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Software => Computer software => Topic started by: Roneee on July 28, 2010, 09:30:43 AM

Title: WordPerfect vs Open Office or Softmaker Office
Post by: Roneee on July 28, 2010, 09:30:43 AM
I have always used Wordperfect, but I have a new computer with Win 7 64bit.  The Wordperfect that I have is too old and will not work on the new OS.  I have MS Works 9 as an OEM on the new computer, but I don't like it.  I am retired and do not want to spend much on new Office software.  Can anyone tell me which of the 2 other software is most like Wordperfect?

Thanks, Roneee
Title: Re: WordPerfect vs Open Office or Softmaker Office
Post by: Allan on July 28, 2010, 09:32:01 AM
Nothing is like Word Perfect. I stopped using it 10 years ago and still miss it. Try Open Office (a free MS Office replacement): http://www.openoffice.org/
Title: Re: WordPerfect vs Open Office or Softmaker Office
Post by: rthompson80819 on July 28, 2010, 11:34:35 PM
I second open office a a good free word processor.

At one point in time Wordperfect was the best word processor on the market.  But then they went through some ownership changes, and stagnated, while Word kept getting better.

As much as I used to like Wordperfect, Word has become the standard today, and open office is a pretty good Word clone.
Title: Re: WordPerfect vs Open Office or Softmaker Office
Post by: BC_Programmer on July 29, 2010, 01:41:27 AM
I second open office a a good free word processor.

At one point in time Wordperfect was the best word processor on the market.  But then they went through some ownership changes, and stagnated, while Word kept getting better.

As much as I used to like Wordperfect, Word has become the standard today, and open office is a pretty good Word clone.

The Major turning point was that the first stable version of wordperfect for windows came nearly a year after Word for windows 2.0. (5.1 was released rather soon after Winword 2 but you had to install it from DOS and it had all sorts of messy stability issues, too). They just never caught up after that.  I imagine that whoever was in charge of it at the time was banking that windows wasn't any different then, say, Desqview or any number of shell programs, and that developing a program exclusively for it was sort of a waste of resources (at the time this was not an unreasonable assertion, really). They just got unlucky, and  they never caught up, especially because of the ownership changes, which basically took off little bits of the product with every ownership change ("we'll sell all of it, except for this component" type of stuff).

Basically, they were a year late with a Windows version, nine months late with a 32-bit version, and a year and a half late with a version that worked on NT, and even these late versions were all extremely buggy compared to the MS Office releases they were supposed to compete with. In many ways it's more a casualty of the DOS->Windows migration whose corpse is still being passed around. I don't think it was ever "the" word processor. when I think of old word processors whose various shortcuts got so ingrained in peoples skulls despite them being completely non mnemonic (wordstar diamond, anybody), I think of Wordstar, which was the undisputed champion for a very long time. 

Anyway, I have to agree with the OpenOffice recommendations.
Title: Re: WordPerfect vs Open Office or Softmaker Office
Post by: Roneee on July 29, 2010, 05:43:51 AM
Thanks for all your answers!  It's great to have some expert opinions.  I have downloaded Open Office and have not done much with it, but what I see, I like.  It has a lot more than Works (OEM on this computer) and a lot of the items I miss from WP.  Thanks for the history lesson.

Thanks again, Roneee
Title: Re: WordPerfect vs Open Office or Softmaker Office
Post by: Geek-9pm on July 31, 2010, 04:32:08 PM
I use version 11 with SP1 and SP2 updates.
New version of Word Perfect is on Amazon for about $40.
But you can get a 30 day trial here:
Quote
What's New
Adapting to the ever-changing ways people are working, WordPerfect Office X5 brings more collaboration tools, more PDF capabilities, more file sharing options and more Web access to the office suite. Upgrade now for more productivity software, inside the suite and out! ...
Free Trials- Most popular trial downloads from Corel. (http://www.corel.com/servlet/Satellite/us/en/Content/1152796555406)
Wed Perfect can use VBA macros. That could make it a good choice for an organization that is currently using Microsoft Office.
Title: Re: WordPerfect vs Open Office or Softmaker Office
Post by: LoveMusic on June 10, 2011, 08:15:02 PM
I haven't, but you might, look into the Win 7 feature for running XP software. It might save a ton of re-learn time & hassle.
Title: Re: WordPerfect vs Open Office or Softmaker Office
Post by: soybean on June 11, 2011, 07:10:15 AM
I haven't, but you might, look into the Win 7 feature for running XP software.
Just for the record, that requires Win 7 Pro or Ultimate.
Title: Re: WordPerfect vs Open Office or Softmaker Office
Post by: Allan on June 11, 2011, 07:46:42 AM
And there's the fact this thread is a year old :)
Title: Re: WordPerfect vs Open Office or Softmaker Office
Post by: Geek-9pm on June 11, 2011, 08:20:57 AM
And there's the fact this thread is a year old :)
Old thread never die.. he just fade away.
Title: Re: WordPerfect vs Open Office or Softmaker Office
Post by: reddevilggg on June 11, 2011, 10:41:12 AM
Old thread never die..

They just get re-animated by noobs
Title: Re: WordPerfect vs Open Office or Softmaker Office
Post by: Geek-9pm on June 11, 2011, 10:44:47 AM
They just get re-animated by noobs
Both of use included?
Title: Re: WordPerfect vs Open Office or Softmaker Office
Post by: reddevilggg on June 11, 2011, 10:52:13 AM

Both of use included?

Not really, though i'm guilty of participation, i tend to read the dates nowadays.