Word
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Microsoft Word
Microsoft Word is a word processor designed by Microsoft. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Subsequent versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS (1983), the Apple Macintosh (1984), Atari ST (1986), SCO UNIX, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows (1989). It is a component of the Microsoft Office system; however, it is also sold as a standalone product and included in Microsoft Works Suite. Beginning with the 2003 version, the branding was revised to emphasize Word's identity as a component within the Office suite; Microsoft began calling it Microsoft Office Word instead of merely Microsoft Word. The latest releases are Word 2007 for Windows and Word 2008 for Mac OS X, while Word 2007 can also be run using the Wine compatibility layer on Linux. There are commercially available add-ins that expand the functionality of Microsoft Word.
History
Word 1981 to 1989 Concepts and ideas of Word were brought from Bravo, the original GUI writing word processor developed at Xerox PARC. On February 1, 1983. With this, development on what was originally named Multi-Tool Word began.
Word 1990 to 1995 The first version of Word for Windows was released in 1989 at a price of 500 US dollars.[citation needed] With the release of Windows 3.0 the following year, sales began to pick up (Word for Windows 1.0 was designed for use with Windows 3.0, and its performance was poorer with the versions of Windows available when it was first released). The failure of WordPerfect to produce a Windows version proved a fatal mistake. It was version 2.0 of Word, however, that firmly established Microsoft Word as the market leader.
Word 97 Word 97 had the same general operating performance as later versions such as Word 2000. This was the first copy of Word featuring the Office Assistant, "Clippy," which was an animated helper used in all Office programs. This was a take over from the earlier launched concept in Microsoft Bob.
Word 98 Word 98 for the Macintosh gained many features of Word 97, and was bundled with the Macintosh Office 98 package. Document compatibility reached parity with Office 97 and Word on the Mac became a viable business alternative to its Windows counterpart. Unfortunately, Word on the Mac in this and later releases also became vulnerable to future macro viruses that could compromise Word (and Excel) documents, leading to the only situation where viruses could be cross-platform. A Windows version of this was only bundled with the Japanese/Korean Microsoft Office 97 Powered By Word 98 and could not be purchased separately.
Word 2000 See also: Microsoft Office 2000 For most users, one of the most obvious reasons changes introduced with Word 2000 (and the rest of the Office 2000 suite) was a clipboard that could hold multiple objects at once. Another noticeable change was that the Office Assistant, whose frequent unsolicited appearance in Word 97 had annoyed many users, was changed to be less intrusive.
Word 2001/Word X Word 2001 was bundled with the Macintosh Office for that platform, acquiring most, if not all, of the feature set of Word 2000. Released in October 2000, Word 2001 was also sold as an individual product. The Macintosh version, Word X, released in 2001, was the first version to run natively on (and required) Mac OS X.
Word 2002/XP See also: Microsoft Office XP Word 2002 was bundled with Office XP and was released in 2001. It had many of the same features as Word 2000, but had a major new feature called the 'Task Panes', which gave quicker information and control to a lot of features that were before only available in modal dialog boxes. One of the key advertising strategies for the software was the removal of the Office Assistant in favor of a new help system, although it was simply disabled by default.
Word 2003 See also: Microsoft Office 2003 For the 2003 version, the Office programs, including Word, were rebranded to emphasize the unity of the Office suite, so that Microsoft Word officially became Microsoft Office Word.
Word 2004 A new Macintosh version of Office was released in May 2004. Substantial cleanup of the various applications (Word, Excel, PowerPoint) and feature parity with Office 2003 (for Microsoft Windows) created a very usable release. Microsoft released patches through the years to eliminate most known macro vulnerabilities from this version. While Apple released Pages and the open source community created NeoOffice, Word remains the most widely used word processor on the Macintosh.
Word 2007 Word 2007 uses a new file format called docx. Word 2000-2003 users on Windows systems can install a free add-on called the "Microsoft Office Compatibility Pack" to be able to open, edit, and save the new Word 2007 files.
Word 2008 Word 2008 is the most recent version of Microsoft Word for the Mac, released on January 15, 2008. It includes some new features from Word 2007, such as a ribbon-like feature that can be used to select page layouts and insert custom diagrams and images. Word 2008 also features native support for the new Office Open XML format, although the old doc format can be set as a default.
Word 2010 The next version of Word is scheduled to be released sometime in 2010. It will include many new features common to other applications in Office 2010.
Injunction
On August 11 2009, a judge of the US Federal court in the Eastern District of Texas Tyler Division, ordered an injunction due to be implemented within 60 days, banning the sale of Microsoft Word in the United States, after accepting claims that Microsoft willfully infringed US patent 5787449 held by the Toronto based Canadian company i4i that described the utility of separately editing Structure (e.g. SGML, XML) and Content of Microsoft Word documents, originally implemented in 1998 within i4i's XML editor add-on for Microsoft Word called S4. Microsoft was also ordered to pay i4i $40 million enhanced damages for willful infringement plus other costs, an award in addition to a $200 million award against Microsoft in May 2009. Patent suits are often brought in the courts of the Eastern District of Texas, as it is known for favoring plaintiffs and for its expertise in patent suits. Microsoft filed an emergency motion in which they asked for a stay of the injunction ruling. The motion was granted on September 4, 2009.
See Also
To know more about MS-word http://office.microsoft.com