WordPerfect
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WordPerfect is a word processing program; at the height of its popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was the de facto standard word processor, but has since been eclipsed in sales by Microsoft Word. At its height, it was available for a wide variety of computers and operating systems, including DOS, Windows, Mac OS, Apple II, most popular versions of Unix, VMS, Data General, System/370, AmigaOS, Atari ST, and (later) Linux.
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WordPerfect for PCs
WordPerfect was originally produced by Satellite Software, Inc. of Orem, Utah, which later renamed itself to WordPerfect Corporation. They produced the most successful version ever: WordPerfect 5.1 DOS. Many people still know the key combinations from WordPerfect 5.1 DOS that date back to the time that function keys were on the left of the keyboard, where, for instance, Tab and F4 (Indent) were adjacent.
WordPerfect was known for using just about every possible combination of function keys with Ctrl, Alt, and Shift modifiers. This plethora of keystroke possibilities - combined with the developers' wish to keep the user interface free of "clutter" such as on-screen menus, made it necessary for many users to use a keyboard template showing each function. This was in contrast to WordStar, which it had supplanted as the major word processor -- WordStar used only Ctrl in conjuction with keys on the regular keyboard.
Released around November 1991, WordPerfect was late in coming to market with a Windows version. Microsoft Word For Windows was already at version 2.
WordPerfect's function-key-centered user interface did not adapt well to the new paradigm of mice and pull-down menus, especially with many of WordPerfect's standard keystrokes displaced by incompatible keyboard shortcuts used by Windows itself (e.g. Alt-F4 became "exit program" instead of "block text"). The DOS version's impressive arsenal of printer drivers was also rendered obsolete by Windows' use of its own printer device drivers.
The WordPerfect product was sold twice, first to Novell in June of 1994, who then sold it to Corel in January of 1996. Prior to the first sale however, WordPerfect had also become part of an office applications suite when the company entered into a co-licensing agreement with Borland Software Corporation in 1993. The offerings were marketed as Borland Office, containing windows versions of WordPerfect, Quattro Pro, Borland Paradox, and a LAN-based groupware package called WordPerfect Office (not to be confused with the complete suite of the same name later marketed by Corel).
Between the weaknesses of the Windows version, and Microsoft's simultaneous aggressive marketing of Word for Windows, WordPerfect's sales suffered a decline from which it has never recovered. Amongst its remaining avid users are many law firms and a few universities, markets which Corel now caters to as niche markets. Corel's attempt to promote WordPerfect as the standard word processor on Linux systems proved unsuccessful, due to a combination of the Linux-using community's skepticism of proprietary software, the product's unremarkable performance, and the company's change of strategic direction following an investment by Microsoft.
In 2003 Corel was bought by Vector Capital, a venture capital investor. In April 2004, the company released an updated version of WordPerfect 8 for Linux, as a "proof of concept" to test the Linux marketplace.
In November 2004, Novell filed an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft for alledged anticompetitive behaviour that Novell says led to loss of WordPerfect market share http://www.novell.com/news/press/archive/2004/11/pr04077_pdf.html
Comparison to other word processors
WordPerfect aficionados maintain that their word processor is superior to its competitors for a number of reasons, for example:
- the Reveal Codes function, which allows the user to view and edit all the formatting codes, and thus obtain complete control over the text;
- more stable handling of long, heavily formatted documents than Word;
- the ability to create documents without having to use styles, even for heavily formatted text (although styles can still be used if desired);
- easier and more reliable editing of tables, especially when they contain merged cells and the user wants to add or delete cells;
- powerful features for creating tables of authorities in legal documents, and correctly counting the number of words including footnotes, which appeals to writers and legal professionals;
- much better use of the often-overlooked function keys than other wordprocessors;
- multi-level paragraph numbering which actually works (compared to Word, which for a number of years suffered from a major bug in this area);
- the ability to select different menu versions, keyboard layouts, and keyboard shortcuts;
- the widest variety of import and export filters of any wordprocessor.
Those preferring the MS Word cite its better integration with other MS Office programs (such as e-mail programs), and WordPerfect's poor implementation of Windows conventions in its early Windows versions. However these arguments began to lose their validity after 1996 when newer versions of WordPerfect appeared, and were eliminated with WordPerfect 12, which provides full MS Word emulation. Corel's marketing department, however, has probably yet to fully capitalize on what dedicated users would consider as WordPerfect's superior features and ease of use.
In WordPerfect 11 Corel added the Classic Mode. This was an attempt to win back users that had switched to MS Word, because WordPerfect for Windows was so different from the DOS version they knew and loved. See WordPerfect 12, which was released in 2004, for an extended description of the Classic Mode.
Other features that are still unique to WordPerfect, compared to Word, include a one-click PDF creation feature, which lets users convert their documents to PDF without buying Adobe Acrobat. It also features a built-in dictionary and a thesaurus which suggests new words from a drop-down box while users type. Unlike Word, all editions of WordPerfect since version 6 also use the same file format, making it easy for users to share documents between newer and older copies.
WordPerfect for Macintosh
WordPerfect for Macintosh's first release was a crude port of the DOS version, and was not accepted warmly in the marketplace. Version 2 was a total re-write, and made it a "proper" Mac application. Version 3 took this further, making extensive use of the technologies Apple introduced in Systems 7.0–7.5, while remaining fast and capable of running well on older machines. Corel released WordPerfect for Mac version 3.5 in 1996, followed by the improved version 3.5e. It was never updated beyond that, and the product was eventually discontinued. As of 2004, Corel has reiterated that they had no plans to further develop WordPerfect for Mac (such as creating a native OS X version).
For several years, Corel allowed Mac users to download version 3.5e from their website free of charge, and some Mac users still use this version. However because it was written for slow machines, it scrolls uncomfortably fast on modern hardware, prompting an independent developer to write a patch to throttle the scroll speed. It also requires the "Classic" environment to be installed to run on OS X. An alternative for Mac users wishing to use a more up-to-date version of WordPerfect is to install the Windows version on top of Virtual PC for Mac. There does not appear to be any third-party development of a WordPerfect clone or work-alike for OS X.
Versions
Versions for DOS include:
- 1983 WordPerfect 3.0 for DOS
- 1984 WordPerfect 4.0 for DOS
- 1988 WordPerfect 5.0 for DOS
- 1993 WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS
Versions for Apple II include:
Versions for the Apple Macintosh include:
- 1988 WordPerfect 1.0 for Macintosh
- 1990 WordPerfect 2.0 for Macintosh
- 1993 WordPerfect 3.0 for Macintosh
- 1995 WordPerfect 3.5 for Macintosh
Versions for Microsoft Windows include:
- 1991 WordPerfect 5.1 for Windows
- 1992 WordPerfect 5.2 for Windows
- 1993 WordPerfect 6.0 for Windows
- 1996 WordPerfect 7.0 for Windows
- 1997 WordPerfect 8.0 for Windows
- 1999 WordPerfect 9.0 for Windows (WordPerfect Office 2000)
- 2001 WordPerfect 10.0 for Windows (WordPerfect Office 2002)
- 2003 WordPerfect 11.0 for Windows (WordPerfect Office 2003)
- 2004 WordPerfect 12.0 for Windows (WordPerfect Office 2004)
Versions for Linux include:
External links
- Corel's Website
- WordPerfect Universe - a moderated, user-supported community of thousands of dedicated fans of WordPerfect, with Forums where you can ask questions, read FAQs, Tips, News, and more. Free to join.
- Wordperfect vs. Word - a user webpage that compares the features of the two programs using a point system.
- Almost Perfect, a personal history of WordPerfect Corporation (and the word processor).
- WPDOS, a Chronology of Versions, a timeline of WordPerfect from its early beginnings through 1997.
- Fansite focussing on WP for Mac
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