Editing WordStar (section)

===MS-DOS===
[[File:WordStar.png|thumb|WordStar 3 under CP/M]]
[[File:Wordstar4.png|thumb|Screenshot of WordStar 4]]
[[File:Ws7 xp.PNG|thumb|WordStar 7 under Windows XP]]

'''WordStar 3.0''', the first version for [[MS-DOS]], appeared in April 1982.<ref name="wordstar.org">{{cite web | url=http://www.wordstar.org/index.php/wordstar-history | title=A Potted History of WordStar | publisher=WordStar Resource Site | date=April 11, 2013 | access-date=April 11, 2013 | author-last=Petrie |author-first=Michael |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200220230834/http://www.wordstar.org/index.php/wordstar-history |archive-date=February 20, 2020}}</ref><ref name="vangelder198309">{{cite news | url=https://books.google.com/books?id=mt9tF7XMFX4C&pg=PA156 | title=On The Road To Software Stardom | work=PC Magazine | date=August 1983 | access-date=October 22, 2013 | author=van Gelder, Lindsy | pages=156}}</ref> Until then, many PC owners bought [[Z-80 SoftCard|Z-80 card]]s so they could run the CP/M version.<ref name="manes198306">{{Cite magazine |last=Manes |first=Stephen |date=June 1983 |title=WordStar 3.24 and 3.3: MicroPro Does It Again ... And Again |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=14Kfbrc6cbAC&lpg=PA391&pg=PA391#v=onepage&q&f=true |access-date=2025-03-15 |magazine=PC |pages=391-409}}</ref> The DOS version was very similar to the original, and although the IBM PC has arrow keys and separate function keys, the traditional "WordStar diamond" and other Ctrl-key functions were retained,{{r|shuford198305}} leading to rapid adoption by former CP/M users. WordStar's ability to use a "non-document" mode to create text files without formatting made it popular among programmers for writing code.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.scrounge.org/wordstar.htm|title=WordStar and You}}</ref> Like the CP/M versions, the DOS WordStar was not explicitly designed for IBM PCs, but rather for any x86 machine (as there were a number of non-IBM-compatible PCs that used 8086 or 80186 CPUs). As such, it uses only DOS's API calls and avoids any BIOS usage or direct hardware access. This carried with it a performance penalty as everything had to be "double" processed (meaning that the DOS API functions would handle screen or keyboard I/O first and then pass them to the BIOS).

The first DOS version of WordStar, demonstrated by Jim Fox and executed by a team of Irish programmers in April 1982, was a [[Porting|port]] of the [[CP/M-86]] version of WordStar, which in turn had been ported from the [[CP/M-80]] version in September 1981. This had been started by Diane Hajicek and was completed by an Irish team of programmers under [[Intel ISIS-II|ISIS-II]],{{r|wordstar.org}} probably using [[Intel]]'s [[source-to-source translator]] [[CONV86]]. Thus the main program executable was a .COM file which could only access 64&nbsp;kB of memory. Users quickly learned they could make WordStar run dramatically faster by installing a [[RAM disk]] board, and copying the WordStar program files into it.<ref>{{harvnb|Brand|1989}} "There is a potent remedy for the slowness of WORDSTAR and NEWWORD, which is caused by the programs constantly "going  to disk" to get one thing or another. Install a  "RAM disk" and load the program on it.  Since it is an electronic circuit board  emulating a disk, everything happens at  electronic speed, faster even than with a  hard disk."</ref> WordStar would still access the "disk" repeatedly, but the far faster access of the RAM drive compared to a floppy disk yielded a substantial speed improvement. However, edited versions of a document were "saved" only to this RAM disk, and had to be copied to physical media before rebooting.

''InfoWorld'' described WordStar as "notorious for its complexity",{{r|iw19850415}} and [[Stephen Manes]] of ''[[PC (magazine)|PC]]'' wrote that its "function keys seemed to have been assigned late one drunken Saturday night",{{r|manes198306}} but by 1983 WordStar was the leading word processing system{{r|shuford198305}}<ref name="biggest">[http://www.dvorak.org/blog/whatever-happened-to-wordstar-2 John C. Dvorak].</ref> ("the disks moved off the shelves faster than Charlie Chaplin’s pies", Manes said{{r|manes198306}}). Although competition appeared early (the first version of [[WordPerfect]] debuted in 1982 and [[Microsoft Word]] in 1983), WordStar was the dominant word processor on x86 machines until 1985. It was part of the software bundle that accompanied [[Kaypro]] computers.

At that time, the evolution from CP/M to MS-DOS, with an "Alt" key, had taken place. WordStar had until then never successfully exploited the MS-DOS keyboard, and that is one explanation for its demise.

By that point, MicroPro had dropped the generic MS-DOS support and '''WordStar 4.0''' was exclusively for IBM compatibles, which differed from MS-DOS-compatible programs in terms of screen addressing. It was the first version of WordStar supporting directories&mdash;a feature nearly mandatory to be usable on machines with hard disks. Also introduced were simple macros (shorthand) and the install program was completely updated to include features like reprogramming function keys and an extensive printer support. During the second half of the 1980s, the fully modernized WordPerfect overtook it in sales.<ref>Will WordPerfect for Windows steal the crown? Computer Shopper, February 1, 1992, Daniel J. Rosenbaum [https://web.archive.org/web/20121026113935/http://www.highbeam.com/doc/1G1-11726240.html Copy]</ref>

'''WordStar 5''' (released in 1989) added footnote and endnote capability and a fairly advanced Page preview function. Versions '''5.5''' and '''6''' had added features, and version '''7''' (released 1991) included a complete macro language as well as support for over 500 printers. It also featured style sheets and mouse support.<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.wordstar.org/index.php/wordstar-history|title=WordStar History|first=Michael|last=Petrie|website=www.wordstar.org}}</ref>