Anyone remember that?

[@fredschmitt456]

AmiPro was my first WYSIWYG word processor after I switched from DilDOS to Windows. It would read Text documents from Symantec's Q&A and import the links to the Q&A database, which was basically a GUI for DBase. For many years I'd have Q&A 4.0 run in a DOS Box on Windows 3.11 and import data into AmiPro documents. Worked like a charm for next to no money!

[@rogermwilcox]

I remember how much power I had at my fingertips when I first upgraded to a 486 PC. My first PC growing up was an actual, original IBM PC, with a 4.77 MHz 8-bit 8088 processor, two floppy drives (no hard drive), and eventually 640K of RAM.

[@xheralt]

I went from AmiPro to WordPerfect8, to WP X3, thence to Open/Libre Office.

[@TheD2JBug]

Was the Word Processing component in Smartsuote. Was ,

[@LuftmanPlay]

Do an episode on Spotify, how do artist get paid, who decides what album is on an artist page etc.

[@nickbanderson]

KZbin Music master race

[@volvu490]

@@nickbanderson third parties youtube apps that let you play videos in the background, download videos in lots of different formats masterace

[@nickbanderson]

I'll give a look ty Edit: I like ad free youtube + music app for $10 a month; idk

[@Talk_and_Reaction]

he speaks the truth there is like a lot of choices from windows 10 shop alone

[@davidallen3158]

The first PC I ever used was an IBM in the late 80's when I was in the Army. We had a word processor program called MultiMate. It was DOS based, but it sure best the old word processor we had that was either in all lower case or all caps.

[@dumpsterdawg]

Underwood typewriter......the only updates are a fresh ribbon and lots of Red Bull.

[@tomf3150]

dumpsterdawg and tipp-ex.

[@Arbiter099]

Is yours named Frank?

[@Peizxcv]

What’s this reference?

[@jamesslick4790]

I have a circa 1926 Underwood #4 (IDK if it was upgraded to Windows '28 or not...) Still works! I use it for envelopes, Because...WHY NOT?!?

[@umbra1016]

One of the requirements of being a hold jokey is to run all your audio through an aquarium and a few loosely connected wires that needed to be constantly jiggled to work.

[@benadamsondxb]

I used to use Microsoft Works quite a bit. I've also had Claris Works and Word Perfect at one time or another in the past. For much of the past 20 years, though, it's been Microsoft Office for me. I sometimes use Pages because I like the clean, simple interface, but my job requires Word, so that's the default really.

[@Kelsteev]

Funny, I just cleaned up my Grandpa's computer and he is using word perfect.

[@bradquinn4161]

What version? A lot of old timers I know never went beyond 5.2.

[@jamesslick4790]

If it still runs (on latest OS and hardware), and still prints the documents he wants, Why not keep using it? The English language hasn't change that much. He is already is familiar with it, and he is likely using features that would take months to commit to memory on something different. A word processor was pretty much a settled technology shortly after TTFs were a thing. I have modern video editing software today (4K "UHD") becuase video has changed since the 1990's. Writing documents has not changed, My day-today life would not change one iota if the world was still on MS Word 6.0!

[@RyanHellyer]

LaTeX is something which has survived the test of time well. It was used for word processing in the 1980's, and AFAIK is still used in a similar way today (I didn't use it in the 1980's so I can't compare). I think the lack of a full blown GUI and "normal" WYWIWYG interface has led to it not going out of date. It's still not particularly popular, but it is at least consistent in it's lack of popularity :)

[@dbranconnier1977]

The thing that I remember and liked about WordPerfect was that is was available on several different platforms (DOS, Apple IIe/GS, Amiga, VAX/VMS, Data General, Solaris, Next, AS/400, Linux, OS/2, Windows, Macintosh, etc...). I always wished that it had been ported to the Commodore 128. It was also pricey compared to some of the competitors' offerings, back in the day.

[@Return_To_Sender]

I work in law, word perfect is still used a lot in courts and older attorneys/judges still use it.

[@moomoo5537]

The reason behind this?

[@Return_To_Sender]

@Him To reply to both of you, I think they just don't like change. I don't have a rhyme or reason behind it, but its definitely annoying. It seems to be more civil than criminal though.

[@riverbender9898]

I used PFS Prowrite for several years in the early to mid-80's

[@jamesslick4790]

I used PFS:Write (and later PFS:First Choice) in the day! Trivia: IBM's Writing Assistant was a version of PFS:Write.

[@MrTibbs90]

I forgot about that one.

[@brianc5537]

I used ClarisWorks all through the 90s . My teachers always complimented me on the graphics I’d add to cover pages etc. It came with a great drawing and paint program.

[@relaxationmusicsanctuary3664]

WordPerfect: simply unmatched. Novell Netware 4.x: had features in 1994 not yet included in Windows Server in 2020

[@noelrichard1210]

Still unmatched today. And still available also

[@clasqm]

I think I can win the obscurity competition here: Tasword for the Sinclair ZX Spectrum

[@PWingert1966]

Ohh I have one of those encased in Resin as a Door stop!

[@kaldo_kaldo]

Zardax II for Apple II for me. Not sure which is more obscure honestly.

[@AndrewHalliwell]

Think perfection for the QL beats Tasword on the obscurity front.

[@amigadude1]

I used FinalWriter and FinalCalc (Amiga3000) for my first 2 years of college. handed in a 200+ page dot-matrix report with them.

[@bearambles]

Scripsit on the TRS-80 Model III

[@KESaxon]

I use both MS Word and WordPerfect and appreciate them both for different reasons. I LOVE WordPerfect for its reveal codes and its (superior to) MS Word grammar check. I am very grateful WP are still in business! ❤️ I just wish WP had an iphone/pad app! 😊

[@Kenjis9965]

I remember Claris works. Was always my favorite on windows, was quite pleased during my brief Mac ownership at how similar I work's word processor was In fact Linus shows the win 3.1 version when talking about it on the Mac lol

[@SonGoku-mj5pq]

0:49 I saw that somewhere but I can't remember where, it was hilarious!

[@FookFish]

it was one of the first copypastas

[@TheRandomSpectator]

likely reddit

[@BansheeResearch]

4chan

[@dj1NM3]

Word Perfect was famously sabotaged by MicroSoft by not implementing APIs they had given the company to make it inter-operate properly with Windows. This was also the same time that MicroSoft Word premiered, so the coincidence didn't go unnoticed.

[@PSjustanormalguy]

This makes me feel old, I've used all of these, when they were current 😝 Wordstar running on a Z80 and a green screen anyone ??

[@DaFetrow]

How about an amber screen (green made me ill) an 8080 based cp/m computer with a z80.....in the printer.

[@usernamunavailiable]

I hated when a place I worked for "updated" all our old CRT systems for Windows systems.

[@michaeltyzuk7300]

Wordstar on an Apple II+ clone with a Z80 softcard and a green monochrome screen.

[@HumanGamer]

I remember trying out Lotus on my dad's windows 3.1 laptop when i was like 4 and i didn't know how to read so it was definitely very useful for me /sarcasm

[@frustro4323]

I worked for an MSP that core business was lawyers, i worked with wordperfect for many years. You did them justice in your mention.

[@Kylefassbinderful]

3:51 Lmao "My Briefcase" This is how my parents talk about Windows when they need help. "I don't where it is. I thought I saved it in My Briefcase"

[@michaelhowell7064]

I know your pain :)

[@Onbekommerd]

I remember using a word processor called XyWrite or something like that. Purely command line driven. No GUI at all.

[@Westsaxon001]

I used an application called "Enable" back around 1190. It had: word processor, database, spreadsheet, a report writer, and not-to-bad macro ability for the time. I needed to collect data from different offices to wrote some macros to export a separate part of the database for each office down to a 5-inch floppy and auto print instructions for that office on how to update the records. Once the office was done, I had another macro that would import the updated information.

[@mardus_ee]

You mean 1990?

[@linussebastian3122]

Hearing myself like this makes me realize how much of a nerd I am

[@smartypants4571]

What are you doing in the comments section ? Get back in the video !

[@randompotato26]

w-what

[@blue03r6]

was it at 0:19?

[@Ezyasnos]

Are you a World of Warcraft addict and frequent LARPer?

[@PWingert1966]

I realise I am old!

[@floriang2801]

I only use LaTeX, Keynote and VIM for university. I don’t have any MS Office programs installed.

[@davidfont2596]

Thank you making me not feel alone. I use LaTeX and vim daily! I also do not have any MS Office programs installed. I'm curious about Keynote, now!

[@michaelkelly6583]

Thank you for the trip down memory lane. I’ve used then all and wrote my graduate papers on WordStar. Looking back, my favourites? WordPerfect for Linux (Corel) and currently, Apple’s Pages. Again, thank you.

[@kienhwengtai8113]

It's bad when you've used every single of software mention in the video

[@Quivver77]

why? We were pioneers in the use of personal computers. We are the reason that software is now predominantly used by people of all ages. If we had rejected wordperfect and continued to use pens to write our reports the PC revolution would have been delayed by another decade.

[@usernamunavailiable]

I agree with Don, that's good thing you have. Even if you didn't like some.

[@arsenalgear3009]

Might want to have a go at programming languages next. I'll give you a starter. Anyone remember Clipper?

[@sm1else]

Yes! I remember rendering many red text-based modal message boxes in Clipper.

[@arsenalgear3009]

@@sm1else Believe it or not some office programms in Croatia that are used today were made in Clipper. 😂

[@michaeltyzuk7300]

I was a big fan of OS/2 back in the day and so I spent no small amount of time in Lotus SmartSuite. I even used the Windows version at the computer store I worked in. For me the real standout in that suite was Lotus Organizer. All these years later I still have yet to find a PIM that's even half as intuitive.

[@mike_lambert]

I used "Displaywrite" by IBM back in the day. A non WYSIWYG Word Processor. You had to know the formating codes to format things properly. And yes using it was as bad as it sounds.

[@ellsworth1956]

Not to mention line editor in DOS.

[@clasqm]

I've spent years trying to forget DisplayWrite and now you've brought it all back. Take it away, I can't take it any more ...

[@clasqm]

@@ellsworth1956 Real men write with COPY CON FILE.DOC

[@mike_lambert]

@@clasqm lool i know what you mean!

[@markfrombriz]

Jeesus it was awful, the version we had to use even had a utility to uncorrupt the documents it created...