Microsoft celebrates Word’s 40th Anniversary

Microsoft Word, world's most popular text processor and one of the oldest applications for Windows, has reached a significant milestone. It turns 40 years old. To commemorate this occasion, Microsoft has unveiled a timeline showcasing the evolution of the app and what lies ahead for Word in the future.

Back on October 25, 1983, Microsoft introduced Word as a WYSIWYG text editor. Although certain sources claim that Word was initially released for MS-DOS on September 29, 1983, with a free demo copy available to subscribers of The PC World Software Review.

From Microsoft's point of view, 1983 was an extraordinary time for personal computer users. It was a period filled with fresh possibilities, rapid technological advancements, and ingenious innovations. For instance, Apple's Lisa completely revolutionized the idea of what a PC could be. It seen the rise of business applications like Lotus 1-2-3, WordPerfect, and of course, Microsoft Word.

Since its inception, Word has grown to become one of the most widely-used office tools globally, with practically everyone being familiar with it in some way or another. Hence, on the occasion of its 40th anniversary, Microsoft took a moment to reflect on how Word came to be and also share what to expected in the future.

The timeline of Word's history highlights various milestones, including its initial release in 1983, the introduction of AutoCorrect in Word 97, a major redesign in Microsoft Word 2003, the addition of image editing features in Word 2010, an improved Ribbon interface in Word 2013, and document collaboration in Microsoft 365, along with the highly anticipated dark mode.

Moving forward, Microsoft has outlined several key areas of focus. These include integrating Copilot into Word, enhancing the web version of the application, improving document collaboration capabilities, and equipping developers with enhanced tools to create remarkable experiences. They want to provide scalability and support for Word, allowing users to complete tasks with maximum efficiency.