Word Processing Software: The Rise of MS Word

Abstract

AbstractIn the mid-1980s, more than 300 different versions of word processing software existed (Bergin, 2006a, b), but within a decade, Microsoft Word emerged from the pack and became the standard writing tool. MS Word convinced the public to exchange their typewriters for microcomputers with writing software. It gave writing an (inter)face to become familiar with. A new era of literacy had begun and started to shape writing, thinking, design, and communication in its own way. First, we provide an overview of the developments that made MS Word successful and describe in broad terms the core issues of word processing before we look at the functionalities that MS Word offers. Next, we reflect on the importance of research on word processors and show that it has dwindled since the initial wave of studies. Research ceased since the 2000s, even though new technological opportunities to study word processors arrived, such as key logging and screen recording. The report ends at the time when the internet had developed sufficiently to change literacy once more and when word processing had to adapt to the tasks, technologies, and demands of writing for the web or in the web.