At the height of its popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, it was the dominant player in the word processor market, displacing the prior market leader WordStar. It was originally developed under contract at Brigham Young University for use on a Data General minicomputer in the late 1970s.
The authors retained the rights to the program, forming the Utah-based Satellite Software International (SSI) in 1979 to sell it; the program first came to market under the name SSI*WP in March 1980.
Older versions of WordPerfect also used file extensions .wp, .wp7, .wp6, .wp5, .wp4, and originally, no extension at all. ==WordPerfect for DOS== In 1979, Brigham Young University graduate student Bruce Bastian and computer science professor Alan Ashton created word processing software for a Data General minicomputer system owned by the city of Orem, Utah.
At the height of its popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, it was the dominant player in the word processor market, displacing the prior market leader WordStar. It was originally developed under contract at Brigham Young University for use on a Data General minicomputer in the late 1970s.
The authors retained the rights to the program, forming the Utah-based Satellite Software International (SSI) in 1979 to sell it; the program first came to market under the name SSI*WP in March 1980.
It then moved to the MS-DOS operating system in 1982, by which time the name WordPerfect was in use, and several greatly updated versions quickly followed.
WordPerfect 1.0 represented a significant departure from the previous Wang standard for word processing. The first version of WordPerfect for the IBM PC was released the day after Thanksgiving in 1982.
In addition, WordStar, created for the CP/M operating system, in which subdirectories are not supported, was extremely slow in switching to support sub-directories in MS-DOS. In 1983, WordPerfect 3.0 was released for DOS.
Publishing to PDF from WordPerfect embeds the WP-phonetic font together with the Unicode-compatible font. ==Reception== PC Magazine stated in March 1983 that "WordPerfect is very impressive, a more than full-featured program with a few truly state-of-the-art goodies tucked into the package".
Antic magazine observed, that "WordPerfect is almost unusable without its manual of over 600 pages!" A version of WordPerfect 3.0 became the Editor program of WordPerfect Office. WordPerfect 4.0 was released in 1984.
Byte in December 1984 noted the application's built-in print buffer, ability to show bold, underline, and centered text, and extensive math capabilities.
Satellite Software International changed its name to WordPerfect Corporation in 1985. WordPerfect gained praise for its "look of sparseness" and clean display.
Compute! in August 1985 called WordPerfect "excellent".
It rapidly displaced most other systems, especially after the 4.2 release in 1986, and it became the standard in the DOS market by version 5.1 in 1989.
WordPerfect Library, introduced in 1986 and later renamed WordPerfect Office (not to be confused with Corel's Windows office suite of the same name), was a package of DOS network and stand-alone utility software for use with WordPerfect.
It became the first program to overtake the original market leader WordStar in a major application category on the DOS platform. By 1987, Compute! magazine described WordPerfect as "a standard in the MS-DOS world" and "a powerhouse program that includes almost everything".
In 1987, WordPerfect Corp.
However, support from the Atari community convinced WordPerfect to reconsider and support for the Atari ST continued, but only a single developer was assigned to the project to fix bugs. A WordPerfect 5.1 version for the Atari ST was planned and in development but was later cancelled. ===Amiga=== In 1987, WordPerfect was ported to the Amiga 1000 and was upgraded through version 4.1 on the Amiga platform despite rumors of its discontinuation.
WordPerfect 4.2, released in 1988, introduced automatic paragraph numbering, which was important to law offices, and automatic numbering and placement of footnotes and endnotes that were important both to law offices and academics.
In 1988 WordPerfect threatened to abandon the Atari market after copies of the word processor were found on several pirate bulletin board systems.
It rapidly displaced most other systems, especially after the 4.2 release in 1986, and it became the standard in the DOS market by version 5.1 in 1989.
In November 1989, WordPerfect Corporation released the program's most successful version, WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS, which was the first version to include pull-down menus to supplement the traditional function key combinations, support for tables, a spreadsheet-like feature, and full support for typesetting options, such as italic, redline, and strike-through.
Satellite Software received criticism for releasing a non-graphical word processor on a graphically oriented system. In 1989, WordPerfect Corporation stopped all Amiga development, including work on a version of PlanPerfect, stating that it had lost $800,000 on the computer and could not afford to add Amiga-specific features.
At the height of its popularity in the 1980s and early 1990s, it was the dominant player in the word processor market, displacing the prior market leader WordStar. It was originally developed under contract at Brigham Young University for use on a Data General minicomputer in the late 1970s.
The first mature version, WordPerfect 5.2 for Windows was released in November 1992 and 6.0 for Windows was released in 1993.
After customers stated that they would be satisfied with a DOS-like word processor the company resumed development of only the Amiga version of WordPerfect, but discontinued it in 1992. ===Linux=== In 1995, WordPerfect 6.0 was made available for Linux as part of Caldera's internet office package.
This version could read and write WordPerfect 6 files, included several third-party screen and printing applications (previously sold separately), and provided several minor improvements. WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS, released in 1993, could switch between its traditional text-based display mode and a graphical display mode that showed the document as it would print out known as WYSIWYG (what you see is what you get).
The first mature version, WordPerfect 5.2 for Windows was released in November 1992 and 6.0 for Windows was released in 1993.
The DOS version's impressive arsenal of finely tuned printer drivers was also rendered obsolete by Windows' use of its own printer device drivers. ===WordPerfect Office Suite=== WordPerfect became part of an office suite when the company entered into a co-licensing agreement with Borland Software Corporation in 1993.
It originates from Borland Software Corporation's Borland Office, released in 1993 to compete against Microsoft Office and AppleWorks.
WordPerfect Corporation was sold to Novell in 1994, which then sold the product to Corel in 1996.
The other "middleware" (developed by Novell) was called AppWare. ===Novell buys WordPerfect Company=== The WordPerfect product line was sold twice, first to Novell in June 1994, who then sold it (at a big loss) to Corel in January 1996.
Borland then sold the suite to Novell in 1994, which led to the addition of Novell Presentations and the now-defunct InfoCentral.
In December 1995, Novell released DataPerfect as copyrighted freeware and allowed the original author to continue to update the program.
After customers stated that they would be satisfied with a DOS-like word processor the company resumed development of only the Amiga version of WordPerfect, but discontinued it in 1992. ===Linux=== In 1995, WordPerfect 6.0 was made available for Linux as part of Caldera's internet office package.
WordPerfect Corporation was sold to Novell in 1994, which then sold the product to Corel in 1996.
The other "middleware" (developed by Novell) was called AppWare. ===Novell buys WordPerfect Company=== The WordPerfect product line was sold twice, first to Novell in June 1994, who then sold it (at a big loss) to Corel in January 1996.
Microsoft', Novell argued that these problems were due to anti-competitive acts by Microsoft. While WordPerfect 7 contained notable improvements over the 16-bit WordPerfect for Windows 3.1, it was released in May 1996, nine months after the introduction of Windows 95 and Microsoft Office 95 (including Word 95).
It was then sold to Corel in 1996. ===Corel WordPerfect Suite 7 and Office 7 Professional=== Corel WordPerfect Suite 7 featured version 7 of its core applications: WordPerfect, Quattro Pro and Presentations while Office 7 Professional included Paradox as well.
The suite for Windows was released in 1996 to retail. ===Corel WordPerfect Office 2000=== Corel WordPerfect Office 2000 featured version 9 of its core applications: WordPerfect, Quattro Pro, Presentations, Paradox and CorelCentral.
Corel released version 3.5 in 1996, followed by the improved version 3.5e (for enhanced) in 1997.
Corel released version 3.5 in 1996, followed by the improved version 3.5e (for enhanced) in 1997.
In late 1997, a newer version was made available for download, but had to be purchased to be activated. In 1998 Corel released WordPerfect 8.0 for Linux.
The suite for Windows was released on November 16, 1998 as a preview and on May 25, 1999 to retail.
In late 1997, a newer version was made available for download, but had to be purchased to be activated. In 1998 Corel released WordPerfect 8.0 for Linux.
The suite for Windows was released on November 16, 1998 as a preview and on May 25, 1999 to retail.
The third is WordPerfect Law Office 2000, released on December 20, 1999.
Some Linux promoters appreciated the availability of a well-known, mainstream application for the operating system. Once OpenOffice.org appeared in 1999, there was little demand for a proprietary, closed-source project like WordPerfect.
The suite for Windows was released in 1996 to retail. ===Corel WordPerfect Office 2000=== Corel WordPerfect Office 2000 featured version 9 of its core applications: WordPerfect, Quattro Pro, Presentations, Paradox and CorelCentral.
Small Business edition was released on January 31, 2000 and omits Paradox. Several variants of this suite exist.
The third is WordPerfect Law Office 2000, released on December 20, 1999.
Another notable variant is WordPerfect Office 2000 for Linux, released on March 10, 2000.
Microsoft antitrust lawsuit=== In November 2004, Novell filed an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft for alleged anti-competitive behavior (such as tying Word to sales of Windows) that Novell claims led to loss of WordPerfect market share.
In April 2004, Corel re-released WordPerfect 8.1 (the last Linux-native version) with some updates, as a "proof of concept" and to test the Linux market.
The user interface has stayed almost identical from WPWin 6 through WP X5 (2010) and file formats have not changed, as incompatible new formats would require keeping both obsolete software versions and obsolete hardware around just to access a few old documents. Corel has catered to these markets, with, for example, a major sale to the United States Department of Justice in 2005.
Novell filed an appeal against the judgment in November 2012. The documents filed in this lawsuit display abundant information on the essence, importance, history and development of WordPerfect. Windows shell namespaces were, and continue to be, a big part of the case. ===Corel WordPerfect=== Since its acquisition by Corel, WordPerfect for Windows has officially been known as Corel WordPerfect. On January 17, 2006, Corel announced WordPerfect X3.
Corel is an original member of the OASIS Technical Committee on the OpenDocument Format, and Paul Langille, a senior Corel developer, is one of the original four authors of the OpenDocument specification. In January 2006, subscribers to Corel's electronic newsletter were informed that WordPerfect 13 was scheduled for release later in 2006.
This version includes improved support for PDF, Microsoft Office 2007, OpenDocument, and Office Open XML.
Updates were developed until at least 2008. DataPerfect supports up to 99 data files ("panels") with each holding up to 16 million records of up to 125 fields and an unlimited number of variable-length memo fields which can store up to 64,000 characters each.
2 office suite behind Microsoft Office in the consumer, small and medium businesses, and enterprise markets with a roughly 15 percent share in each market. In April 2008, Corel released its WordPerfect Office X4 office suite containing the new X4 version of WordPerfect which includes support for PDF editing, OpenDocument and Office Open XML.
However, X4 does not include support for editing PDF's containing images in JPEG2000 format, a format used by Adobe Acrobat 9. In March 2010, Corel released its WordPerfect Office X5 office suite, which contains the new X5 version of WordPerfect.
That lawsuit, after several delays, was dismissed in July 2012.
Novell filed an appeal against the judgment in November 2012. The documents filed in this lawsuit display abundant information on the essence, importance, history and development of WordPerfect. Windows shell namespaces were, and continue to be, a big part of the case. ===Corel WordPerfect=== Since its acquisition by Corel, WordPerfect for Windows has officially been known as Corel WordPerfect. On January 17, 2006, Corel announced WordPerfect X3.
The new release includes integration with Microsoft SharePoint and other web services geared towards government and business users. In April 2012, Corel released its WordPerfect Office X6 office suite, which contains the new X6 version of WordPerfect.
, WordPerfect for Linux is not available for purchase, however it can still be found used, in online marketplaces. As of 2020, WordPerfect for Linux (also known as xwp) can still be run on modern distros. Linux applications may use the libwpd library to convert Word Perfect documents. ===iOS=== A WordPerfect X7 app for iOS was released in 2014, but it was merely remote desktop software that connected to a Corel-hosted WordPerfect for Windows session.
Although it supports various Linux distributions, it was designed with Corel Linux in mind as a way to upgrade such systems, which bundled a free version of the WordPerfect word processor. ===Latest version=== The latest version is WordPerfect Office 2020, released May 5, 2020. ===Quattro Pro=== Quattro Pro is a spreadsheet program that originally competed against the dominant Lotus 1-2-3, and now competes against LibreOffice Calc, Microsoft Excel, Google Sheets and Apple's Numbers.
, WordPerfect for Linux is not available for purchase, however it can still be found used, in online marketplaces. As of 2020, WordPerfect for Linux (also known as xwp) can still be run on modern distros. Linux applications may use the libwpd library to convert Word Perfect documents. ===iOS=== A WordPerfect X7 app for iOS was released in 2014, but it was merely remote desktop software that connected to a Corel-hosted WordPerfect for Windows session.
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