WriteNow
{{short description|Word processor application}}
{{More citations needed|date=January 2017}}
{{Infobox software
| name = WriteNow
| screenshot = WriteNow-software-screenshot.png
| caption = WriteNow 1.00 on the Mac platform
| author = John Anderson, Bill Tschumy
| developer = T/Maker
| released = {{Start date and age|1985}}
| latest_release_version = WriteNow 4.0{{cite magazine| title=Lean Writers |url=https://archive.org/details/MacWorld_9503_March_1995/page/n119/mode/2up |pages=116–119 |volume=12 |number=3 |date=March 1995 |magazine=Macworld |first=David |last=Pogue |author-link=David Pogue |access-date=11 August 2021}}
| discontinued = yes
| operating_system = Macintosh, NeXTSTEP
| genre = Word processor
| license = Proprietary
}}
WriteNow is a word processor application for the original Apple Macintosh and later computers in the NeXT product line. The application is one of two word processors that were first developed with the goal that they be available at the time of the Mac product launch in 1984, and was the primary word processor for computers manufactured by NeXT.{{cite magazine| magazine=NeXTWorld | volume=3| issue=7| title=Evolutionary Man | url=https://archive.org/details/NeXTWORLDVol.3No.7November1993/page/n11/mode/2up | page=10 | date=7 November 1993|first=Leann |last=Coulter |access-date=2 August 2021}} WriteNow was purchased from T/Maker by WordStar in 1993,{{cite magazine| url=https://archive.org/details/MacUser9306June1993/page/n37/mode/2up |title=WordStar Buys WriteNow |magazine=MacUser |volume=9 |number=6 |date=June 1993 |page=35 |access-date=12 August 2021}} but shortly after that, WordStar merged with SoftKey,{{cite magazine| url=https://archive.org/details/MacWEEKV07N21/page/n35/mode/2up |magazine=MacWEEK |volume=7 |issue=21 |page=36 |title=WordStar, Softkey merge; stock swap total $213 millions |first=Lisa |last=Picarille}} which ultimately led to its discontinuation. It had a combination of powerful features, excellent performance, and small system requirements.
History
WriteNow was written for Apple Computer, Inc., by John Anderson and Bill Tschumy in Seattle, separate from the Macintosh computer and MacWrite word processor development teams. Steve Jobs was concerned that those programming MacWrite were not going to be ready for the 1984 release date of the Macintosh;{{cite magazine |magazine=NeXTWorld Extra |issue=September 1991 |date=September 1991| title=WriteNow spun out to software startup |pages=1–2 |first1=Dan |last1=Ruby |first2=Dan |last2=Lavin |access-date=12 August 2021 |url=https://archive.org/details/NeXTWORLDVol.1No.4Winter1991/page/n87/mode/2up}} Apple Computer therefore commissioned a team of programmers, friends of Apple engineer Bud Tribble, to work independently on a similar project, which eventually became WriteNow. Members of the WriteNow team knew about MacWrite, but members of the MacWrite team did not know about WriteNow.{{citation needed|date=August 2021}}
Ultimately, MacWrite was completed on schedule and shipped with the Macintosh. This left WriteNow in limbo until Jobs left Apple to form NeXT and bought Solaster Software which was started by John Anderson, Bill Tschumy and Christopher Stinson.{{citation needed|date=May 2022 |reason=Coulter 1993 talks about Bill joining NeXT and two unnamed grad students. There is reference of Anderson being from the same zoology department and Solaster Software at https://archive.org/details/h42_Oregon_Software_Omni_Pascal_Newsletter/page/n96/mode/1up - but little to link it all together but the edit}} John and Bill, the authors of WriteNow, joined NeXT. WriteNow marketing rights ended up being owned by NeXT, and WriteNow released for the Macintosh in 1985, published by the T/Maker Company.
In October 1988, WriteNow 2.0 was released on Macintosh,{{cite magazine
| magazine = MacUser
| url = https://archive.org/details/MacUser8908August1989/page/n141/mode/1up
| title = Word Wrestlers
| pages = 138–139
| first = Laura
| last = Johnson
| date = August 1989
| volume = 5
| issue = 8
}} adding dictionaries, character / word / paragraph count, import and export of RTF and MacWrite files, and updated compatibility with recent system enhancements.{{cite magazine| magazine=Macworld| title=New WriteNow Now| page=14| url=https://archive.org/details/MacWorld_8904_April_1989/page/n13/mode/1up| volume=6| issue=4| date=April 1989}}{{cite magazine
| magazine = MacUser
| url = https://archive.org/details/MacUser8908August1989/page/n141/mode/1up
| title = MacWrite II WriteNow
| pages = 140–147
| first1 = Russell
| last1 = Ito
| first2 = James
| last2 = Finn
| date = August 1989
| volume = 5
| issue = 8
}} Version 3.0 introduced style sheets.{{cite magazine
| magazine = MacUser
| title = The right word processor
| first = Ted
| last = Landau
| date = September 1992
| pages = 101–110
| volume = 8
| issue = 9
| url = https://archive.org/details/MacUser9209September1992/page/n102/mode/1up
}}
Features
WriteNow improved on some of the limitations of MacWrite through the better handling of large documents and the addition of features such as spell check and footnotes. It was "lean and fast," being written entirely in assembly language, and it was suited for Macintosh users with only 400 KB floppy disk.{{cite magazine| url=https://archive.org/details/MacWorld_8802_February_1988/page/n157/mode/2up |magazine=Macworld |volume=5 |number=2 |pages=154–163 |date=February 1988 |title=Just Write |first1=Melanie |last1=Bayles |first2=Michael| last2=Bayles| access-date=12 August 2021}} WriteNow went through several versions culminating (in 1993) with version 4.0.2, which continued the "lean and fast" reputation while adding features such as tables.
In the opinion of many of its users, WriteNow represented the ideal Macintosh application. It had a simple, intuitive graphical user interface (GUI), no copy protection, and it worked in practically every revision of the Macintosh operating system, including in the Mac 68k emulator on PowerPC Macs and in the Classic Environment under Mac OS X. Its biggest claim to fame, however, was its speed. It was written in assembly language (Motorola 680x0) by a group of developers who had a reputation for producing extremely efficient code. The user interface was unusual in that, while the typical word processor had a ruler embedded in the main document window, WriteNow used a separate, fixed window that could be sent into the background, freeing screen space on the compact Mac's small nine-inch screen to display an additional line or two of text.
NeXT port
Early on WriteNow was ported to the NeXT operating system and was subsequently bundled with NeXT workstations.
Due to concerns of third-party publishers such as WordPerfect over the issue of competing with a free word processor, it was unbundled 1 October 1991{{cite magazine| magazine=NeXTWorld| volume=1 |number=4 |date=1991 |url=https://archive.org/details/NeXTWORLDVol.1No.4Winter1991/page/n17/mode/2up |page=17 |first=Dan |last=Lavin |title=NeXT Ink |access-date=12 August 2021}} and ownership transferred to Appsoft, which sold it as shrink-wrapped software.{{cite magazine|magazine=NeXTWorld |volume=2 |number=1 |date=1992| url=https://archive.org/details/NeXTWORLDVol.2No.1Spring1992/page/n67/mode/2up |title=Review: WriteNow |page=65 |first1=John Perry |last1=Barlow |author-link1=John Perry Barlow |first2=Dan |last2=Lavin| access-date=12 August 2021}} From that time, NeXTSTEP shipped without a full-featured word processing program. WriteNow for NeXT became available for sale on October 15 for $199.{{cite magazine| url=https://archive.org/details/NeXTWORLDVol.1No.4Winter1991/page/n91/mode/2up |magazine=NeXTWorld Extra |issue=November 1991 |pages=1, 6 |first=Dan |last=Ruby |date=November 1991 |access-date=12 August 2021 |title=Appsoft}}
WriteNow was written in Motorola 68k assembly language, upon which the NeXT hardware was based.
Reception
Compute!'s Apple Applications in 1987 wrote that "WriteNow is the Pegasus of Macintosh word processors—swift, easy to learn and use, and packed with power".{{cite magazine | url=https://archive.org/stream/COMPUTEs_Apple_Applications_Vol._5_No._2_Issue_6_1987-12_COMPUTE_Publications_US#page/n55/mode/2up | title=Macintosh: The Word Explosion | magazine=Compute!'s Apple Applications | volume=5 |issue=2, #6| date=December 1987 | access-date=14 September 2016 | last=McNeill |first=Dan | pages=54–60}}
MacUser gave WriteNow 2.0 for Macintosh a 4 mice (out of 5) in the August 1989 issue, pitting it against MacWrite II. It praised the speed of the application, while criticizing the complexity of the multi-column formatting. WriteNow won MacUser's Editor's Choice Award for Best New Word Processor in 1986{{cite magazine
| url=https://archive.org/details/MacUser8701January1987/page/n58/mode/1up
| title= 2nd Annual Editor's Choice award
| magazine= MacUser
| date=January 1987
| pages = 53–56
| volume = 3
| issue = 1
Discontinuation
Around 1993, rights to WriteNow (for both Macintosh and NeXT operating systems) were purchased by WordStar. Shortly after that, WordStar merged with SoftKey,{{Cite web|date=August 18, 1993|title=SoftKey to buy Spinnaker, WordStar|url=https://www.upi.com/Archives/1993/08/18/SoftKey-to-buy-Spinnaker-WordStar/4167745646400/|access-date=2021-08-11|website=UPI|language=en}} and WriteNow was later discontinued. The lifecycle of computers using the 680x0 architecture was coming to an end, and the architecture-specific assembly language code that made WriteNow so much faster than its competitors also made it much more difficult to port to the new PowerPC processor than competing word processors written in high-level languages such as C.
See also
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- {{webarchive |url=https://web.archive.org/web/20090426223416/http://www.macease.com/writenow-latest_info.html |date=April 26, 2009 |title=WriteNow: Latest Info }}
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Category:Classic Mac OS word processors