However, edited versions of a document were "Saved" only to this RAM disk, and had to be copied to physical magnetic media before rebooting.īy the mid-1980s WordStar was the most popular word processing software in the world. WordStar would still access the "disk" repeatedly, but the far faster access of the RAM drive compared to a floppy disk yielded a substantial speed improvement. Users quickly learned they could make this version of WordStar run dramatically faster by using the ability of DOS to create a "RAM disk" in memory, and copy the WordStar program files into it. The first DOS version was a direct port of the CP/M version, and therefore only used 64K of RAM even though DOS supported up to 640K. WordStar's ability to use a "non-document" mode to create text files without formatting made it popular among programmers for writing code.
The DOS version was very similar to the original, and although the IBM PC featured arrow keys and separate function keys, the traditional "WordStar diamond" and other Ctrl-key functions were retained, leading to rapid adoption by former CP/M users. The 3.0 version of WordStar for DOS was released in April 1982. Release 4, the final CP/M compatible version, was sold with 5¼" floppy disk as a default, and an 8" version as an option. Notably, WordStar was the last commercial word processor supporting the CP/M operating system.
In 1981 WordStar version 2.26 was bundled with the Osborne 1 portable computer. Jim Fox, Barnaby's assistant, ported (meaning re-wrote for a different operating system) WordStar from the CP/M operating system to MS/PC DOS.It was the most feature-rich and easy-to-use word processor available for this operating system, and became a de facto standard. Rob Barnaby wrote the 1979 version of WordStar for CP/M. Software programmer Rob Barnaby was convinced to leave IMSAI and tag along with Rubenstein to join MicroPro. He left to start MicroPro International Inc. Seymour Rubenstein first started developing an early version of a word processor for the IMSAI 8080 computer when he was director of marketing for IMSAI. Released in 1979 by Micropro International, WordStar was the first commercially successful word processing software program produced for microcomputers and the best selling software program of the early eighties. It was quick, it had a great interface, and it did just about everything that the computers of the day were capable of. WordStar was the first real word processor, built in assembly language back in the days of CP/M (and later ported to DOS). Clarke on meeting Seymour Rubenstein and Rob Barnaby, the inventors of Wordstar. "I am happy to greet the geniuses who made me a born-again writer, having announced my retirement in 1978, I now have six books in the works and two, all through WordStar." Quote from Arthur C.