What is the word processor software of the Microsoft Office suite called?

Microsoft Word, known also just as ‘Word’ is word processing software and a flagship product of Microsoft.

It is an integral part of the Microsoft Office suite of products and is the most widely-used word processor in the world. In fact, it’s estimated that Word is running on more than a billion devices worldwide.

First released in 1983 under a different name, Word celebrated its 25th birthday in 2018. Its popularity lies in its ease of use, plus the fact that it can be used on different operating systems including Macintosh and of course, Windows.

Word can be bought as a standalone product or as a part of Microsoft Office, which also includes programs like Excel and PowerPoint.

So, just how did Word come to dominate the market during the last 25 years and become the most-used word processing software in the world? And what does the future hold for the product?

Rise to popularity

The first ever version of Microsoft Word - Word 1.0 - was launched in October 1983 and developed by former Xerox programmers, Charles Simonyi and Richard Brodie. The two were hired by Microsoft founders Bill Gates and Paul Allen, in 1981. At this time, Word was called Multi-Tool Word. It was designed for use on computers that ran the UNIX operating system.

Word was a WYSIWYG ('what you see is what you get') program. This meant that however a document looked on screen was how it would look once printed. Word let users create, save and print text documents, but it wasn't an instant success; perhaps because it was competing with the hugely popular WordPerfect and WordStar word processing programs.

Version 2.0 was released in 1985, with added features including spellcheck and word count.

Over the following years, Microsoft re-coded the program a number of times so that it could work on different operating systems, including DOS (disk operating system) and Macintosh. The name was also changed to the shorter and more memorable ‘Word’.

In 1993, Microsoft released Word 6.0 which worked on Macintosh, Windows and DOS. Word 6.0 was the last version created to run on DOS and the last version to be identified by version number; subsequent versions were named after their year of release.

Since then, Microsoft has released a new version of Word at least every two years. The most recent release was at the end of 2018, with Word 2019, part of Office 365.

The future of Word

Today, Word and the whole Office suite is highly-integrated and runs on OS X, Android and iOS, as well as Windows. Satya Nadella, CEO of Microsoft, has said that Office is the company's most important API (application programming interface).

The latest version of the software is Word 2019. Like its spreadsheet counterpart, Excel, Word has been given a number of updates to improve its functionality and ensure it keeps up with the changing computing times.

Recent new features of Word include:

• Translator - Word can now translate words and sentences into other languages using the Microsoft Translator tool, which sits under the Review tab. This function has also been added to Excel, OneNote and PowerPoint.
• Learning Tools - this feature helps make your documents easy to comprehend and helps with reading fluency. Use it to change column width for improved focus, page colour so the page can be scanned with less eye strain, and show breaks between syllables to improve word recognition and pronunciation. You can also use this tool to read your document aloud to you.
• Digital pen - if you have a touch-enabled device, the latest version of Word (and other Office products) lets you draw with your finger, a mouse or a digital pen for easy annotation and note-taking.
• Icons and SVGs (scalable vector graphics) - Word now has a library of icons and 3D images which can be inserted into documents to make them more visually appealing and to make an impact. Users can change colours and apply effects.

  Microsoft Word is a widely used commercial word processor designed by Microsoft. Microsoft Word is a component of the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software, but can also be purchased as a stand-alone product.

  Microsoft Word was initially launched in 1983, and has since been revised numerous times. It is available for both Windows and Apple operating systems.

  Microsoft Word is often called simply Word or MS Word.

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  Techopedia Explains Microsoft Word

  In 1981, Microsoft hired Charles Simonyi to develop a word-processing application. The first version was released in 1983.

  Initially, MS Word was not very popular, owing to its radically different look compared to WordPerfect, the leading word processor at that time. However, Microsoft improved Word continually over the years, including a 1985 version that could run on a Mac. The second major release of Word, in 1987, included an upgrade of major features, in addition to new functionalities such as support for rich text format (RTF).

  In 1995, Microsoft increased its market share in the word processor business with the release of Windows 95 and Office 95, which offered a bundled set of office productivity software.

  Some features that have made MS Word useful include a WYSIWYG (what-you-see-is-what-you-get) display: this design ensures that everything displayed on screen appears the same way when printed or moved to another format or program. The ability of users to copy and paste MS Word content into many other platforms without significant formatting loss is one reason the software has stayed so popular in the last two decades.

  In addition, MS Word has a built-in dictionary for spell checking; misspelled words are marked with a red squiggly underline. MS Word offers text-level features such as bold, underline, italic and strike-through, and page-level features such as indentation, paragraphing and justification. Word is compatible with many other programs, the most common being the other members of the Office suite.

  In 2007, .docx became the default file format, replacing the “.doc” extension.

  As Microsoft Word modernized over time, so did Microsoft operating systems. Since the Microsoft Office suite is inherently tied to the Microsoft operating system, its use featured in user frustrations around end-of-life for Microsoft XP and the successive Vista and Windows 7, 8 and 10 additions.

  At the same time, Microsoft was getting on the cloud bandwagon. Its new offering, Microsoft Office 365, replaces old out of the box or single machine licensing methods with a cloud-delivered set of software applications that users can access from anywhere.

  With subscription pricing, many customers are now accessing Microsoft Word and Office suites through office 365 instead of buying it through downloads with license keys. Theoretically, the cloud-delivered method allows for more versatile use on multiple devices, although some users have reported trouble trying to get new devices authorized.

  One other popular aspect of the cloud-delivered software is that there’s no need to load it onto the local hard drive, leaving the end device less cluttered by drivers and other types of software infrastructure. At the same time, Microsoft has added other complementary cloud applications like OneNote, OneDrive and SharePoint for enterprise users, and a mobile Office suite for Apple and Android.

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  What is the word processor software of the Microsoft Office?

  Microsoft Word is a word processing software developed by Microsoft.

  What type of software is Microsoft Office?

  Microsoft Office is a suite of applications designed to help with productivity and completing common tasks on a computer. You can create and edit documents containing text and images, work with data in spreadsheets and databases, and create presentations and posters.

  Which word processing software is available as a part of Microsoft Office software suite?

  Microsoft Word is a full-featured word processing program for Windows and Mac operating systems. See more on Word with Microsoft 365.

  What is the word processing software of the Microsoft Office 2010 suite?

  Microsoft Word is a widely used commercial word processor designed by Microsoft. Microsoft Word is a component of the Microsoft Office suite of productivity software, but can also be purchased as a stand-alone product.