Divided They Fell: The Insane Story of WordStar's Downfall
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- Опубликовано: 28 авг 2024
- When WordStar was released in 1978, it quickly became the world’s most popular word processor by 1983 Micropro, its creator had become the biggest Software Company in the world.
Seymour Rubinstein was an employee of early microcomputer company IMSAI, where he negotiated software contracts with Digital Research and Microsoft. After leaving IMSAI, Version 3.3 of WordStar for both IBM and CP/M computers was released in 1983 and continued on with the success of its previous version. AT&T had just began its ill fated foray into the pc industry with its line of UNIX based computers, before the launch of their computers they needed to make sure that they would have popular applications that were compatible with them, so they reached out to MicroPro and offered them money to create a version of WordStar that would run on their UNIX systems.
Jesus this was in my Watch Later for like a week thinking this was about Worldstar Hip Hop lmao
sorry for the confusion🤣
@@Tech_History_Channel next video idea?
@lpnp9477 you never know👀
Bruh. Same
George "Game of Thrones" Martin still uses Wordstar 4 on a DOS machine.
The Wordstar keystrokes were addictive and copied by programs like Sidekick. I still remember ctrl-y to delete a line. Wordstar 2000 was more systematic but needed 2 keystrokes to delete a character, word or line. At the time I assumed it was the upgrade for all Wordstar versions. I couldn't understand such a boneheaded move. For typists, the keystrokes are everything.
I have long switched my muscle memory to vi or vim, whose keystrokes are equally addictive and supported by programs such as Obsidian
This pretty cool!
WordStar's two-key combinations emerged from the absence of function keys on early computers. That work-around gained popularity as it allowed 10-finger typists to execute all commands from the QWERTY keyboard without extended hand movement. Known as "the writer's word processor," it offered a distraction-free interface, emphasizing text on the page over WYSIWYG formatting and other bells and whistles.
Thanks for the video! I love computer history and I just discovered this channel.
I can't wait to make more videos for your viewing pleasure!
I believe that Wordstar was the first word processing program I learned by using a microcomputer, the IBM PC jr., at Control Data Institute in 1988. However, I learned to typewrite on an old Underwood typewriter when I was 12 years old. Today, I am working on a Dell OptiPlex microcomputer that runs on Microsoft Windows 11 Professional with Microsoft Office 2021 Professional. Electronic printer technology, along with microcomputer technology has improved over the past years, thus making printing easier, as it should have been before. [Your] stories about computer technology raises my exhortation to appreciate using my microcomputer more in ways that I would not want to work on anyone else's machine.
That's quite a journey from the Underwood typewriter to the latest Dell OptiPlex microcomputer, It's great to hear that my stories about computer technology have inspired you to appreciate and utilize your microcomputer to its fullest potential. Thanks for sharing your story!
@@Tech_History_Channel You are welcome. The unemployment tenure I experienced since 1997 changed from a burden to a blessing for me. I received some exposure to Microsoft Word 6.0 on the Macintosh computer at a printing school during a course in Advanced Desktop Publishing. I admired its Character menu. It increased my interest in using typesetting characters than doing artwork which interested my classmates. Later on, during other employment training programs, I became exposed to Microsoft Word for Windows, beginning with Windows 95. I bought my first microcomputer which was Cybernet, a brand made in the California state, of the United States of America. It consisted of Microsoft Windows XP Professional with all the applications as the 2002 version. I had a big Canon color laser printer, a Canon flatbed scanner, and finally, a Brother P-touch label printer, all connected to my Cybernet All-in-one PC. I call the microcomputer my Keyboard, because it is my powerful typewriter. I had Cybernet until 2017, when the discontinued model finally caught a dead motherboard. I needed a keyboard badly because I had documents and files that were "more" valuable than gold blocks stacked in Fort Knox. I had my first Dell which was an Inspiron. Wow! I graduated from Microsoft Windows XP Professional to Microsoft Windows 10 Pro, and from Microsoft Office XP Professional XP Professional to Microsoft Office 2016, then promoted to Microsoft Office, then Microsoft 365, Microsoft Office 2019 Professional, and now I am on "top" with Microsoft Office 2021 Professional. I have no desire to look back by resorting to doing regular work at other people's places. I received a Gracious Great God-given freedom that I did not earn. I am doing better than before. In April 2023, I treated myself to a birthday present for my 70th Birthday with a Dell OptiPlex All-In-One 7410 Plus microcomputer. It runs Microsoft 11 Professional and includes Microsoft Office 2021 Professional. This office suite still includes Microsoft Access and Microsoft Publisher that are not found in the lower bundled suites. I have a Canon color laser printer with a scanner, and functions like an all-in-one model, and a Brother P-touch laminated label tape printer. When I use Microsoft Word, I keyboard personal letters, as well as business letters, without signing my signature in ink on the document. Thus, I continue to do some old-fashioned tasks and use the United States Post Office to deliver my mail. Thank you for rendering your invaluable and most important time to type to me. Happy Keyboarding!💙
So after being a relatively successful company in terms of revenue and sales, after finding a new management team that did their job adequately. The downfall of wordstar was not even competition of other companies but instead it was one of their own. Do you think this could have been avoided if Rubenstein just let his pride down and apologised and re-hired the 1st team of developers ?
Yes, he should have taken that decision and perhaps things could have ended differently.
This show was made for computer technology lovers and fans, and keyboard specialists like me.
Remember when WordStar and then WordPerfect were king.
(It comes as a shock to me that WordPerfect is still around though I haven't heard about it since the late 80's...🤭)
yeah I might make a video about WordPerfect too, its interesting how they dethroned WordStar and then themselves were dethroned
As far as I know, WordPerfect is the most preferred word processing application in the legal office. Then Corel bought the former Borland Quattro Pro and the Borland Paradox to make a business productivity bundle. I have not heard nor read anything about Corel since the 1990s decade.
Nice video
Thanks