Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor program from Microsoft. It was originally written for IBM PC computers running MS-DOS in 1983. Later versions were created for the Apple Macintosh (1984) and Microsoft Windows (1989), and it became part of the Microsoft Office suite.
Word was the first popular word processor for the IBM PC that used a graphic display mode to show typeface markups such as bold and italics directly on the screen while editing (WYSIWYG). Previous word processors, such as WordStar, used simple text-only display with markup codes on the screen or sometimes, at the most, alternate colors.
Like other Microsoft Office applications, it can be highly customised using a built-in macro language (originally WordBasic, but changed to Visual Basic for Applications as of Word 97). However, this capability can also be used to embed viruses in documents. Because of this users should be cautious opening Microsoft Word documents and have anti-virus software installed to avoid being infected by such a virus or acting as a source of infection. The first virus known to affect Microsoft Word documents was called the Concept virus, and it first appeared on a CD that was published by Microsoft.
Microsoft Word is the dominant word processor in current use. See the article word processor for a list of other word processors.
Versions for Microsoft Windows include:
- Word for Windows
- Word 2 for Windows
- Word 6 for Windows (numbered "6" to imply a superiority to Word Perfect 5.1)
- Word 95, also known as Word 7
- Word 97, also known as Word 8
- Word 2000, also known as Word 9
- Word 2002, also known as Word 10 but often referred to as Word XP
Versions for Apple Macintosh include:
- Word 98
- Word 2001
- Word X