Re: OT - Help! Bought something on ebay

In article <4895106b$0$18562$c3e8da3@xxxxxxxxxxxxxxxxx>,
Janet Wilder <kelliepoodle@xxxxxxxxx> wrote:
Robert Bonomi wrote:

OK. I had to go dig out a time-line.

You did a most excellent job!

Google is your friend!
Only took one search, and reading 2 pages. *GRIN*

WordPerfect Corp -- under the original name of Satellite Software -- was
formed in 1979.
In 1980, WP version 1, for Data General machines, was released
1982: Version 2, for the PC, was released.
1983: Version 3 came out (Also, MS introduced "Word for DOS" --*dreadful*)
1984: WP version 4 was released,
1985: WP 4.1 (Microsoft's 1st upgrade to 'Word' -- V. 3 {there was no ver. 2}
also released in 85),
1985: WP 4.2 was released in Oct; WP surpassed WordStar as the #1 WP package.
1988: WP 5 released,
1989: WP 5.1 was introduced in 1989; MS introduced "Word for Windows" -- for
"Windows/386" which _nobody_ used for very long.
1990: Windows 3.0, *FAR* better than "Windows/386", but still laking a lot
of things.
1991: "Word for Windows V. 2", and WP 5.1 for Windows.
1992: release of Windows 3.1, Word 3, and WP 5.2 (for Dos and Windows).
1993: Word "version 6" (number jumped to match DOS version, and leapfrog
competition), and WP 6 for DOS and Windows (as separate products)
come out late that year..
1994: Novell buys WordPerfect Corp. (and life was never the same <pout>)
1996: Corel buys the WordPerfect line from Novell. Version 7 (for Win95)
came out at the end of May, that year.
1997: WordPerfect 8 for Win95, and WP _7_ for Win 3.1, were both released.

I had the Novell version on my first PC, but I did use the earlier DOS
and very first windows version at work. Around that time I was doing
some jobs for attorneys and every attorney had WP.

oh yeah. For quite a while, it was the -ONLY- PC word-processor that
_conveniently_ did all the things attorneys needed. red-line, strike-out,
and automatic line *numbering* come to mind.

WP 5.2 for DOS came on 13 3.5" 720k floppies (I think I've still got one or
two sets :) -- 2 disks for the program itself, one for the spell-checker/
thesaurus, one for the utilities, a fifth containing the 'printer definition'
utility, and eight disks of printer definitions. An absolutely minimal
installation required only 3 disks -- the two program disks, and the
first printer disk (which had the generic 'dumb ASCII' driver on it).

6.0 for DOS wasn't much bigger. but the Windows version needed a _lot_
more disks. I'd believe 11 floppies for that. Didn't need any 'printer
definition' disks any more, that was all handled by Windows itself.

that must have been the version I had on my PC. Took forever to load 11
little floppies but it never gave me a second of grief.

As of WP 7, distribution was on CD only. Eventually _multiple_ CDs were
required. WP 11 (with all the goodies) comes on _3_ CDs.

I had WP 8 also. I probably should have kept that one as it was the best
of all.

Yup. Even today, WP *owns* the _legal_ word-processing market. Because it
"just works". For a long time, WP was the only PC word-processor that many
Universities would take Doctoral dissertations in. This has, as I understand
things, changed at many schools, in the last 5 years or so.

IIRC, they made a special Legal version. I think they still make an
Academic version.

It was _exactly_ the same program, under the packaging. The _dictionary_
was different, having a whole bunch of 'legalese' terms in it. Beyond that,
on installation, it configured with some different "default" settings, making
it immediately usable 'out of the box', with out having to do any significant
'tweaking'. There was a bunch of very generic boilerplate forms specific to
the legal profession, included. Also a number of industry-specific macros,
for things like 'cites'.

There are one or two things that Word does marginally better/faster/easier
than WP does. But, there are a few *hundred* things that WP does in a way
that is _significantly_ better/faster/easier than the Word way. Starting
with all the stuff you can do _without_ having to reach for the mouse. :)

The only thing that Word does that WP doesn't is annoy me.

Make no bones about it, I'm a WP 'snob' myself. <grin>

I've been forced, however, to use Word on enough occasions that I can claim
"more familiarity with it than I want to have". <wry grin>

I _have_ found a couple of -little- things -- more used for newsletters/flyers,
than in serious document preparation -- that Word _does_ do, better/easier.
Or at least _did_ do better/easier -- that was several versions of Word -- and
WordPerfect -- ago. :)

I was
astounded when I loaded X3 and the splash screen asked me if I wanted it
to run like Microsoft Word. WTF???? If I'd wanted Word, I'd have bought
it instead. Not quite sure what that was all about.

WP 11 had a few glitches with the macros, but the company gave me a patch.

My favorite was 8 but it's not happy running on XP.

I _think_ it can be persuaded. XP has a little-known feature called
"compatibility mode", where it can be made to 'look like' Win95, or 98/ME,
Windows NT 4.0, or Windows 2000. to any particular program.

If the installer fails, try running _it_ in "compatibility mode" for Win95.
If it installs but doesn't want to run, set "compatibility mode" for the
WP executable itself.

It's been a while since I've done this for WP, but in _all_ my experience,
I've run into *one* package that ran under Win95 that I couldn't get to run
under XP in 'Win95 compatibility mode".


.

Relevant Pages

  • Re: 200G.B hardisk
    ... XP Gold, it did not recognize it and after patching to SP1, it still ... >>>This is because the version of Windows you are installing is Windows XP ... >>recognize large-capacity disks, i.e., disks whose capacity is greater than ... > contrary to what the user had reported) or had been a faulty installation. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.hardware)
  • Re: Disk partitioning size
    ... Your Installation Specialist ... Other than that you are the only one who reports this behaviour with your ... are the only one to know of such a major flaw with Windows XP ... with movies and music files and their disks did not fail. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.general)
  • Re: Looping shut down
    ... when you get to the choice of setup Windows or Repair ... with the option to setup Windows or Repair Windows Installation ... however I did download the disks>>> today on my work computer. ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.accessibility)
  • Re: What a shame
    ... didn't come with installation disks did it. ... No windows, no modem drivers, no graphic drivers, no sound drivers, no ... After installing Windows Pro it appears the multimedia audio controller is ...
    (microsoft.public.windowsxp.help_and_support)
  • Re: OT - Help! Bought something on ebay
    ... I had the Novell version on my first PC, but I did use the earlier DOS and very first windows version at work. ... thesaurus, one for the utilities, a fifth containing the 'printer definition' ... installation required only 3 disks -- the two program disks, and the first printer disk. ...
    (rec.outdoors.rv-travel)