Microsoft Word, the popular computer program that changed the way people type on PCs and laptops, turned 40 on Wednesday. It was first called ‘Multi-Tool Word’ when it was released on October 25, 1983, and later became known as Microsoft Word. You could get copies of this word-processing app in the November issue of PC World magazine.
The very first version of Microsoft Word was created by Charles Simonyi and Richard Brodie. They used to work for Xerox and were hired by Microsoft’s co-founders, Bill Gates and Paul Allen, back in 1981.
The very first Word program, called Word 1.0, came out in October 1983 for Xenix and MS-DOS computers. The first version of Windows was released in 1989, and it had a somewhat better look.
When Windows 3.0 came out in 1990, Word became really popular and successful.
After that, they changed the names to Word 95, Word 97, Word 2000, and Word for Office XP, which matched the names of the Windows versions.
Then, they started naming the Word versions after the year they were made. So, we got Word 2003, Word 2007, Word 2010, Word 2013, Word 2016, and most recently, Word for Office 365.
In 2014, they shared the source code of Word for Windows 1.1a with the Computer History Museum and the public for educational reasons.
Word 2019 brought in some new features, like support for Scalable Vector Graphics, Microsoft Translator, and LaTeX, as well as more drawing options.
Today, Microsoft Word comes with Microsoft 365, which is a subscription that includes many Office apps and services, all powered by the cloud.
According to Microsoft, “Make your words shine with smart writing assistance, helpful document designs, and easy collaboration tools anywhere, anytime.”
