Microsoft Word Turns 25
Written by Benj Edwards, PC World Oct 22, 2008 8:17 pmA look back at the changes and challenges Microsoft's flagship word-processing program has been through during its first quarter-century.
From Upstart to Market King
If you've been using Microsoft Word for the past quarter of a century, it can seem like Word has always been the top dog of the word-processing world--and for years, it's been incorporated into Microsoft's Office suite. Today, Microsoft's domination is so complete that, from the public's point of view, there is almost no "word-processor market." (Does anyone remember Lotus Manuscript?)
In fact, Microsoft's word processing program got off to a shaky and awkward start in October 1983, and it didn't become all-consuming until at least five years later. Even as Word adopted the market-leading position, it suffered its share of stinging criticisms and setbacks. This is the story, briefly, of how Microsoft Word evolved on its 25-year journey from obscure upstart to Absolute King of the (Software) World.
Read more at the Source: PC World - Microsoft Word Turns 25
2003 is my preferred version.
I was present at the Wordperfect 6 UK launch, which was a DOS application that mimicked the windows look and feel, when all the talk was of how they were going to ignore this upstart Word from Microsoft. within a couple of years wordperfect had gone from No1 to also ran. I wonder what the next No1 will be? Things can change pretty fast in this game.
