Word processor program

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.{{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 |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4042484 |access-date=29 June 2022 |issn=1934-1547|url-access=subscription }}

File:WordStar.png

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,{{Cite magazine |last=Freiberger |first=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, 6-7}} including WordPerfect in 1979, MultiMate in 1982, and Microsoft Word in 1983.{{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 |s2cid=20785663 |url=https://ieeexplore.ieee.org/document/4042485 |access-date=29 June 2022 |issn=1934-1547|url-access=subscription }}

Notable programs include:

A word processing function is an essential part of an office suite, for example Writer in LibreOffice and Word in Microsoft Office. With the ascent of the internet, cloud-based word processor programs emerged, such as Google Docs, enabling people to more easily work remotely and collaboratively. Later on other online word processors such as Microsoft Office on the web and Collabora Online became available.

• Word processor
• Word processor (electronic device)

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Category:Word processors

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