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Open-source applications such as Abiword, KWord, LyX and OpenOffice Suite Writer are rapidly gaining in popularity.
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There are also many other commercial word processing applications, such as WordPerfect, which dominated the market from the mid-1980s to early-1990s, particularly for machines running Microsoft’s MS-DOS operating system. Microsoft Word is the most widely used computer word processing system Microsoft estimates over five hundred million people use the Office Suite, which includes Word. Most are powerful systems consisting of one or more programs that can produce any arbitrary combination of images, graphics and text, the latter handled with typesetting capability. Word processing was one of the earliest applications for the personal computer in office productivity.Īlthough early word processors used tag-based mark-up for document formatting, most modern word processors take advantage of a graphical user interface. They are descended from early text formatting tools (sometimes called text justification tools, from their only real capability). As the more versatile combination of a personal computer and separate printer became commonplace, the word processor disappeared. Later models introduced innovations such as spell-checking programs, increased formatting options, and dot-matrix printing. Although features and design varied between manufacturers and models, with new features added as technology advanced, word processors for several years usually featured a monochrome display and the ability to save documents on cassettes, memory cards or floppy diskettes. Word processor may also refer to an obsolete type of stand-alone office machine, popular in the 1970s and 80s, combining the keyboard text-entry and printing functions of an electric typewriter with a dedicated computer for the editing of text. It can also refer to advanced shorthand techniques, sometimes used in specialized contexts with a specially modified typewriter.”Ī word processor (more formally known as document preparation system) is a computer application used for the production (including composition, editing, formatting, and possibly printing) of any sort of printable material. “Word processing is the creation of documents using a word processor program.
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Word Processors and Text Editing softwareĬreating and accessing text in Word Processing and Text Editing Programsĭownload this document as an MS Word.
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