You know, seeing Stuart standing in that computer store for the intro brought back so many memories for me and so much nostalgia! I sure miss computing of the 90's. It was always so exciting to see what new software was out and all the new advances in PCs. I remember going into places like CompUSA and spending hours browsing every aisle. The excitement of upgrading components of your computer or finally biting the bullet and buying everything, including the case and power supply to build your own. It's a shame things aren't that way anymore.
Yeah, I miss browsing through aisles of "big box" software and games in Computer City, CompUSA etc. with my father as a kid. It was always exciting seeing the newest games running on their demo computers.
this comment right here is perfect, as soon as the video started I was going to write something like this. Remember going to computer stores as a kid in the 90s and just reading all the boxes.
We don't have big box software anymore. We do have micro centers and they are awesome. If you haven't been in one. I will say that it's like the mecca of computer parts and accessories.
I was a student in this time period and didn’t have money for nuthen. I had an illicit copy of Word Perfect 5.1 for dos that I used in the computer lab. I had absolutely zero knowledge of Nintendo even (thank goodness- I would have flunked out for sure, otherwise.) Today I have the full Microsoft office suite and yet still do most editing in TXT format in Notepad. Not Wordpad… I use Notepad (zero RTF or “rich text format”).
It's even creepier. Delta 191 crashed due to a microburst on final, killing many passengers. Looks like for the demo, they slightly changed the surname of an actual passenger. Here's an article that's relevant: www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2012/april/pilot/revisiting-a-tragedy
I finally understand what those smart icon UI's were meant for, they're like painter's pallete for people who brushed up their documents. I only wrote school reports and found them incredibly annoying.
I'm shocked that Word Perfect actually still exists. I don't think I've heard anyone say "Word Perfect" since 1998 or 99. I'd figured Corel had gone belly up or had been bought up long ago.
WordPerfect had law offices, government offices and Poets absolutely sewn up. I can't imagine any are a big market, but that's who is buying WP2021. The formatting abilities make it very attractive to those groups.
It's still around and caters heavily to the legal field. It's still in heavy use there. So out of the box, most of its UI decisions and features are built around options that would be often used by them.
When I bought my Pentium MMX Windows 95 PC in 1997 it had both MS Word 97 and Word Perfect for Windows already installed on it. I actually liked having both to choose from, but I hated it when my PC crashed in 2007.
For me it's the presentation style and just seeing how far computers and software has come in general. It's weird watching these vids and seeing how many companies and software ultimately became obsolete or just replaced in market share by something else.
In 1995 my high school had a token ring network of IBM ps2’s for keyboarding/information processing classes-all to run WordPerfect 5.1 to teach how to type. It was tedious-formatting a text document was much like HTML coding, requiring texts tags to stylize, indent and page break. I remember it has a graphical interface shell, but it was horribly slow compared to the regular blue screen.
This is more of a question rather then a comment. Years ago I was helping a friend at a computer show. To boost his mailing list he used an Apple II computer running the AppleWorks program. It had a feature that would halt a print job, wait for keyboard input and resume printing after the return key was pressed. It worked great at the end of the day we had the names and address of 63 potential new customers. Now, the question do you know if any modern word processor programs offer this feature? Thanks in advance.
You notice thermal colour printers aren't really a thing now? Greedy printer manufactures did NOT want you to not have to buy RIDICULOUSLY expensive inks.
What a depressive tragedy that woman used to show off Word Perfect capabilities. Never, never do that, because then your product, in the consumer´s mind, will be attached to a negative memory. Very bad marketing.
So they demoed WordPerfect 5.2 and then when Stuart (22:20) asked Janiel Miller of WordPerfect Corp about 6.0 for DOS she didn't know when 6.0 for DOS or Windows would have a release date then about a minute later (23:46) during Random Access they announce the release of WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS. Was that recorded weeks before broadcast or was WordPerfect that bad at conveying info to their salesforce?
It was very likely the demos were recorded well before the actual show was aired. There were some other Computer Chronicles episodes that had similar conflicting info.
You only tell salesmen what they need to know, and *when* new products will be released is something they don't need to know (because of the Osborne Effect).
They were probably just recorded at different times. The news segment is much easier to record since it's a short segment with just one person on camera and they probably wanted it to be more up to date so they probably recorded that segment last, as close to air time as possible and that's why it had the more up to date news and info
I haven't watched the video but WP was the Market Leader and failed to appreciate the impact Windows would make. Along with Lotus. Word for Windows was SPECIAL too. They assumed that Windows was just frills. No no no no no. Application switching, cut/paste between apps, one set of PRINTER drivers for all apps, no more drivers per app, print spooler. Common interface across apps. Ctrl x, c, v, same in EVERY APP. BOOM - the market spoke.
You need to read the book, "Almost Perfect". WPCorp was almost certain OS/2 would be the new GUI based OS for the future. There was also some dislike about Microsoft, and together with Lotus they made their investment there. And they gambled and lost... But Word and the Office package from Microsoft was a good copy job, and they were very close to the intrinsic development of Windows 3.0 and 3.1 and were simply better with Word 6.
I tried the first version of WordPerfect for Windows and disliked it so much that after 30 minutes I returned to the DOS version. One of the factors that worked in favor of Word For Windows was the Microsoft made the OS so that gave them an advantage. Another thing that worked against WordPerfect is that Windows eliminated the need for tech support that that was needed for the DOS version.
@@JJVernig It wasn't just WordPerfect, a lot of big corporations assumed the future was OS/2. Windows 3 being a huge sales success was somewhat of a surprise, and was an early example of Microsoft using bundling to their advantage. Interestingly, you can even find a Computer Chronicles episode from the late 80s where Microsoft themselves were taking about how Windows (v2 at the time) was just a stepping stone to OS/2.
Does time run backwards?? In 1992, there's no screen flickering when shown with Camera and all the videos I've watched since 2000s, computer screens and TVs always flickered in every footage captured.
I recall the engineering firm I worked at used Word Perfect in its PC network that ran on DOS/Windows 3.1 in the early to mid-1990s. The IT manager had fits with keeping that network up-and-running; and it seemed Word Perfect was constantly being plagued with bug issues in the network. I suggested to the IT manager that the PC-OS, being Microsoft, may have been tweaked to restrain the Word Perfect performance, as after all, MS Word was a Microsoft product; whereupon all the bug issues may possibly be resolved with adopting MS Word for network use. The IT manager, at the time, thought such thoughts were rubbish. But, after his departure, the new IT manager brought in MS Word, and the word processing bugs went away in the network.
I wonder if WP paid for this ringing endorsement? Just curious. On a related note, I always disliked how the host constantly pressures his guests to talk faster faster faster, with constant interruptions and impatient "mmhmm"s. I feel the pressure even as a passive content consumer.
This broadcast from 1992 was actually probably right near the height of WordPerfect's popularity. Within a few years, Microsoft Word took over and WordPerfect never recovered. That 6.0 release mentioned in the video had a lot of issues, IIRC.
it was a real passenger they just changed his surname slightly. Delta flight 191, Peter Michael Perdaris. www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2012/april/pilot/revisiting-a-tragedy
@@VAX1970 Yeah i just looked it uip 1985 it crashed so i assume the case would have been settle by the time this was aired but still very creepy not fair on the mans family to see this on tv again
Kinda. Like Wordstar before them switch to DOS, WordPerfect was very slow to switch to Windows and once there the fast/memorised keyboard combo advantage of the DOS version was problematic anyway. Plus they released really shitty versions opening the door for a competitor. They killed themselves off realistically.
@@rabidbigdog I agree that the Window version of WordPerfect's was mediocre. I suspect that, at that crucial time, Microsoft Word and all other components of the Office suite were designed and developed with Windows tools that weren't available to the competition.
@@arthdenton That was my feeling. But WPcorp were heavily invested in OS/2 development and made a late switch to Windows 3.0 and 3.1.. They of course didn't want Microsoft win that battle, but they did, and started late on the Windows-bandwagon.
You know, seeing Stuart standing in that computer store for the intro brought back so many memories for me and so much nostalgia! I sure miss computing of the 90's. It was always so exciting to see what new software was out and all the new advances in PCs. I remember going into places like CompUSA and spending hours browsing every aisle. The excitement of upgrading components of your computer or finally biting the bullet and buying everything, including the case and power supply to build your own. It's a shame things aren't that way anymore.
You didn't get the memo? All the vanguard stuff, experimenting, and tinkering is now moved to the maker community. Plz join up.
Yeah, I miss browsing through aisles of "big box" software and games in Computer City, CompUSA etc. with my father as a kid. It was always exciting seeing the newest games running on their demo computers.
this comment right here is perfect, as soon as the video started I was going to write something like this. Remember going to computer stores as a kid in the 90s and just reading all the boxes.
We don't have big box software anymore. We do have micro centers and they are awesome. If you haven't been in one. I will say that it's like the mecca of computer parts and accessories.
I was a student in this time period and didn’t have money for nuthen. I had an illicit copy of Word Perfect 5.1 for dos that I used in the computer lab. I had absolutely zero knowledge of Nintendo even (thank goodness- I would have flunked out for sure, otherwise.)
Today I have the full Microsoft office suite and yet still do most editing in TXT format in Notepad. Not Wordpad… I use Notepad (zero RTF or “rich text format”).
The word perfect to me is like the word Love, you feel this for who helps you recognize a conscience the most.
Using an airplane crash to talk about word processors is kind weird and pretty creepy LOL
Well, this is a public broadcasting program, so...
Eric P. Alvaro I thought exactly the same. Very very odd.
It's even creepier. Delta 191 crashed due to a microburst on final, killing many passengers. Looks like for the demo, they slightly changed the surname of an actual passenger. Here's an article that's relevant: www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2012/april/pilot/revisiting-a-tragedy
That seems sick, the family could sue them for this, i doubt they gave them permission
@@VAX1970 I'm sure the statute of limitations has long since passed. It does seem messed up though.
18:58 - a CUBE of tools? How cool is that! I never seen something like that!
$80 is steep though
I like the boomerang icon for returning it home.
I finally understand what those smart icon UI's were meant for, they're like painter's pallete for people who brushed up their documents. I only wrote school reports and found them incredibly annoying.
I'm shocked that Word Perfect actually still exists. I don't think I've heard anyone say "Word Perfect" since 1998 or 99. I'd figured Corel had gone belly up or had been bought up long ago.
$249.99 for Standard version! $400 for the Pro version! :)
WordPerfect had law offices, government offices and Poets absolutely sewn up.
I can't imagine any are a big market, but that's who is buying WP2021. The formatting abilities make it very attractive to those groups.
It's still around and caters heavily to the legal field. It's still in heavy use there. So out of the box, most of its UI decisions and features are built around options that would be often used by them.
When I bought my Pentium MMX Windows 95 PC in 1997 it had both MS Word 97 and Word Perfect for Windows already installed on it. I actually liked having both to choose from, but I hated it when my PC crashed in 2007.
Why do i love this show so much??
For me it's the presentation style and just seeing how far computers and software has come in general. It's weird watching these vids and seeing how many companies and software ultimately became obsolete or just replaced in market share by something else.
✨We had word perfect in our school back in the day.This was before MS Word. Lol I love these old videos.☕️⌨💼😍✨
Just love these old programmes
Shoulder pads everywhere😎
Just love these old comments 😎
In 1995 my high school had a token ring network of IBM ps2’s for keyboarding/information processing classes-all to run WordPerfect 5.1 to teach how to type. It was tedious-formatting a text document was much like HTML coding, requiring texts tags to stylize, indent and page break. I remember it has a graphical interface shell, but it was horribly slow compared to the regular blue screen.
You have to compliment Chronicles on its production value.
This is more of a question rather then a comment. Years ago I was helping a friend at a computer show. To boost his mailing list he used an Apple II computer running the AppleWorks program. It had a feature that would halt a print job, wait for keyboard input and resume printing after the return key was pressed. It worked great at the end of the day we had the names and address of 63 potential new customers. Now, the question do you know if any modern word processor programs offer this feature? Thanks in advance.
Indeed Steve Jobs was right. Word processing programs was the next desktop publishing! Nice video, it was the most historical computer tv show!
Of course, Apple invented word processing, desktop, and video publishing.
How the mighty have fallen. Now you can get Corel's Wordperfect office suite for $50-100.
Wow! The cube is almost as much as word perfect. That's bold pricing.
You notice thermal colour printers aren't really a thing now? Greedy printer manufactures did NOT want you to not have to buy RIDICULOUSLY expensive inks.
Not entirely sure, but this fellow once hosted a PBS show that used to appear locally on Saturday mornings. Them were the days.
What a depressive tragedy that woman used to show off Word Perfect capabilities. Never, never do that, because then your product, in the consumer´s mind, will be attached to a negative memory. Very bad marketing.
So they demoed WordPerfect 5.2 and then when Stuart (22:20) asked Janiel Miller of WordPerfect Corp about 6.0 for DOS she didn't know when 6.0 for DOS or Windows would have a release date then about a minute later (23:46) during Random Access they announce the release of WordPerfect 6.0 for DOS. Was that recorded weeks before broadcast or was WordPerfect that bad at conveying info to their salesforce?
It was very likely the demos were recorded well before the actual show was aired. There were some other Computer Chronicles episodes that had similar conflicting info.
You only tell salesmen what they need to know, and *when* new products will be released is something they don't need to know (because of the Osborne Effect).
@@RonJohn63 This. Unless you're ready to go, STFU about the next product.
They were probably just recorded at different times. The news segment is much easier to record since it's a short segment with just one person on camera and they probably wanted it to be more up to date so they probably recorded that segment last, as close to air time as possible and that's why it had the more up to date news and info
I see Janiel is sporting the Molly Ringwald look.
Word perfect demo was impressive.
Great Episode.
I haven't watched the video but WP was the Market Leader and failed to appreciate the impact Windows would make. Along with Lotus. Word for Windows was SPECIAL too. They assumed that Windows was just frills. No no no no no. Application switching, cut/paste between apps, one set of PRINTER drivers for all apps, no more drivers per app, print spooler. Common interface across apps. Ctrl x, c, v, same in EVERY APP. BOOM - the market spoke.
office suite never went out of demand though. I think Microsoft abused their OS monopoly to tie in businesses.
You need to read the book, "Almost Perfect". WPCorp was almost certain OS/2 would be the new GUI based OS for the future. There was also some dislike about Microsoft, and together with Lotus they made their investment there. And they gambled and lost...
But Word and the Office package from Microsoft was a good copy job, and they were very close to the intrinsic development of Windows 3.0 and 3.1 and were simply better with Word 6.
I tried the first version of WordPerfect for Windows and disliked it so much that after 30 minutes I returned to the DOS version. One of the factors that worked in favor of Word For Windows was the Microsoft made the OS so that gave them an advantage. Another thing that worked against WordPerfect is that Windows eliminated the need for tech support that that was needed for the DOS version.
@@JJVernig It wasn't just WordPerfect, a lot of big corporations assumed the future was OS/2. Windows 3 being a huge sales success was somewhat of a surprise, and was an early example of Microsoft using bundling to their advantage. Interestingly, you can even find a Computer Chronicles episode from the late 80s where Microsoft themselves were taking about how Windows (v2 at the time) was just a stepping stone to OS/2.
Scully?... I want to believe! The truth is out there...
It was a quick word processor to use, but learning it was such a slog. Say one thing
Reveal Codes
23:15 4-5 years later is been signed contract featuring 3Dfx, don't remember witch one F15 or F18 had Voodoo's on board..for real :)
Gillian Anderson before X-Files LOL
Almost a spitting image!
10:05 Obscure Dynamics Corporation.
This episode opens up with a high energy upper of a use case and just ascends from there.
Back in the days when computers were meant for productivity.
Janiel Miller, damn. get me a time machine
i'm still using it
word perfect looks to be a precursor to a basic web page maker
1:35 The 1980s didn't end in on 01-Jan-1990. (And this was a year before Dana Scully.)
Nice! What model of Mac is that at the beginning of the video, where Stuart's talking to that lady from Word Perfect?
Macintosh LC
Secrets of Word Perfect :) QC
Does time run backwards??
In 1992, there's no screen flickering when shown with Camera and all the videos I've watched since 2000s, computer screens and TVs always flickered in every footage captured.
They're polarised and synced with the refresh rate.
It works but It's just not always possible to do
I recall the engineering firm I worked at used Word Perfect in its PC network that ran on DOS/Windows 3.1 in the early to mid-1990s.
The IT manager had fits with keeping that network up-and-running; and it seemed Word Perfect was constantly being plagued with bug issues in the network.
I suggested to the IT manager that the PC-OS, being Microsoft, may have been tweaked to restrain the Word Perfect performance, as after all, MS Word was a Microsoft product; whereupon all the bug issues may possibly be resolved with adopting MS Word for network use.
The IT manager, at the time, thought such thoughts were rubbish.
But, after his departure, the new IT manager brought in MS Word, and the word processing bugs went away in the network.
Wtf were they thinking??? An airplane crash !?
Does anyone happen to know what brand of software Stewart was looking at in the intro?
18:28 'you can insert your male package'
I wonder if WP paid for this ringing endorsement? Just curious.
On a related note, I always disliked how the host constantly pressures his guests to talk faster faster faster, with constant interruptions and impatient "mmhmm"s. I feel the pressure even as a passive content consumer.
He’s the worst at interrupting people. He does it in almost every single interview.
Softwares were pretty expensive back then, asking for $90 just for button shortcut software
I think he be the Guiness World Record holder of The most interruptions of a speaker! Good job, thats hard-core "journalism" right there!
WordPerfect died off about 2 years ago.
This broadcast from 1992 was actually probably right near the height of WordPerfect's popularity. Within a few years, Microsoft Word took over and WordPerfect never recovered. That 6.0 release mentioned in the video had a lot of issues, IIRC.
Wordperfect is still available
could you make it louder
LOL Hillarious how they show a sensitive (you'd assume CONFIDENTIAL) case file from an airline crash!!
MJ D I can only imagine that wasn't real. It was just a good scenario to help get the point across.
Vinny Cikovic not overly sure it's that good.
Ironically, the father of the IBM PC, Don Estridge and his wife died on Delta 191.
it was a real passenger they just changed his surname slightly. Delta flight 191, Peter Michael Perdaris. www.aopa.org/news-and-media/all-news/2012/april/pilot/revisiting-a-tragedy
@@VAX1970 Yeah i just looked it uip 1985 it crashed so i assume the case would have been settle by the time this was aired but still very creepy not fair on the mans family to see this on tv again
please copy your floppy
Button cube still looks like a good idea today. Why isn't it used now?
now it's all about rapid iterations. no one cares if you polish up a documents, who cares if some AI can just format it. 😁
I struggle building my pecs
Poor WordPerfect :(
Used to be my favorite word processor. But evil Microsoft killed it, like they did everything else.
Kinda. Like Wordstar before them switch to DOS, WordPerfect was very slow to switch to Windows and once there the fast/memorised keyboard combo advantage of the DOS version was problematic anyway. Plus they released really shitty versions opening the door for a competitor. They killed themselves off realistically.
@@rabidbigdog I agree that the Window version of WordPerfect's was mediocre.
I suspect that, at that crucial time, Microsoft Word and all other components of the Office suite were designed and developed with Windows tools that weren't available to the competition.
@@arthdenton That was my feeling. But WPcorp were heavily invested in OS/2 development and made a late switch to Windows 3.0 and 3.1.. They of course didn't want Microsoft win that battle, but they did, and started late on the Windows-bandwagon.
7:40 wow 30 clip arts included. whoopee doo, add greed to the reason for the downfall of WP...
Dude, slow your roll; that was incredible at the time.
Why would you want to run FMV on any document other than HTML? Kinda binds you to a computer to actually read it...
HTML wasn't invented until a year after this program aired...
The birth of memes.
I use word perfect 5.1 to finish my MBA program in 1992.