40 years ago today, on October 25, 1983, Microsoft released Word, a WYSIWYG text editor. Today, this legendary software and one of the oldest Windows applications celebrates its 40th birthday. To celebrate this huge milestone, Microsoft has released an infographic showing the software's evolution and revealing upcoming features for Word in future updates.
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From its humble beginnings to becoming one of the most popular office tools in the world, almost everyone is familiar with Word in one way or another. So, to celebrate its 40th birthday, we decided to take a look back at how we got to where we are today, while also sharing a little about where our future lies.
The timeline of Word's history showcases its notable milestones, such as the original version released in 1983, Word 97 and 97 with AutoCorrect, Microsoft Word 2003 with a major interface redesign, advanced image editing in Word 2010, a better ribbon in Word 2013, and improved collaboration features and the long-awaited dark mode in Microsoft 365.
Now, Microsoft is looking ahead to the next few years for its legendary word processor.
Looking to the future, we will hold the torch high and build on the foundation laid in 1983. We have an unwavering focus on ensuring that Word is expanded to support users in completing any writing and reading task, from simple to complex, as efficiently as possible.
The company wants to focus on integrating Copilot into Word, improving Word for the Web, improving collaborative writing, and giving developers better tools to create "amazing experiences" with custom workflows.
Interestingly, this blog post also mentions Apple's Lisa, saying it fundamentally redefines the "personal computer."