Oh, yeah: Laugh at the question. Not too long ago, however, it was a legitimate thing to ask. That’s because not everyone used Microsoft Word, not by a longshot.
The question these days seems to be more along the line of, “Which version of Word do you use?” True, some people use the pre-2007 versions, those festooned with toolbars and buttons. The good ol’ way that Word once worked. Others use the newer versions with the Ribbon interface, Word 2007, 2010, and now 2013.
Occasionally you may find the oddball human, that unique individual who writes words electric by using something else, such as WordPerfect or Open Office. But two dozen years ago, the word processor question was a big one. The issue: file format.
Each program stores its data in files, but those files aren’t all just magical text. Word processing files in particular contain extra data that explains how the document is formatted and other fancy items such as graphic bits or what-have-you.
For example, when I first started writing For Dummies books, the publisher used Microsoft Word. I detested Microsoft Word, preferring good old WordPerfect. Yet, I had to translate my documents from WordPerfect into Word for submission to the publisher.
Some magazines required that I turn in my work using a generic Rich Text Format (RTF) file. Others wanted plain text only, which is sort of the nuclear option when it comes to word processing file formats.
This situation may seem crazy now, but it was the norm in a world where no single word processor dominated the scene. In fact, I went through several word processors before I found WordPerfect (the DOS version).
From the sea of word processors I fished out WordPerfect after trying a few dozen alternatives. One of them I remember was VolksWriter. It was the first real word processor for the IBM PC. A friend loaned me a copy — yes, I know, that’s pirating — but I wanted to try it out first before I bought it.
VolksWriter was okay, but I wasn’t really happy with it so I kept looking.
I tried WordStar, of course. It was the most popular word processor at the time, although it was a CP/M product that was crudely ported over to the PC. Upon reflection, WordStar was more of a text editor than a word processor.
Eventually I tried WordPerfect and fell in love — so much so that I immediately drove to the mall, walked into a software store, and paid $400 for a copy. Or was it $600? I forget. It wasn’t cheap.
Today the decision of which word processor to choose is one the market has already made for you. While alternatives exist, you’ll probably end up using Microsoft Word or some other program that creates Word formated documents. The consumer has sacrificed variety for consistency. It wasn’t always that way. But on the upside, you no longer have to ask anyone which word processor they use.
