This was so massively superior to carbon paper on a typewriter that the time investment was totally worthwhile. This was extremely labor-intensive, taking a week or more to duplicate a given document, but then we gained the ability to use mail-merge to bulk-produce perfect copies on a laser printer. But, god, you could do freaking anything with that program. As someone who lived in it: yes, its interface was awful.ДЄny program that seriously needs a cheat sheet loaded onto your keyboard has got issues. What I actually did learn, back in the day, was WordPerfect. I could easily see myself still using it today. Had I learned Wordstar first, and assuming I hadn't crippled myself with the constant control-reaching before remapping keys got so easy (swapping capslock and control would be very important, I would think, if you were at all prone to RSI).

That sounds vaguely like a modeless vim not quite as powerful, since it apparently lacks counts before commands, but much easier to learn. So that's not going to happen.Д«ut I do now have a bit of a nostalgia itch that I need to scratch with that FreeDOS VM. I can't see myself downloading an old version of WordStar and running it up in my FreeDOS VM. I honestly don't remember if WordPerfect 5.1 had comments, and if it did I could use them instead - but for a manuscript, the WordStar solution is definitely better. But things like not printing a line starting with. I'm not sure I would have been more productive in WordStar - and I'm fairly certain my documents wouldn't have looked as good. The DOS versions of WordStar I used were just not to my liking, and WordPerfect 5.1 could do layouts that was far better than any other word processor - closing on DTP.ДЄs I was (mostly) writing RPG adventures for me and my friends, having sidebars and boxes was important - WordPerfect was just better at that.Д«ut this article, despite coming to my attention around 25 years too late, gives me thought for pause. I'll happily admit I'm more of a WordPerfect fan than WordStar.

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