Editing LocoScript (section)

==Background and reception==
LocoScript's developers, [[Locomotive Software]], had produced [[Locomotive BASIC]] for [[Amstrad]]'s [[CPC 464]] home computer, introduced in 1984.<ref name="LaingDigitalRetroPCW">{{cite book
|last=Laing|first=G.|title=Digital Retro|pages=170–173|chapter=Amstrad PCW | publisher=The Ilex Press Ltd|year=2004|isbn=1-904705-39-1
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=967VdXdc5w4C&dq=amstrad+pcw&pg=PT133 |accessdate=2009-05-01
}}</ref><ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.drobe.co.uk/article.php?id=126 | title=BASIC V for Unix, DOS, Windows and RISC OS: We talk to author Dave Daniels about the spirit of Brandy BASIC | publisher=Drobe magazine | date= | accessdate=2009-05-07 | author=Williams, Chris}}</ref>  For the [[Amstrad PCW]], introduced in 1985, Locomotive produced the LocoScript [[word processor]] and [[Mallard BASIC]],<ref name="Austin1989MoreThanWP">{{cite journal|last=Austin|first=G.|year=1989|title=They are more than word processors|journal=MicroMart|url=http://www.gaby.de/ftp/pub/cpm/znode51/pcwworld/t120/user_0/pcwcol.asc|accessdate=2009-05-02}}</ref> and also wrote the PCW's User Guide.<ref name="PCW8xUserGuideCopyright">{{cite book|last=Gilmour|first=J.|title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual|publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc|year=1985|url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|accessdate=2009-05-07|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|archivedate=2011-07-20}}</ref> These programs and a [[dot matrix printer]] were included in the price of the PCW,<ref name="Whitehead1986ElecOfficSys" /> which was £399 plus [[value added tax|VAT]] for the base model.<ref name="Forester1989PersonalComputing" /> The PCW, regarded as extremely good value for money,<ref name="Whitehead1986ElecOfficSys">{{cite book|last=Whitehead|first=J.|title=Implementing the electronic office|publisher=Taylor & Francis|year=1986|pages=195–197|chapter=Appendix B: Some Typical Electronic Office Systems|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=GX8OAAAAQAAJ&dq=amstrad+pcw&pg=PA195|accessdate=2009-05-01 | isbn=978-0-7099-3674-9}}</ref><ref name="Rohrer2007Nostalgia">{{cite web
|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/magazine/6925963.stm|title=Nostalgia for a techno cul-de-sac |last=Rohrer  |first=F.
|date=1 August 2007|publisher=[[BBC]]|accessdate=2009-05-01 
}}</ref> gained 60% of the UK home computer market,<ref>{{cite book
|last=King|first=A.|title=The End of the Terraces|publisher=Continuum International|year=2002|pages=121
|chapter=The New Directors|isbn=0-7185-0259-0
|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=8kBaOkPg8z0C&dq=amstrad+pcw&pg=PA121|accessdate=2009-05-01 
}}</ref> and 20% of the European personal computer market.<ref name="Forester1989PersonalComputing">{{cite book|last=Forester|first=T.|title=High-tech society|publisher=MIT Press|year=1989|pages=143|chapter=Personal Computing|isbn=0-262-56044-5|chapter-url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Gqgb946KPfQC&dq=amstrad+pcw&pg=PA143|accessdate=2009-05-01}}</ref> According to ''Personal Computer World'', the PCW "got the [[technophobe]]s using computers".<ref>{{cite web|url=http://labs.pcw.co.uk/2007/07/a-little-bit-of.html |title=A little bit of IT history goes with Amstrad |publisher=Personal Computer World' |accessdate=2009-05-04 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20080705195916/http://labs.pcw.co.uk/2007/07/a-little-bit-of.html |archivedate=2008-07-05 }}</ref>

LocoScript was regarded as easier to use than [[Wordstar]] and [[WordPerfect]], which in the mid-1980s were the dominant word processors on [[IBM PC compatible]]s,<ref name="Austin1989MoreThanWP"/><ref name="Micromart2007LocoScript">{{cite web |url=http://www.micromart.co.uk/features/article/default.aspx?id=22612|title=Whatever Happened To LocoScript?|year=2007 |publisher=Micromart |accessdate=2009-05-02}}</ref> and many users needed no additional information beyond what the manual's "first 20 minutes" introductory chapter provided.<ref name="Whitehead1986ElecOfficSys" /> The PCW's keyboard offered clearly labelled, one-press special keys for many common LocoScript functions, including [[cut, copy, and paste]],<ref name="Whitehead1986ElecOfficSys" /><ref name="PCW8xUserGuideLocoScriptSummarised">{{cite book|last=Gilmour|first=J.|title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual|publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc|year=1985|pages=129–140|chapter=LocoScript summarised|url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|accessdate=2009-05-07|url-status=dead|archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|archivedate=2011-07-20}}</ref> while LocoScript's competitors required a wide range of key combinations that the user had to remember.<ref name="Micromart2007LocoScript" />  Most of the program's other features were presented via a pull-down [[menu bar]] in which the top-level options were activated by [[function key]]s.<ref name="Micromart2007LocoScript" /><ref name="PCW8xUserGuideLocoScriptSummarised" /> The menu system had two structures, one for beginners and the other for experienced users.<ref name="PopularScienceNov1986" /><ref name="PCW8xUserGuideEliminatingKeystrokes">{{cite book |last=Gilmour|first=J. |title=PCW8256/8512: User Guide - CP/M Logo & Word Processor Manual|publisher=Amstrad Consumer Electronics plc |year=1985 |pages=121–123|chapter=Eliminating keystrokes|url=http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf|accessdate=2009-05-07 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20110720221017/http://amstrad.cpc.free.fr/amstrad/manuals/pcw8256/pcw8256.pdf |archivedate=2011-07-20}}</ref> Locomotive Software's slogan for the product was "Everything you need, nothing you don't."<ref name="Micromart2007LocoScript" /> However, LocoScript version 1 was regarded as relatively slow.<ref name="Austin1989MoreThanWP" />

When the PCW product line was discontinued in 1998, ''[[The Daily Telegraph]]'' said that the range of independently produced add-on software for LocoScript had contributed to the series' longevity.<ref>{{cite journal |last=Maybury |first=R. |date=6 January 2000 |title=The windowless wonder |journal=The Daily Telegraph |pages=6–7 |url=http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=TRD&recid=93736AN&q=amstrad+pcw&uid=1400988&setcookie=yes |accessdate=2009-05-01 |url-status=dead |archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20120223143541/http://md1.csa.com/partners/viewrecord.php?requester=gs&collection=TRD&recid=93736AN&q=amstrad+pcw&uid=1400988&setcookie=yes |archive-date=23 February 2012}}</ref>

LocoScript faded into obscurity because its developers were slow to produce a version for IBM-compatible PCs. By the time they released a version that ran under [[MS-DOS]], [[Microsoft Windows|Windows]] was becoming the dominant operating system. The developers of WordPerfect made a similar mistake, releasing their first Windows version in 1991, shortly after the second Windows version of [[Microsoft Word]].<ref name="Micromart2007LocoScript" />

As late as 1993, a journalist found "special characters" much easier to produce on LocoScript than on PC word processing software.<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/extras/indybest/gadgets-tech/computer-letter-quotation-marks-1506797.html|title=Computer Letter: Quotation marks |last=Leslie|first=I.|date=26 November 1993|work=The Independent|accessdate=24 November 2009|location=London}}</ref>