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Microsoft Word vs WordPerfect
18 Jan 2017

Posted on 01/18/2017 2:03:40 PM PST by rey

Years ago, I used WordPerfect for all my academic papers. I felt the program was more friendly toward that type of writing, easier to cite, create footnotes, end notes, bibliographies, etc. As Microsoft Word no longer comes as part of the operating system package, I have been considering my options.

My question is two-fold; is WordPerfect still a good product? Is it superior to Microsoft Word? What do professional writers prefer and why? (Yeah, that's three. I guess I'm a heavy tipper.)

Thanks.


TOPICS: Computers/Internet
KEYWORDS: microsoftwords; openofficeisfree; windowspinglist; wordperfect; wordprocessing
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To: BereanBrain

.
>> “If you like viruses, ransomware, etc keep using Word.” <<

And then some.

Word is and always has been a pretender.
.


81 posted on 01/18/2017 4:51:43 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: rey

Word Perfect 5.1 was the best of the DOS word processors. Combined with an HP Laserjet II with an Arial font cartridge, you could easily make professional documents. I always liked the grammar evaluation. I called me vague and pretentious and taught me not to use passive voice.

The spell checker on Wordstar was the best. It would show you the proper spelling, but you had to type it. After a while, you learned to spell pretty much everything in your speaking vocabulary.


82 posted on 01/18/2017 4:53:50 PM PST by FXRP (Just me and the pygmy pony)
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To: Bubba_Leroy

.
>> “I first learned programming (FORTRAN) in college using punch cards” <<

Ditto!

And heaven help you if the pile of cards got knocked over.

Used to carry mine around in a compression tray.
.


83 posted on 01/18/2017 4:56:53 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: lafroste

“Near the end of the novel, a word count took about 10 minutes to complete.”

probably more a function of the floppy-drive based OS and computer than WordPerfect itself :)


84 posted on 01/18/2017 4:57:56 PM PST by catnipman (Cat Nipman: Vote Republican in 2012 and only be called racist one more time!)
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To: FXRP

.
>> “I always liked the grammar evaluation.” <<

I always hated it. It would make your letters look like they were written by a 10 year old that was slow for his age.
.


85 posted on 01/18/2017 4:59:52 PM PST by editor-surveyor (Freepers: Not as smart as I'd hoped they'd be)
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To: rey

WordPerfect for DOS was better than MS Word for Windows. It was so powerful. When WP conformed to Windows, it lost some of it’s wonderfulness.


86 posted on 01/18/2017 5:02:39 PM PST by MayflowerMadam (If you think the party that freed the slaves are the racist ones, you probably are a liberal.)
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To: Attention Surplus Disorder

WP 5 and 7 were like heaven. Easy to use. Microsoft sucks.


87 posted on 01/18/2017 5:03:30 PM PST by MadMax, the Grinning Reaper
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To: rey

Wordstar. Yes, Wordstar. Can anyone besides myself remember the control key clusters for moving the cursor?


88 posted on 01/18/2017 5:03:37 PM PST by GingisK
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To: Born to Conserve

Can you remember the cursor movement control-key cluster?


89 posted on 01/18/2017 5:06:07 PM PST by GingisK
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To: NYAmerican

Those Xerox computers had a 19” monochrome GUI, a hard drive and a mouse when IBM PC’s still had DOS.


90 posted on 01/18/2017 5:08:58 PM PST by Dalberg-Acton
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To: goldbux
Well, there are at least two of us old dinosaurs. I miss those old machines, both big iron and mini-computer. PDP-11/45, CDC 7600, UNIVAC 1108, SEL 810 and 840, and many others.

It was wonderful when the word processing software came onto the scene. Anazing what could be done even with an ordinary 25X80 CRT.

91 posted on 01/18/2017 5:11:34 PM PST by GingisK
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To: NYAmerican
Thank you! The contributions made by many dedicated employees in the industry are often overlooked, &/or mocked as nerdy Dilbert cubicle stereotypes.

I have plenty of scars from the software / hardware wars. 16 years in corporate management; hired 125 talented individuals, mostly mathematicians & programmers. Our teams performed honest, productive work. We installed, debugged, & supported many systems for important businesses across the US, mostly in the northwest quadrant.

I was lucky enough to have the honor of attending graduate classes taught by McCarthy, Alan Kay (designed the original laptop computer; became an Apple Fellow), and Don Knuth – the legendary genius who created much of modern computer science.

Stanford was (& is) keen on developing algorithmic thinking.

Working at SAIL at the Beginning of it All was otherworldly. It was mentally invigorating to work closely with many brilliant, forceful thinkers.

How far we have come with computer technology!

In retrospect, it was all worth it.

92 posted on 01/18/2017 5:12:05 PM PST by goldbux (When you're odd the odds are with you.)
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To: rey

I use LibreOffice. It’s free and very similar to MS word


93 posted on 01/18/2017 5:17:21 PM PST by xenias
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To: Dalberg-Acton; NYAmerican
The UNIVAC 1105 took an hour to boot up. Had to warm up the vacuum tubes for 15 minutes at quarter voltage, then another three 15-minute iterations of extra quarter voltage.

A truck would deliver a Costco pallet of new tubes every week to replace the burned-out ones. That was long before Costco existed. "Costco pallet" is just the modern standard unit of industrial measurement.

94 posted on 01/18/2017 5:21:33 PM PST by goldbux (When you're odd the odds are with you.)
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To: rey
I am a Word Perfect fan. Have used it practically since version 1.0. It has always seemed much more intuitive to me.

I hate Word. It's always trying to think for me, always trying to format for me. Hate. It. Thankfully Word Perfect will save a doc in Word format for those rare occasions when I have to send someone a Word version.

95 posted on 01/18/2017 5:22:17 PM PST by RightField
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To: umgud

Bawhaha. Used WordStar for a long time, never much liked the early versions of Word. I still have a place in my heart for XyWrite. Great bit of software.


96 posted on 01/18/2017 5:24:39 PM PST by Proud_texan (Crooked thought she deleted this tag line)
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To: NYAmerican; Dalberg-Acton

Doug Englebart invented the mouse ~1963, & perfected it (at the time) at Xerox Palo Alto Research Center (PARC), along with other GUI innovations.


97 posted on 01/18/2017 5:24:58 PM PST by goldbux (When you're odd the odds are with you.)
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To: goldbux

98 posted on 01/18/2017 5:26:32 PM PST by Ray76 (DRAIN THE SWAMP)
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To: goldbux

Wow. I’ve never had to opportunity to see a Tube computer. Oldest I’ve seen was an 1970’s vintage Westinghouse computer which booted from punch card and used Drum memory. After that it was DEC PDP’s, and time marched on.....


99 posted on 01/18/2017 5:31:41 PM PST by NYAmerican
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To: NYer

Word pays big dividends if you use Styles to format your text, and don’t try to apply lots of stuff to various bits of text here and there. Get your styles set up right on the front end, and turn on reveal paragraph marks. Know that the formatting, the style, is in the paragraph mark.


100 posted on 01/18/2017 5:33:54 PM PST by FreedomPoster (Islam delenda est)
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