Word Processor

This page primarily focuses on a selective history of significant word processing software developed for personal computers.

1979, AppleWriter 1.0 for Apple II: Developed by Apple, AppleWriter was the first popular PC word processing program, though it had its quirks. It displayed text entirely in uppercase. Characters that the user signified as uppercase appeared in inverse color capitals, while characters in lowercase appeared as standard capitals.

1981, Bank Street Writer 1.0 for Apple II: Developed by the Bank Street College of Education in New York City, BSW went on to become the leading word processing program for the Apple II. It included displaying lower case letters!

 

1981, AppleWriter II for Apple II: Displayed lower case letters

1982, WordStar 3.0 for DOS: Originally developed by MicroPro for CP/M in 1978. It became a de facto standard. By 1984 sales hit $70 million.

1982, WordPerfect 2.2 for DOS: Originally developed for the City of Orem, Utah by Brigham Young University (BYU) in 1979, WordPerfect was first ported to DOS and sold to the general public in 1982.

1983, Word 1.0 for DOS: Originally named Multi-Tool Word.

1984, Word 1.0 for Macintosh: Released for the Macintosh.

1984, StarOffice 1.0 for DOS: StarOffice was released by the German student Marco Boerries, then 16 years old, living as an exchange student in Silicon Valley. StarOffice would later become OpenOffice.

1984, AppleWorks 1.0 for Apple II: AppleWorks was one of the first integrated office suites for personal computers, featuring a word processor, spreadsheet, and database merged into a single program.

1985, WordPerfect 1.0 for Apple II: WordPerfect was initially ported to the rising Apple II.

1986, WordPerfect 4.2 for DOS: WordPerfect surpassed WordStar as the leading word processor.

1987, Microsoft Works 1.05 for DOS: Its core functionality included a Word Processor, a spreadsheet and a database.

1989, WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS: WordPerfect released the hugely popular version of its product. The WordPerfect 5.1 file format, still on DOS, became the de facto standard for the word processing industry for many years.

1989, Word 1.0 for Windows: Released for Windows.

1991, Microsoft Works 2.0 for Windows: MS Works moved to Windows.

1991, WordPerfect 5.1 for Windows: WordPerfect’s popular DOS version was ported into Windows.

1993, Word 6.0 for Windows: Included everyone’s favorite feature – autocorrect!

1994, Novell acquires WordPerfect Corporation

1995, Word 95 for Windows: Released for Windows 95.

1996, Corel acquires WordPerfect from Novell

1999, Sun acquires StarDivision: In 2000, Sun Microsystems announced that it would make the source code of StarOffice available for download with the intention of building an open-source development community around the software and providing a free and open alternative to Microsoft Office named OpenOffice.org

1999, Word 2000 for Windows: Released part of Office 2000, Word 2000 gave Microsoft, who already led the WP sector, 90+% market share.

2005, Writely: Writely was a web-based word processor created by the software company Upstartle.

2006, Google acquires Upstartle Google integrates Writely into its software suite online, calling it Google Docs.

2010, Oracle acquires OpenOffice from Sun

2011, Oracle releases OpenOffice to Apache Software Foundation

Internet Security

Recommendations

1

Choose strong passwords. Passwords are like the key to your accounts – only the person with the key can access them. When choosing a password, you want to make sure you choose one that is unique, strong, and not easily guessed by strangers or those close to you. Choose a password that uses letters, numbers, lowercase, uppercase, and characters.

2

Be mindful when installing programs or agreeing to terms. When you sign up for newsletters, install programs, or agree to anything, read the fine print. If you do not want to receive junk mail or get put on a telemarketer list, look for a small box near the bottom of the page that asks if you want to receive information and offers from other companies.

3

Do not give out personal details to strangers. Don’t give your full name, address, or phone number to anyone online that you don’t trust or know. This is especially important in chat rooms, when negotiating jobs or deals, or making plans through meet-up sites.

4

Don’t fall prey to phishing scams. Phishing e-mails are messages that appear to be from legitimate companies, such as your bank or stores where you’ve shopped, that provide links to fake websites and ask for personal information

5

Keep your eyes peeled for online scams.Online scams crop up everywhere. These scams can pop up in e-mails, tweets, Facebook posts, and many other places. Don’t click on links that don’t look like a real address or contains a lot of letters and characters that look like gibberish.

6

Limit the information you share on social media. Facebook, Twitter, Google+, Instagram, LinkedIn, and other social media sites are part of most people’s every day lives.

These are some recommendations to follow while using the internet.

Stay safe c: