![]() There were many dedicated word processing machines at the time, but IBM's main competition was Wang Laboratories. ![]() But IBM dominated the "dedicated word processor" market with its "DisplayWrite" application, which ran on machines dedicated to writing and editing documents. However, edited versions of a document were "Saved" only to this RAM disk, and had to be copied to physical magnetic media before rebooting.īy the mid-1980's WordStar was the most popular word processing software in the world. WordStar would still access the "disk" repeatedly, but the far faster access of the RAM drive compared to a floppy disk yielded a substantial speed improvement. Users quickly learned they could make this version of WordStar run dramatically faster by using the ability of DOS to create a "RAM disk" in memory, and copy the WordStar program files into it. The first DOS version was a direct port of the CP/M version, and therefore only used 64K of RAM even though DOS supported up to 640K. The DOS version was very similar to the original, and although the IBM PC featured arrow keys and separate function keys, the traditional "WordStar diamond" and other Ctrl-key functions were retained, leading to rapid adoption by former CP/M users. Release 4, the final CP/M compatible version was sold with 5-1/4" floppy disk as a default, and an 8" version as an option. ![]() Notably, WordStar was the last commercial word processor supporting the CP/M operating system. It was the most feature-rich and easy-to-use word processor available for this OS, and became a de facto standard. WordStar was originally developed for CP/M, one of the most popular microcomputer operating systems of the pre-MS-DOS era. ![]() Rubinstein was the principal owner of the company. WordStar was a word processor application, published by MicroPro, originally written for the CP/M operating system but later ported to DOS, that enjoyed a dominant market share during the early-to-mid-1980s. ![]() Tracing the History of the Computer - WordStar Word Processor ![]()
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