Revisiting WordStar#

A day or so ago I ran across an article where science fiction writer Robert J. Sawyer had released his version of WordStar 7.0 for DOS, noting that it is now abandonware and, thus, he felt comfortable releasing it into the wild. What was interesting was that, as he noted, not only he, but several other quite successful writers had developed quite an affinity for the ancient software that ran on a long outdated operating system.

Quite understandably, many who commented on his announcement questioned why anyone would continue to use the long-antiquated software that required significant tweaking to remain useful. In fact, as the author noted, he was required to use either DosBox-X or Vdosbox in order to run the software and, further, had found it necessary to create scripts to convert the old format into something that could be sent to his publisher in the form of Microsoft Word. That is, the work he did could not be printed directly from the machine he was using, nor could it be directly converted to Microsoft Word. The question as to why he and others might choose to continue to the software is a valid one. Before I give you my take on it, let’s take a short stroll down memory lane.

Now, I haven’t used WordStar since probably 1986 when I was in my MBA program. Although I hadn’t even thought about WS until I read the article, I was immediately reminded of the many trips to the college library, 5.25 inch floppy disk in hand, to write my papers which were then printed on a, wait for it, dot-matrix printer. I well remember having to learn what was then the somewhat cryptic ctrl-key commands in order to do pretty much anything in the software. I also remember the frustration experienced when I goofed and couldn’t figure out how to get out of the pickle I’d created for myself. But, the program was pretty amazing. And even though it was not as user-friendly as the Word Writer software I used on my Commodore 128 of the time, it was still quite a useful tool.

Of course, like everyone else, when Microsoft Word came out I quickly jumped ship and moved over to that product, particularly once Windows came out, making the GUI the de facto standard for PCs. And, like everyone else (almost) I quickly forgot everything I ever knew about WordStar.

So the question remains: Why would anyone today use WordStar? I think there are a few reasons.

First, we tend to stick with what we know and what’s comfortable to us. For writers who started out on WordStar as their first word processsor, WordStar is simply comfortable. It is what they know. Particularly those who rely on word processors for their livelihood, transitioning to a new software requires learning new skills and this slows productivity. Moving would also require that either you convert your older work to the newer format, which did not always go so smoothly, abandon your old work, or keep that older program around so that you could make corrections to your older work as errata are identified.

In keeping with the whole slowing productivity concept, WordStar was designed to make writing as smooth and seamless as possible. The commands were created in a way that make it possible for the writer to navigate their document, and to format their documents, without ever moving their hands from the keyboard. There was no need for a mouse (nor was it possible to use one on early versions of the software). That designed meant that the writer could be highly productive with a minimum of physical effort. I think the analog today might be MarkDown, which I use extensivly in my own writing. The ability to use quick, keyboard-based commands in order to format the document as I write makes for a much more efficient process and allows me to format my writing with almost no thought – muscle memory allows me to format without thinking. And that is a definite advantage that I believe those stalwart WordStar users cling to.

Another reason, I think, that folks still choose to use WordStar is its simplicity. Earlier I suggested that the ctrl-key combos were cryptic and challenging and, when you’re learning the software, that is true. It is no different than learning any other software. That said, though, unlike most GUI based word processors today (I’m looking at your MS WORD) the software is not crammed with features that perhaps only 1% of people use. Revisiting the software and exploring the options available, I realized that everything I generally use when writing is there. And nothing more. I don’t have to go hunting through layers of menus to find what I need. It’s right there, under a control code. In fact, I think there are just two (maybe three, I’m not sure) layers of menus. All of the key features are just a key or two away.

That simplicity extends to the interface itself. There’s a lot of buzz around distraction-free writing today and many software programs have been designed around that paradigm. WordStar provided exactly that more than 30 years ago. When you loaded up WordStar you were brought to an essentially blank screen with just a few choices at the top of the page. Yes, there were lists of files at the bottom half, but once you selected the file you wanted, or started a new file, you had a clean, simple screen on which to work. Spell checking was only done on command and it did not constantly suggest corrections to your writing. One of the more frustrating things for me with the newer word processors is the incessant corrections to what I’ve written. That damned red sqiggly line under a word telling me that it’s spelled wrong, or is the wrong word is annoying, at the least. I mean, I meant to say “I’ma tellin’” I don’t need the computer to tell me this wrong. I’m the damn writer, after all; I know what I mean to say.

Oh, and there’s one more feature to WordStar that most people may not realize: It’s mostly plain text. Yes, there are control codes in the text but nothing nearly as significant as you’ll find in most Word documents. Moreover, you can embed notes into the file so that you can refer back to them to recall your thinking as you wrote, to identify areas that may need revision or further research and those won’t show up in any printed output. All very straightforward and easy to read and use.

Now, all that said, I’m not ready to toss out my MarkDown editors just yet (I’m trying out Visual Studio Code for writing at the moment) in favor of WordStar¹, though I’d be sorely tempted if I could figure out how to export my WordStar files to HTML or some other readily consumed format.²