This is where the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' ideology with lead you.
WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)
61–70 of 96 posts
Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)
#62I began using WordStar in 1980 for development (in "non-document mode") on CP/M. It was the best thing ever available for that platform, and it had some features that I've never seen duplicated elsewhere (such as "column mode" cut and paste). Back when I was using it, the standard computer keyboard had the "control" key directly to the left of the "A" key (where the "Caps Lock" key is now). I was never happy that IBM…
> "column mode" cut and paste Emacs (of course) has rectangles.
For the graphically oriented, TextMate has had columnar cursor and clipboard operations since 2005, IIRC, and recent versions of Xcode also have a good implementation.
Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)
#63This is where the 'if it ain't broke don't fix it' ideology with lead you.
What do you mean?
Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)
#64WordStar was the first productivity application I ever used. Here's one of the biggest things I miss these days in computing: ...scroll the screen up and down a page at a time (a "page" in the computer sense of a full screen of text).
That scrolling is something standard on Macs from, well, as long as Macs have had page up and page down keys -- they scroll the screen, but don't change the cursor position. Home and End likewise scroll to the top and bottom of the document without changing the cursor position.
Those of us who started with Macs (or perhaps with WordStar, which I did actually use back in the day!) think this is normal and the Windows mapping for those keys is weird. :)
Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)
#65XyWrite, faster and more customizable.
I used Nota Bene, a relative of XyWrite built on the same engine, for years, and still have Nota Bene files kicking around on my Mac -- which turn out to still be readable, since the XyWrite/NB file format is actually just plain text with embedded markup.
Odd trivia: while XyWrite is long gone, Nota Bene actually survives to this day, now built on the engine that XyWrite's last owner intended to use for a never-shipped XyWrite successor.
Odder trivia: in the 1970s, there was a commercial dedicated typesetting called Atex, widely in use at newspapers, where journalists typed directly into Atex terminals. The main developers of Atex split up in the late 1970s; one group went on to develop PageMaker, and another went on to develop XyWrite. So XyWrite ended up becoming a major hit at newspapers and magazines, and PageMaker could always read XyWrite files. (And, for a long time, both QuarkXpress and even InDesign could, too.)
Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)
#66I began using WordStar in 1980 for development (in "non-document mode") on CP/M. It was the best thing ever available for that platform, and it had some features that I've never seen duplicated elsewhere (such as "column mode" cut and paste). Back when I was using it, the standard computer keyboard had the "control" key directly to the left of the "A" key (where the "Caps Lock" key is now). I was never happy that IBM…
In my first job (early 80s), we wrote 6809 assembly in Wordstar using non-document mode. It worked very well for that purpose.
We had a Molecular Supermicro 32, basically a card cage for Z80 boards running CP/M and sharing a small (large at the time!) hard drive. My first task there was pulling serial cables to the engineering lab to hook up terminals. We had a band printer for program listings (aka backups) and a ball printer for docs. Good times.
Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)
#67I remember using it as a child at the start of the 90's on a PC, when I was just learning to read. It was the prefered editor of William F. Buckley and famously GRRM still uses it. I tried it recently on a retro computer after decades and it is nothing to write home about. Does anyone know of a proper file converter to Word, that supports non-ANSI characters?
You mean other than Microsoft's WordStar converter, wsconv.exe?
Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)
#68"I love my Electric Pencil." [1] Michael Shrayer's word processor was released in 1976 for the Altair computer. [2] Other versions soon followed. [1] See ad on page 10: http://www.atarimania.com/mags/pdf/SoftSide_Vol_2_No_08.pdf [2] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Electric_Pencil
""I love my Electric Pencil.""
That's a blast from the past, I remember it also ran under TRSDOS and NEWDOS-80 on my Tandy TRS-80.
Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)
#69I don't have a deep personal affectation for WordStar, although I do appreciate it's keyboard layout, but what I do miss is writers having opinions about these things. These days it seems that it's mostly "whatever version of Word that came with my Laptop/Times New Roman 12". We programmers still have our "holy wars" (although I see a decrease of passion here, too, with safe choices like VSC or IntelliJ being more an…
> WordPerfect. (Heck, WordPerfect even made lawyers have an opinion of their own) IIRC, WordPerfect is only still a thing because Word still does not do footnotes the way lawyers like (and courts require).
Also, at least here in Canada, it has a huge place in the education market, I believe in part due to a deal with the school systems.
Re: WordStar: A Writer's Word Processor (1996)
#70Jim Fox was a key programmer for WordStar. He never got much credit. I guess because he was just an employee. Jim thought, and talked about WordStar up until his death a few years ago on the streets of San Rafael. I’m posting this because he would want it. Jim was so proud of his contributions to WordStar, and told anyone who was within speaking distance. Jim was pretty happy guy, but couldn’t find work, and wasn’t n…
Your rambling is very much appreciated. I'm terribly sorry to hear about Jim Fox, it is often those who are the real knowledge behind development that get lost or left behind for a multitude of reasons, which, more often than not, are problems or a fallout with financial backers, entrepreneurs or it's the work of ruthless competitors. Unfortunately, this happens not only in programming and IT but in every endeavor im…
To your list of misfits contributing greatly whilst treated poorly, I'd add Ian Murdoch.