Perfect Writer

Last updated
Perfect Writer
Original author(s) Perfect Software
Initial release1982;41 years ago (1982)
Written in C
Operating system CP/M, MS-DOS
Predecessor MINCE
Type Word processor

Perfect Writer is a word processor computer program published by Perfect Software for CP/M. [1] In 1984, Thorn EMI Computer Software acquired an exclusive marketing and distribution licence for Perfect Software's products, [2] and the program was rewritten and released as Perfect II for IBM PC compatible computers. [3] Written in C and famous for its stability, it was an enhanced version of MINCE, which itself was a version of Emacs for microcomputer platforms. Emacs itself was too heavyweight to fit within the 64 KB RAM limit of most microcomputers. [4] Like MINCE, it included a floppy disk based virtual memory system.

Along with its companion spreadsheet (Perfect Calc), and database (Perfect Filer), Perfect Writer was bundled with early Kaypro II and Morrow computers, as well as with the Torch Computers Z80 Disk Pack add-on for the BBC Micro [5] and had a list price of US$349. In the UK, it was bundled with the short lived Advance 86B PC (a near IBM compatible). It supported up to 7 buffers, had a character transpose command, undo, footnotes, and indexing. Its capabilities were very close to that of the dedicated word processors of the day. [6] Perfect Writer's ability to cut and paste between documents open in multiple buffers was an advantage over WordStar. [7]

Perfect Writer supported a number of add-on programs, Perfect Speller and Perfect Thesaurus, also published by Perfect Software, along with third party software such as Plu*Perfect published by Plu*Perfect Systems. Plu*Perfect included "D", a dired-like file browser that was deemed "the best of all directory displayers" by Stewart Brand. [4]

Perfect Writer was originally published by Perfect Software. Later versions of the product were developed and maintained by Knowledge Engineering in Austin, Texas. The thesaurus was designed written and maintained by George O. Jenkins, Jr.

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">WordStar</span> Word processor application

WordStar is a word processor application for microcomputers. It was published by MicroPro International and originally written for the CP/M-80 operating system, and later written also for MS-DOS and other 16-bit PC OSes. Rob Barnaby was the sole author of the early versions of the program.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">CP/M</span> Discontinued family of computer operating systems

CP/M, originally standing for Control Program/Monitor and later Control Program for Microcomputers, is a mass-market operating system created in 1974 for Intel 8080/85-based microcomputers by Gary Kildall of Digital Research, Inc. Initially confined to single-tasking on 8-bit processors and no more than 64 kilobytes of memory, later versions of CP/M added multi-user variations and were migrated to 16-bit processors.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Microcomputer</span> Small computer with a processor made of one or a few integrated circuits

A microcomputer is a small, relatively inexpensive computer having a central processing unit (CPU) made out of a microprocessor. The computer also includes memory and input/output (I/O) circuitry together mounted on a printed circuit board (PCB). Microcomputers became popular in the 1970s and 1980s with the advent of increasingly powerful microprocessors. The predecessors to these computers, mainframes and minicomputers, were comparatively much larger and more expensive. Many microcomputers are also personal computers. An early use of the term "personal computer" in 1962 predates microprocessor-based designs. (See "Personal Computer: Computers at Companies" reference below). A "microcomputer" used as an embedded control system may have no human-readable input and output devices. "Personal computer" may be used generically or may denote an IBM PC compatible machine.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Amstrad PCW</span>

The Amstrad PCW series is a range of personal computers produced by British company Amstrad from 1985 to 1998, and also sold under licence in Europe as the "Joyce" by the German electronics company Schneider in the early years of the series' life. The PCW, short for Personal Computer Word-processor, was targeted at the word processing and home office markets. When it was launched the cost of a PCW system was under 25% of the cost of almost all IBM-compatible PC systems in the UK, and as a result the machine was very popular both in the UK and in Europe, persuading many technophobes to venture into using computers. The series is reported to have sold 1.5 million units. However the last two models, introduced in the mid-1990s, were commercial failures, being squeezed out of the market by the falling prices, greater capabilities and wider range of software for IBM-compatible PCs.

In human–computer interaction and user interface design, cut, copy, and paste are related commands that offer an interprocess communication technique for transferring data through a computer's user interface. The cut command removes the selected data from its original position, while the copy command creates a duplicate; in both cases the selected data is kept in temporary storage. The data from the clipboard is later inserted wherever a paste command is issued. The data remains available to any application supporting the feature, thus allowing easy data transfer between applications.

Kaypro Corporation was an American home and personal computer manufacturer based out of San Diego in the 1980s. The company was founded by Non-Linear Systems (NLS) to compete with the popular Osborne 1 portable microcomputer. Kaypro produced a line of rugged, "luggable" CP/M-based computers sold with an extensive software bundle which supplanted its competitors and quickly became one of the top-selling personal computer lines of the early 1980s.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Coherent (operating system)</span>

Coherent is a clone of the Unix operating system for IBM PC compatibles and other microcomputers, developed and sold by the now-defunct Mark Williams Company (MWC). Historically, the operating system was a proprietary product, but it became open source in 2015, released under the BSD-3-Clause license.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">LocoScript</span>

LocoScript is a word processing software package created by Locomotive Software and first released with the Amstrad PCW, a personal computer launched in 1985. Early versions of LocoScript were noted for combining a wide range of facilities with outstanding ease of use. This and the low price of the hardware made it one of the best-selling word processors of the late 1980s. Four major versions of LocoScript were published for the PCW, and two for IBM-compatible PCs running MS-DOS. LocoScript's market share didn't expand with the PC versions, which were not released until after Windows had become the dominant PC operating system.

Common User Access (CUA) is a standard for user interfaces to operating systems and computer programs. It was developed by IBM and first published in 1987 as part of their Systems Application Architecture. Used originally in the MVS/ESA, VM/CMS, OS/400, OS/2 and Microsoft Windows operating systems, parts of the CUA standard are now implemented in programs for other operating systems, including variants of Unix. It is also used by Java AWT and Swing.

Cut & Paste is a word processor published in 1984 for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, IBM PC, and IBM PCjr. It is one of the few productivity releases from game developer and publisher Electronic Arts, along with the contemporaneous Financial Cookbook. In the UK it was distributed by Ariolasoft.

Sprint is a text-based word processor for MS-DOS, first published by Borland in 1987.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">IBM Displaywriter System</span>

The IBM 6580 Displaywriter System is a 16-bit microcomputer that was marketed and sold by IBM's Office Products Division primarily as a word processor. Announced in June 1980 and effectively withdrawn from marketing in July 1986, the system was sold with a 5 MHz Intel 8086, 128K to 448K of RAM, a swivel-mounted monochrome CRT monitor, a detached keyboard, a detached 8" floppy disk drive enclosure with one or two drives, and a detached daisy wheel printer, or Selectric typewriter printer. The primary operating system for the Displaywriter is IBM's internally developed word processing software titled "Textpack", but UCSD p-System, CP/M-86 and MS-DOS were also offered by IBM, Digital Research and CompuSystems, respectively.

Bank Street Writer is a word processor for the Apple II, Atari 8-bit family, Commodore 64, MSX, Macintosh, IBM PC, and IBM PCjr computers. It was designed in 1981 by a team of educators at the Bank Street College of Education in New York City, software developer Franklin E. Smith, and programmers at Intentional Educations in Watertown, Massachusetts. The software was sold in two versions: one for elementary school students published by Scholastic and a general version from Broderbund.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Scripsit</span>

Scripsit is a word processing application written for the Radio Shack TRS-80 line of computers. Versions were available for most if not all computers sold under the TRS-80 name, including the Color Computer and several pocket computer designs, as well as the Tandy version of the Xenix operating system. Tandy Corp. also produced a version running under MS-DOS for its line of PC compatible computers. Some of the 8-bit versions are tape-based and have no ability to read or write to disk.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Emacs</span> Family of text editors

Emacs, originally named EMACS, is a family of text editors that are characterized by their extensibility. The manual for the most widely used variant, GNU Emacs, describes it as "the extensible, customizable, self-documenting, real-time display editor". Development of the first Emacs began in the mid-1970s, and work on its direct descendant, GNU Emacs, continues actively; the latest version is 28.2, released in September 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">MicroPro International</span> American software company (1978–1993)

MicroPro International Corporation was an American software company founded in 1978 in San Rafael, California. They are best known as the publisher of WordStar, a popular early word processor for personal computers.

MINCE is a text editor, originally created for 8080-based microcomputers running the CP/M operating system. Later versions of MINCE were available for GEMDOS on the Atari ST, VAX/VMS, RSX-11, and various flavors of Unix.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Advance 86</span>

The Advance 86 was a microcomputer developed by Advance Technology UK in the United Kingdom, available in two models. The base model, the Model A, featuring a system unit and keyboard, was specified and priced to appeal to the home market, relying on cassette-based storage. An upgraded model, the Model B, augmented the Model A with an expansion unit providing dual floppy disk drives and was intended to appeal to business users. Through the addition of the expansion unit, the Model A could therefore be upgraded to the Model B. The core system employed the Intel 8086 processor, aiming for a level of compatibility with the IBM PC, and 128 KB of RAM, expandable to 256 RAM in the system unit and to a total of 768 KB utilising the expansion unit.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Olivetti M20</span> Z8000 based computer designed by Italian company Olivetti

The Olivetti M20 is a Zilog Z8000 based computer designed and released by Olivetti in 1982. Although it offered good performance, it suffered from a lack of software due to its use of the Z8000 processor and custom operating system, PCOS. The company introduced the IBM PC compatible Olivetti M24 in 1983 and the M20 line was phased out.

The First XLEnt Word Processor is a floppy disk-based word processor for the Atari 8-bit family published by XLEnt Software in 1986. It was written by David Castell who was a student at the time. Though sold by a budget publisher for US$29.95, it was favorably compared with more established competitors.

References

  1. Vogler, John (March 1985). "Perfect Power". Personal Computer World. Vol. 8, no. 3. pp. 156–159. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  2. "Fixes and Updates". Byte. Vol. 9, no. 8. August 1984. pp. 33–34. Retrieved 25 May 2023.
  3. Lang, Kathy (May 1985). "Perfect II". Personal Computer World. Vol. 8, no. 5. pp. 196–199. Retrieved 4 November 2020.
  4. 1 2 Whole Earth Software Catalog. Quantum Press/Doubleday. 1984. ISBN   0-385-19166-9. LCCN   84-15096.
  5. "Z80 Communicator".
  6. Ford, John (14 June 1982). "The Perfect Writer, a new word-processing system". InfoWorld. Vol. 4, no. 23. p. 97.
  7. Waite, Mitchell; Lafore, Robert; Volpe, Jerry (1985). The Official Book for the Commodore 128. The Waite Group, Inc. p. 100. ISBN   0-672-22456-9. LCCN   85-50977. Another reason that split windows are important is that you can cut and paste between two documents while both are on the screen. In WordStar, you have to save the text to be pasted in a file, quit the current document, reload the new document, and read in the file of text.