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'''WordPerfect''' is a
word processing program; at the height of its popularity in the late
1980s and early
1990s, it was the ''de facto'' standard
word processor, but has since been eclipsed in sales by
Microsoft Word. At its height, it was available for a wide variety of computers and operating systems, including DOS, Windows, Mac OS,
Apple II, most popular versions of
Unix,
VMS,
Data General,
System/370,
AmigaOS,
Atari ST, and (later)
Linux.
==WordPerfect for PCs==
WordPerfect was originally produced by Satellite Software, Inc. of
Orem,
Utah, which later renamed itself to
WordPerfect Corporation. They produced the most successful version ever: WordPerfect 5.1 DOS. Many people still know the key combinations from WordPerfect 5.1 DOS that date back to the time that function keys were on the left of the keyboard, where, for instance, Tab and F4 (Indent) were adjacent.
WordPerfect was known for using just about every possible combination of
function keys with Ctrl, Alt, and Shift modifiers. This plethora of keystroke possibilities - combined with the developers' wish to keep the user interface free of "clutter" such as on-screen menus, made it necessary for many users to use a keyboard template showing each function. This was in contrast to
WordStar, which it had supplanted as the major word processor -- WordStar used only Ctrl in conjuction with keys on the regular keyboard.
WordPerfect was late in coming to market with a
Windows version, however, and its function-key-centered user interface did not adapt well to the new paradigm of mice and pull-down menus, especially with many of WordPerfect's standard keystrokes displaced by incompatible keyboard shortcuts used by Windows itself (e.g. Alt-F4 became "exit program" instead of "block text"). The DOS version's impressive arsenal of printer drivers was also rendered obsolete by Windows' use of its own printer device drivers.
The WordPerfect product was sold twice, first to
Novell in June of 1994, who then sold it to
Corel in January of 1996. Prior to the first sale however, WordPerfect had also become part of an
office applications suite when the company entered into a co-licensing agreement with
Borland Software Corporation in 1993. The offerings were marketed as Borland Office, containing windows versions of WordPerfect,
Quattro Pro,
Borland Paradox, and a LAN-based groupware package called WordPerfect Office (not to be confused with the complete suite of the same name later marketed by Corel).
Between the weaknesses of the Windows version, and Microsoft's simultaneous aggressive marketing of
Word for Windows, WordPerfect's sales suffered a decline from which it has never recovered. Amongst its remaining avid users are many law firms and a few universities, markets which Corel now caters to as niche markets. Corel's attempt to promote WordPerfect as the standard word processor on
Linux systems proved unsuccessful, due to a combination of the Linux-using community's skepticism of
proprietary software, the product's unremarkable performance, and the company's change of strategic direction following an investment by Microsoft.
In 2003 Corel was bought by
Vector Capital, a
venture capital investor. In April 2004, the company released an updated version of WordPerfect 8 for Linux, as a "proof of concept" to test the Linux marketplace.
==Comparison to other word processors==
WordPerfect aficionados remain convinced of the superiority of their word processor, pointing out how the
Reveal Codes function (which allows the user to toggle between normal editing mode and a mode in which embedded formatting commands are visible and editable) gives the
power user very precise control over the text. They also argue that WordPerfect has powerful features for creating tables of authorities in legal documents and correctly counts the number of words in the document, including footnotes.
Many users familiar with both Microsoft Word and WordPerfect feel that WordPerfect handles long, complexly formatted documents much better than does Word, something that appeals to writers and legal professionals.
Those preferring the Microsoft Office suite cite MS Office's better integration between the different programs (such as
e-mail programs), and WordPerfect's poor implementation of Windows conventions (especially in the early Windows versions of WordPerfect) and what they perceived as its lack of
user-friendliness. For many users these arguments lost some validity after 1996, when newer versions of WordPerfect eliminated those perceived weaknesses. Corel's marketing department, however, has failed to capitalize on what dedicated users still consider WordPerfect's superiority.
In WordPerfect 11 Corel added the Classic Mode. This was an attempt to win back users that switched to MS Word because WordPerfect for Windows was so different from the DOS version they knew and loved. See
WordPerfect 12, which was released in
2004, for an extended description of the Classic Mode.
Other features that are still unique to WordPerfect, compared to Word, include a one-click
PDF creation feature, which lets users convert their documents to PDF without buying
Adobe Acrobat. It also features a built-in
dictionary and a
thesaurus which suggests new words from a drop-down box while users type. Unlike Word, all editions of WordPerfect since version 6 also use the same
file format, making it easy for users to share documents between newer and older copies.
==WordPerfect for Macintosh==
WordPerfect for Macintosh's first release was a crude port of the DOS version, and was not accepted warmly in the marketplace. Version 2 was a total re-write, and made WordPerfect for Mac a "proper" Mac application. Version 3 took this further, making extensive use of the technologies Apple introduced in Systems 7.0–7.5, while remaining fast and capable of running well on older machines. Corel released WordPerfect for Mac version 3.5 in 1996, but it was never updated beyond that, and was later discontinued. For a few years after that, Corel allowed Mac users to download version 3.5 for free from their website. Some Mac users still prefer WordPerfect, and continue using it, but because it was written for slow machines, it scrolls uncontrollably fast on modern hardware, prompting an independent developer to write a patch to throttle the scroll speed, allowing it to run well on current machines.
==Versions==
Versions for
Microsoft DOS include:
*
1983 WordPerfect 3.0 for DOS
*
1984 WordPerfect 4.0 for DOS
*
1988 WordPerfect 5.0 for DOS
*
1993 WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS
Versions for
Apple II include:
*
1985 WordPerfect 1.0 for Apple II
*
1986 WordPerfect 2.0 for Apple II
Versions for the
Apple Macintosh include:
*
1988 WordPerfect 1.0 for Macintosh
*
1990 WordPerfect 2.0 for Macintosh
*
1993 WordPerfect 3.0 for Macintosh
*
1995 WordPerfect 3.5 for Macintosh
Versions for
Microsoft Windows include:
*
1991 WordPerfect 5.1 for Windows
*
1993 WordPerfect 6.0 for Windows
*
1996 WordPerfect 7.0 for Windows
*
1997 WordPerfect 8.0 for Windows
*
1999 WordPerfect 9.0 for Windows
Versions for
Linux include:
*
1996 WordPerfect 6.0 for Linux
*
2000 WordPerfect 9.0 for Linux
== External links ==
*
Corel's Website
*
WordPerfect Universe - A moderated, user-supported community of thousands of dedicated fans of WordPerfect, with Forums where you can ask questions, read FAQs, Tips, News, and more. Free to join.
*
Wordperfect vs. Word - A user webpage that compares the features of the two programs using a point system
* ''
Almost Perfect'', a history of WordPerfect Corporation (and the word processor)
*
WPDOS, a Chronology of Versions, a timeline of WordPerfect from its early beginnings, through all acquisitions and revisions
*
Novell Facts, When Novell purchased WP
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