WordPerfect

WordPerfect
Developer(s) Corel
Operating system Windows 7, Windows Vista, Windows XP, Windows ME, Windows 9x
Platform Microsoft Windows since version 10.0
Type Word processor
License Proprietary software
Website WordPerfect Website

WordPerfect is a word processing application, now owned by Corel. Bruce Bastian, a Brigham Young University (BYU) graduate student, and BYU computer science professor Dr. Alan Ashton joined forces to design a word processing system for the city of Orem's Data General Corp. minicomputer system in 1979. Bastian and Ashton kept the rights to the WordPerfect software they designed for Orem, deciding to market it through their own company. Ashton and Bastian started Satellite Systems International (SSI) to sell WordPerfect in 1980. WordPerfect 1.0 represented a significant departure from the previous Wang standard for word processing. At the height of its popularity in the late 1980s and early 1990s, it was the de facto standard word processor, but has long since been eclipsed in sales by Microsoft Word. While available in MS-DOS and Microsoft Windows versions, its popularity was based in part on the fact that it was available for a wide variety of computers and operating systems, including Mac OS, Linux, the Apple IIe, a separate version for the Apple IIgs, most popular versions of Unix, VMS, Data General, System/370, AmigaOS, Atari ST, OS/2, and NeXTSTEP.

The common file name extension of WordPerfect document files is .wpd. Older versions of WordPerfect also used file extensions .wp, .wp7, .wp6, .wp5, .wp4, and originally, no extension at all.[1]

Contents

WordPerfect for DOS

WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS.

Alan Ashton and Bruce Bastian founded Satellite Systems International, Inc. of Orem, Utah, which later renamed itself WordPerfect Corporation. Originally written for Data General minicomputers, in 1982 the developers ported the program to the IBM PC as WordPerfect 2.20, continuing the version numbering of the Data General series.

The program's popularity took off with the introduction of WordPerfect 4.2 in 1986, with automatic paragraph numbering (important to the law office market), and the splitting of a lengthy footnote and its partial overflow to the bottom of the next page, as if it had been professionally typeset (valuable to both the law office and academic markets). WordPerfect 4.2 became the first program to overtake the original market leader (WordStar, the leading word processing program) in a major application category on the DOS platform.

On 6 November 1989, WordPerfect Corporation released the program's most successful version ever, WordPerfect 5.1 for DOS, which was the first version to include Macintosh-style pull-down menus to supplement the traditional F-key combinations, as well as support for tables, a spreadsheet-like feature.

The data format used by WordPerfect 5.1 was, for years, the most portable format in the world. All word processors could read (and convert) that format. Many conferences and magazines insisted that people ship their documents in 5.1 format. Unlike previous DOS versions, WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS could switch between its traditional text-based editing mode and a graphical editing mode that showed the document as it would print out, including fonts and text effects like bold, underline, and italics. The previous text-based versions used different colors or text color inversions to indicate various markups, and (starting with version 5.0) used a graphic mode only for an uneditable print preview that used generic fonts rather than the actual fonts that appeared on the printed page.

Key characteristics

To this day, WordPerfect's three major characteristics that have differentiated it from other market-leading word processors are its streaming code architecture, its Reveal Codes feature, and its unusually user-friendly macro/scripting language, PerfectScript.

Streaming code architecture

A key to WordPerfect's design is its streaming code architecture that parallels the formatting features of HTML and Cascading Style Sheets. Documents are created much the same way that raw HTML pages are written, with text interspersed by tags (called “codes”) that trigger treatment of data until a corresponding closing tag is encountered, at which point the settings active to the point of the opening tag resume control. As with HTML, tags can be nested. Some data structures are treated as objects within the stream as with HTML's treatment of graphic images, e.g., footnotes and styles, but the bulk of a WordPerfect document's data and formatting codes appear as a single continuous stream. A difference between HTML tags and WordPerfect codes is that HTML codes can all be expressed as a string of plain text characters delimited by greater-than and less-than characters, e.g. <bold>text</bold> whereas WordPerfect formatting codes consist of hexadecimal characters.

Styles and style libraries

The addition of styles and style libraries in WP 5.0 provided greatly increased power and flexibility in formatting documents, while maintaining the streaming-code architecture of earlier versions. Prior to that, WordPerfect's only use of styles (a particular type of programming object) was the Opening Style, which contained the default settings for a document.

Reveal codes

The Reveal Codes feature in Corel WordPerfect X3

The Reveal Codes feature is a second editing screen that can be toggled open and closed at the bottom of the main editing screen. Text is displayed in Reveal Codes interspersed with tags and the occasional objects, with the tags and objects represented by named tokens. The scheme makes it far easier to untangle coding messes than with styles-based word processors, and object tokens can be clicked with a pointing device to directly open the configuration editor for the particular object type, e.g. clicking on a style token brings up the style editor with the particular style type displayed. WordPerfect users forced to change word processors by employers frequently complain on WordPerfect online forums that they are lost without Reveal Codes. Because of their style dependencies, efforts to create the equivalent of Reveal Codes in other word processors have produced dissimilar results. Note that WordPerfect had this feature already in its DOS incarnations: it could be brought forward by pressing the keys Alt and F3 together.

Macro languages

WordPerfect for DOS was notable for its Alt-keystroke macro facility, which was expanded with the addition of macro libraries in WP 5.0 that also allowed for Ctrl-keystroke macros, and remapping of any key as a macro. This enabled any sequence of keystrokes to be recorded, saved, edited, and recalled. Macros could examine system data, make decisions, be chained together, and operate recursively until a defined 'stop' condition was met. This capability provided an amazingly powerful way to rearrange data and formatting codes within a document, where the same sequence of actions needed to be performed repetitively e.g. for tabular data. Macros can also be edited using WordPerfect Program Editor. This facility, however, could not be ported easily to the subsequent Windows versions.

A new and even more powerful interpreted token-based macro recording and scripting language was introduced for both DOS and Windows 6.0 versions, and that became the basis of the language named PerfectScript in later versions. PerfectScript has remained the mainstay scripting language for WordPerfect users ever since. PerfectScript was designed specifically to be user-friendly, thus avoiding far less user-friendly methods of scripting languages implemented on other word processing programs that require education in advanced programming concepts such as Object Oriented Programming in order to produce useful yet sophisticated and powerful macros.

An important property of WordPerfect macros is that they are not embedded in a document. As a result, WordPerfect is not prone to macro viruses or malware, unlike MS Word. Despite the term "macro", the language has hundreds of commands and functions and in fact creates full-fledged programs resident on and executed on the user's computer. In WPDOS 6 the source code is generated using the same interface used to edit documents. A WordPerfect macro can create or modify a document or perform tasks such as displaying results of a calculation such as taking a date input, adding a specific number of days and displaying the new date in a dialog box. Documents created or edited by a WordPerfect macro are no different from those produced by manual input; the macros simply improve efficiency or automate repetitive tasks.

Function keys

Like its mid-1980s competitor, MultiMate, WordPerfect used almost every possible combination of function keys with Ctrl, Alt, and Shift modifiers. (See example help screen on this page.) This was in contrast to WordStar, which used only Ctrl, in conjunction with traditional typing keys. Many people still know and use the function key combinations from the DOS version, which were originally designed for Data General Dasher VDUs that supported two groups of five plain, shift, control, and control shift function keys. This was translated to the layout of the 1981 IBM PC keyboard, with two columns of function keys at the left end of the keyboard, but worked even better with the 1984 PC AT keyboard with three groups of four function keys across the top of the keyboard. With the 1981 PC keyboard, the Tab key and the related F4 (Indent) functions were adjacent. This plethora of keystroke possibilities, combined with the developers' wish to keep the user interface free of "clutter" such as on-screen menus, made it necessary for most users to use a keyboard template showing each function. WordPerfect used F3 instead of F1 for Help, F1 instead of Esc for Cancel, and Esc for Repeat (though a configuration option in later versions allowed these functions to be rotated to locations that later became more standard).

Printer drivers

WordPerfect for DOS shipped with an impressive array of printer drivers — a feature that played an important role in its adoption — and also shipped with a printer driver editor called PTR, which features a flexible macro language and allows technically-inclined users to customize and create printer drivers.

Internally, WordPerfect used an extensive WordPerfect character set as its internal code. The precise meaning of the characters, although clearly defined and documented, can be overridden in its customizable printer drivers with PTR.

The relationship between different type faces and styles, and between them and the various sections in the WordPerfect character set, were also described in the printer drivers and can be customized through PTR.

An interesting feature of the DOS 5.0 version was its Type-Through feature. It allowed a user with certain compatible printers to use Word Perfect as a conventional typewriter. This functionality was removed in the DOS 5.1 version. (Word Perfect Made Easy, Mincberg, 1990, p485)

WordPerfect Library/Office

WordPerfect Corporation produced a variety of ancillary and spin-off products. WordPerfect Library (introduced in 1986 and later renamed WordPerfect Office) was a package of network and stand-alone utilities for use with WordPerfect, primarily developed for offices running Novell NetWare. WordPerfect Library/Office included the DOS antecedents of what is now known as Novell GroupWise, a shareable package of contact management, calendaring, and related word processing utilities. WordPerfect Library/Office — a brand name later revived by Corel after it acquired ownership of WordPerfect and other programs still bundled under that product name as of this writing — included amongst other utilities a local area network (LAN) email facility, and was the most popular such package in its day.

WordPerfect Shell

The Library/Office bundle also included a noteworthy task-switching program that ran as a shell atop DOS, branded as WordPerfect Shell. Task-switchers were a popular application type for the DOS operating system because of its lack of multi-tasking, making it impractical to have many applications running at once. Task-switchers were programs that allocated available memory between open applications, allowing fast switching between open applications whose actions were suspended when the user switched to a different program. WordPerfect Shell 4.0, which was also bundled with the WordPerfect 6.x versions, had most functionality of the Windows 3.x shell but was far more versatile. Its automated memory management was superior to that of the Microsoft Windows shell, and Microsoft's product generally performed with far fewer frequent memory glitches when Windows was run as a program under Shell 4.0.

The user interface for Shell is based on a hierarchical menu metaphor rather than the windows/folders/icons metaphor used by Microsoft. Shell 4.0's menu structures could be individually hot-keyed as pop-ups, and its powerful menu editor allowed fast creation and editing of menu structures and menu items, with each menu item quickly configurable for entry of command lines and menu names. Shell 4.0 included 80 programmable clipboards, and the menu structures and menu items were also programmable using a scripting language whose scripts could themselves be chained to and from WordPerfect macros. The scripting language also included a keyboard buffer stuffing tool for control and operation of non-WordPerfect applications. Microsoft Windows had no answer to such powerful features other than a glitz of windows, icons, pointing devices, and an overwhelming marketing strategy. WordPerfect Shell was laid to rest along with many other popular DOS character-based tools inundated by Microsoft's marketing of Windows 95. Novell later licensed Shell 3.0 and 4.0 for free distribution. As of this writing it is still downloadable from the DataPerfect Users Group.

WordPerfect Library/Office also included a Calculator, a flat-file database called Notebook that could be used by itself or in WordPerfect document merges, an exceptionally powerful relational database — DataPerfect — that retains a small but dedicated following despite having been dropped by WordPerfect Corporation in favour of Borland's Paradox as a companion of WP for Windows. Additional features continue to be added from time to time by DataPerfect's author, Lew Bastian — Bruce Bastian's older brother — a programmer who had written some of IBM's earliest disk-caching patents, and DataPerfect can now run as web server. LetterPerfect was a scaled down version of WordPerfect with the more advanced features removed but with file and (for the most part) keystroke compatibility.

An implementation of Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA), introduced with WordPerfect for Windows 9.0, provides a full-featured development environment for building advanced custom WordPerfect solutions. These solutions are often created by corporate developers or programmers and may not be easily accessible to the typical WordPerfect user. For these users, PerfectScript is the better option.

People who code scripts for WordPerfect use the Macros & Merges forum at WordPerfect Universe as their primary meeting ground. That site is a collaboration among other WordPerfect-related web site operators and others and functions as a portal to WordPerfect resources on the web. The site also maintains an extensive clip library for use in PerfectScript programming, has the Web's largest metalink library for locating online WordPerfect resources, and has the only peer-to-peer forum on the Web for DOS WordPerfect.

The WordPerfect template and document file formats have remained remarkably stable since the WordPerfect 6.x DOS and Windows versions. Complete backward compatibility has been maintained and all WordPerfect versions since 6.0 have included a feature that stores any unrecognized codes in stream location represented in Reveal Codes by an "Unknown" token. Documents generated on newer versions can thus be edited in older versions with the codes retained. Then, upon being reopened in a newer version of WordPerfect, the "unknown" tokens regain their functionality. None of the newer WordPerfect features reflected in the file formats cause data loss when opened in older versions.

LetterPerfect

In 1990 WordPerfect Corporation also offered LetterPerfect, which was a reduced-functionality version of WP-DOS 5.1 intended as an entry-level product for students and home users. It did not support macros, tables, labels, sorting, equation editing or styles[2]. It sold for about $100 but didn't catch on and was soon discontinued.

WordPerfect for Windows

History

WordPerfect was late in coming to market with a Windows version. The first mature version, WordPerfect 5.2 for Windows, was released in November 1992. Prior to that, there was a WordPerfect 5.1 for Windows, introduced a year earlier. That version had to be installed from DOS and was largely unpopular due to serious stability issues. By the time WordPerfect 5.2 for Windows was introduced, Microsoft Word for Windows version 2 had been on the market for over a year and had received its third interim release, v2.0c. WordPerfect's function-key-centered user interface did not adapt well to the new paradigm of mouse and pull-down menus, especially with many of WordPerfect's standard key combinations pre-empted by incompatible keyboard shortcuts that Windows itself used; for example, Alt-F4 became Exit Program, as opposed to WordPerfect's Block Text. The DOS version's impressive arsenal of finely tuned printer drivers was also rendered obsolete by Windows' use of its own printer device drivers.

Internally, WordPerfect for Windows still used the WordPerfect character set as its internal code. This caused WordPerfect for Windows to be unable to support some languages — for example Chinese — that were natively supported by Windows.

WordPerfect became part of an office suite when the company entered into a co-licensing agreement with Borland Software Corporation in 1993. The offerings were marketed as Borland Office, containing Windows versions of WordPerfect, Quattro Pro, Borland Paradox, and a LAN-based groupware package called WordPerfect Office (not to be confused with the complete applications suite of the same name later marketed by Corel) based on the WordPerfect Library for DOS. The WordPerfect product line was sold twice, first to Novell in June 1994, who then sold it to Corel in January 1996. However, Novell kept the WordPerfect Office technology, incorporating it into its GroupWise messaging and collaboration product.

Compounding WordPerfect's troubles were issues associated with the release of the first 32-bit version, WordPerfect 7, intended for use on Windows 95. While it contained notable improvements over the 16-bit WordPerfect for Windows 6.1, it was released in May 1996, nine months after the introduction of Windows 95 and Microsoft Office 95 (including Word 95). The initial release suffered from notable stability problems. WordPerfect 7 also did not have a Microsoft "Designed for Windows 95" logo. This was important to Windows 95 software purchasers as Microsoft set standards for application design, behavior, and interaction with the operating system. To make matters worse, the original release of WordPerfect 7 was incompatible with Windows NT, hindering its adoption in academia. The "NT Enabled" version of WordPerfect 7, which Corel considered to be Service Pack 2, was not available until Q1-1997, over six months after the introduction of Windows NT 4.0, a year and a half after the introduction of Office 95 (which supported Windows NT out of the box), and shortly after the introduction of Office 97. Corel charged its customers to receive what amounted to a bug fix.

While WordPerfect retained a majority of the retail shelf sales of word processors, Microsoft gained market share by including Word for Windows in its Windows product on new PCs. Microsoft gave discounts for Windows to OEMs who included Word on their PCs. When new PC buyers found Word installed on their new PC, Word began to dominate market share of desktop word processing. Also, while Microsoft offered a fully-integrated office suite in Microsoft Office, a common complaint about early Windows versions of WordPerfect Office was that it looked like a collection of separate applications from different vendors cobbled together, with inconsistent user interfaces from one application to another—which is exactly what it was, as Novell had acquired WPWin from WordPerfect Corporation, Paradox from Borland, and various peripheral utilities from other companies.

Among the remaining avid users of WordPerfect are many law firms and academics, who favor WordPerfect features such as macros and reveal codes, the ability to access a large range of formatting options such as left-right block indent directly with key combinations rather than having to click through several layers of submenus as MS Word often requires, the fact that the user interface has stayed almost identical from WPWin 6 through WP X5 (2010) and that 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 now caters to these markets, with, for example, a major sale to the United States Department of Justice in 2005 [3]. In November 2004, Novell filed an antitrust lawsuit against Microsoft for alleged anti-competitive behavior (viz, tying Word to sales of Windows) that Novell claims led to loss of WordPerfect market share [4].

Corel WordPerfect

Since its acquisition by Corel, WordPerfect for Windows has officially been known as Corel WordPerfect. Unlike MS-Word, it is not available as a standalone product and is only available as part of WordPerfect Office, which includes the Quattro Pro spreadsheet and Corel Presentations programs.

Unicode and Asian language editing

WordPerfect lacks support for Unicode, which limits its usefulness in many markets outside North America and Western Europe. Despite pleas from long-time users, this feature has not yet been implemented.

For users in WordPerfect's traditional markets, the inability to deal with complex character sets, such as Asian language scripts, can cause difficulty when working on documents containing those characters. However, later versions have provided better compliance with interface conventions, file compatibility, and even Word interface emulation.

"Classic Mode"

Corel added "Classic Mode" in WordPerfect 11. Although this displays the "classic" cyan Courier text on medium blue background, it is not a true emulation of the DOS version. For instance, WP-DOS 5.x macros literally recorded keystrokes. WP-DOS 6 and WPWin record functionality instead. With WP-DOS 5 a macro could search for particular text, turn select-mode on and then search backward or forward for other text and everything from the turn-on location to the new location would be hi-lited and could then be deleted, copied, replaced, etc. No WPWin version can do that, not even in Classic Mode.

WordPerfect for Macintosh

Development of WordPerfect for Macintosh did not run parallel to versions for other operating systems, and used version numbers unconnected to contemporary releases for DOS, Windows, etc. The first release reminded users and reviewers of the DOS version, and was not especially successful in the marketplace. Version 2 was a total re-write, adhering more closely to Apple's UI guidelines. Version 3 took this further, making extensive use of the technologies Apple introduced in Systems 7.0–7.5, while remaining fast and capable of running well on older machines. Corel released version 3.5 in 1996, followed by the improved version 3.5e. It was never updated beyond that, and the product was eventually discontinued. As of 2004, Corel has reiterated that the company has no plans to further develop WordPerfect for Macintosh (such as creating a native Mac OS X version).

For several years, Corel allowed Mac users to download version 3.5e from their website free of charge, and some Mac users still use this version. The download is still available at [1], along with the necessary OS 8/9/Classic Updater that slows scroll speed and restores functionality to the Style and Window menus. Like other Mac OS applications of its age, it requires the Classic environment on PowerPC Macs. While Intel Macs do not support Classic, emulators such as SheepShaver, Basilisk II and vMac allow users to run WordPerfect and other Mac OS applications. Users wishing to use an up to date version of WordPerfect can run the Windows version through Boot Camp or a Windows emulator, and through Darwine or CrossOver Mac with mixed results.

WordPerfect for Atari ST

Like the Macintosh version, development of WordPerfect for the Atari ST did not run parallel to the DOS versions. However the Atari ST version number was connected to contemporary releases for DOS. In 1987, WordPerfect Corp. released version 4.1 which was the only version released however numerous patches and updates were released to assure that the Atari version of WordPerfect runs on all Atari ST, STe, TT, and Falcon computers.

WordPerfect ST differs from the DOS version most notably in speed and number of windows a user can open. On the Atari ST version, a user can open up to 4 windows (compared to DOS' 2) and the application runs 3 to 5 times faster than the DOS version (depending on which update or patch the user has). This was possible because WordPerfect for the Atari ST was designed from the ground up and was optimized for the Motorola 68000 processor as well as Atari's GEM (Graphical Environment Manager) operating system.[5]

WordPerfect for the Atari ST retailed at $395 with a student version for $99.[6] The price of WordPerfect was significantly higher than most of the other Atari word processors available at the time. Atari Corporation published a version of Microsoft Write (the Atari version of Microsoft Word 1.05 for the Macintosh) for $129.95 (almost 3/4 off the suggested retail price of WordPerfect) which did not help WordPerfect's campaign to establish itself as the standard word processor on the Atari platform.

A WordPerfect 5.1 version for the Atari ST was planned and in development however was later cancelled.[7]

WordPerfect for Linux

In 1995, WordPerfect 6.0 was made available for Linux as part of Caldera's internet office package. In late 1997, a newer version was made available for download, but had to be purchased to be activated. Hoping to establish themselves in the nascent commercial Linux market, Corel also developed their own distribution of Linux. Although the Linux distribution was fairly well-received, the response to WordPerfect for Linux was varied. Some Linux promoters appreciated the availability of a well-known, mainstream application for the OS.

Once OpenOffice.org appeared in 1999, there was little sympathy for a proprietary, closed-source project like WordPerfect. On top of this, WordPerfect 9.0 was not a native Linux application like WP 6-8, but derived from the Windows version using the Wine compatibility library, and hence had serious performance problems.

WordPerfect failed to gain a large user base, and as part of Corel's change of strategic direction following a (non-voting) investment by Microsoft, WordPerfect for Linux was discontinued and their Linux distribution was sold to Xandros. 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. As of 2005, WordPerfect for Linux is not available for purchase.

Versions

Year Data General DOS Apple II Atari ST Amiga VAX/VMS Macintosh NeXT Windows Unix Linux Java
1980 1.0
1981
1982 2.0 2.2
1983 3.0
1984 4.0
1985 4.1 1.0
1986 4.2 1.1 / 2.0
1987 4.1 4.1 4.1
1988 4.2 5.0 4.2, Office* 1.0 – 1.0.7 4.2
1989  ?* 5.1 2.1e (final) 5.0
1990 2.0
1991 1.0.1 5.1
1992 2.1 5.2 5.1
1993 6.0 3.0 6.0
1994 5.1+ 3.1 5.2+, 6.1 6.0
1995 6.1 3.5
1996 7.0 (32-bit) 6.0
1997 6.2 3.5e 8.0, 7.0 (16-bit) WordPerfect for Java
1998 7.0
1999 9.0* 8.1
2000 9.0
2001 10.0*
2003 11.0*
2004 12.0*
2006 X3* (13.0)
2008 X4* (14.0)
2010 X5* (15.0)

(*Part of WordPerfect Office)

Known versions for VAX/VMS include 5.1, 5.3 [8] and 7.1 [9], year of release unknown.

Known versions for SUN include 6.0, requiring SunOS or Solaris 2, year of release unknown.

Known versions for IBM System/370 include 4.2, released 1988.

Known versions for OS/2 include 5.0, released 1989, and 5.2, released 1993.

Known versions for the DEC Rainbow 100 include version (?), released November 1983.

In addition, versions of WordPerfect have also been available for Apricot, DEC Rainbow, Tandy 2000, TI Professional, Victor 9000, and Zenith Z-100 systems, as well as around 30 flavors of Unix, including AT&T, NCR, SCO Xenix, Microport Unix, DEC Ultrix, Pyramid Tech Unix, Tru64, AIX, Motorola 8000, and HP9000 and SUN 3.

Current versions

On January 17, 2006, Corel announced WordPerfect X3. Corel is an original member of the OASIS Technical Committee on the Open Document 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. The subsequent release of X3 (identified as "13" internally and in registry entries) has been met with generally positive reviews, due to new features including a unique PDF import capability, metadata removal tools, integrated search and online resources and other features.

Version X3 was described by CNET in January, 2006 as a "winner", "a feature-packed productivity suite that's just as easy to use — and in many ways more innovative than — industry-goliath Microsoft Office 2003." CNET went on to describe X3 as "a solid upgrade for long-time users", but that "Die-hard Microsoft fans may want to wait to see what Redmond has up its sleeve with the radical changes expected within the upcoming Microsoft Office 12." [10]

While the notable if incremental enhancements of WordPerfect Office X3 have been well received by reviewers, a number of online forums have voiced concern about the future direction of WordPerfect, with long-time users complaining about certain usability and functionality issues that users have been asking to have fixed for the last few release versions.

Although the released version of X3 at the time did not support the OOXML or OpenDocument formats, a beta was released that supported both.[11]

Reports surfaced late in January 2006 that Apple's iWork had leapfrogged WordPerfect Office as the leading alternative to Microsoft Office. This claim was soon debunked [12] after industry analyst Joe Wilcox described JupiterResearch usage surveys that showed WordPerfect as the No. 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 their 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 their WordPerfect Office X5 office suite containing the new X5 version of WordPerfect which includes improved support for PDF, Microsoft Office 2007, OpenDocument and Office Open XML. The new release includes integration with Microsoft SharePoint and other web services geared towards government and business users.

See also

References

  1. ↑ Corel WordPerfect Reviewer's Guide
  2. ↑ Display advertisement, Info World, 5 Nov 1990, p. 20
  3. ↑ U.S. Department of Justice Chooses WordPerfect Office 12 (Corel.com)
  4. ↑ Novell Files WordPerfect Antitrust Lawsuit against Microsoft (Novell.com)
  5. ↑ WordPerfect: Atari Forever
  6. ↑ WordPerfect ST: Proving why it's the IBM PC bestseller
  7. ↑ WordPerfect ends Atari support
  8. ↑ Corel WordPerfect 5.3 for OpenVMS
  9. ↑ Corel WordPerfect 7.1 for OpenVMS
  10. ↑ Corel WordPerfect Office X3 Home Edition review (CNET.com)
  11. ↑ Corel (2007), OOXML/ODF beta for WordPerfect Office now available!, http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Product/1191009902786, retrieved 2007-11-15 
  12. ↑ iWork has no game against Office or WordPerfect

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