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Related: Culture Forums, Support ForumsGeorge RR Martin uses Wordstar 4.0 on a MS-DOS computer to write his epic novels
In the acknowledgements for one of his books, he thanked someone for rescuing his work after his computer crashed.
http://news.cnet.com/8301-10797_3-57575504-235/at-game-of-thrones-premiere-nerds-can-identify/
d_r
(6,907 posts)and I remember getting people to stop using it was like pulling teeth. Guess he never gave it up.
I can't imagine writing novels that complex on word star.
Yavin4
(35,357 posts)Maybe that's why it takes him so damn long to complete a book?
When I was in graduate school all the older professors still used it. It booted off a 5.25 floppy disc. We younger more cutting edge folks moved on to word perfect 4.0 and then the game changing 5.1, but some of those old timers clung to word star for dear life.
I used Word Star as well (on CP/M), and several of its editing commands have survived to the present day in many source code editors.
I still use Ctrl-Y to delete a line to this day.
But no, I would never use it to write a novel.
WilliamPitt
(58,179 posts)Sounds like a team of horses crossing a bridge.
LOVE.
talkingmime
(2,173 posts)I still have it on my Apple II (Z-80 card). It was so fast to use with just a keyboard and when you type 80 wpm a mouse is a slow-down.
Xithras
(16,191 posts)Many still consider it the best "writing program" ever made.
I still have an old dusty Brother word processor out in the garage with Wordstar loaded on it. It's beauty is in its speed and simplicity. Even today, if I were writing thousands of pages, I'd rather do it with Wordstar than Word or Libre Writer. I actually did some preliminary work toward creating a Wordstar workalike fork of KOffice a number of years ago, but it died when I couldn't find anyone else willing to work on it with me. It turns out that most open source programmers are too young to even remember what Wordstar was
Scuba
(53,475 posts)hunter
(38,264 posts)Now I use gedit for everything.
If I must use a word processor it gets in the way of my writing.
WYSIWYG word processors are a damned distraction and documents saved in complex proprietary WYSIWYG formats can bite your ass years later if you revisit them.
Keep it simple stupid is a good rule for me anyways, 'cause sometime I'm stupid.
MrScorpio
(73,626 posts)Twenty-Five Yeas AGO!