CA-Textor: Difference between revisions
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A word processor for OS/2 and [[Microsoft Windows]] originally published by [[Computer Associates]] in 1991 as a Windows app and updated in 1992 with an OS/2 version, and it replaced the DOS based [[EasyWriter]] word processing program that the company had been selling for a few years. The software was actually not developed by CA itself, but rather by a French company and was a port of a [[DOS]] word processor called Textor that had been the second best selling WP software in France after [[WordStar]] for years, and that explains why the first and only English release of the program called "Version 6". | A word processor for OS/2 and [[Microsoft Windows]] originally published by [[Computer Associates]] in 1991 as a Windows app and updated in 1992 with an OS/2 version, and it replaced the DOS based [[EasyWriter]] word processing program that the company had been selling for a few years. The software was actually not developed by CA itself, but rather by a French company and was a port of a [[DOS]] word processor also called Textor that had been the second best selling WP software in France after [[WordStar]] for years, and that explains why the first and only English release of the program called "Version 6". | ||
There never was an update to CA-Textor, not even a minor bug fix it appears, but the Windows version is stable and the later OS/2 port even more so. Presumably the later OS/2 version incorporates fixes that did not make it to the Win version, it is also multithreaded [[PM]] code and overall a much better OS/2 citizen than word processors that were released for the OS at the same time such as Microsoft Word or WordPerfect. | |||
Textor was never used as a substitute for a programmers editor like some other word processors frequently were, it eschewed features that programmers deemed essential like [[macros]]. It was however used as an office automation tool and used as a front end to other OA packages as it had strong, and to a degree programmable OA features and is in that sense a development tool. | |||
The software appears to have been the victim of CA's buy and forget policy, but the company has a long history of buying products and companies and continue selling the products but disbanding the development teams but never updating software, a practice that they continue to this day with some of their mainframe products. In fact this had happened with the EasyWriter WP that the company had bought years earlier and was never updated, although in that case the fact that it was written in an obscure home grown variant of [[Forth]] may have been a factor. | |||
==Links== | ==Links== | ||
Revision as of 18:24, 5 January 2016
A word processor for OS/2 and Microsoft Windows originally published by Computer Associates in 1991 as a Windows app and updated in 1992 with an OS/2 version, and it replaced the DOS based EasyWriter word processing program that the company had been selling for a few years. The software was actually not developed by CA itself, but rather by a French company and was a port of a DOS word processor also called Textor that had been the second best selling WP software in France after WordStar for years, and that explains why the first and only English release of the program called "Version 6".
There never was an update to CA-Textor, not even a minor bug fix it appears, but the Windows version is stable and the later OS/2 port even more so. Presumably the later OS/2 version incorporates fixes that did not make it to the Win version, it is also multithreaded PM code and overall a much better OS/2 citizen than word processors that were released for the OS at the same time such as Microsoft Word or WordPerfect.
Textor was never used as a substitute for a programmers editor like some other word processors frequently were, it eschewed features that programmers deemed essential like macros. It was however used as an office automation tool and used as a front end to other OA packages as it had strong, and to a degree programmable OA features and is in that sense a development tool.
The software appears to have been the victim of CA's buy and forget policy, but the company has a long history of buying products and companies and continue selling the products but disbanding the development teams but never updating software, a practice that they continue to this day with some of their mainframe products. In fact this had happened with the EasyWriter WP that the company had bought years earlier and was never updated, although in that case the fact that it was written in an obscure home grown variant of Forth may have been a factor.
Links
- CA-Textor promotional demonstration - From 1992 - Runs under DOS
- A review of CA-Textor 6.0 - From InfoWorld magazine - 1992
- A review of CA-Textor 6.0 - From PC Magazine - 1992
License and availability
- Discontinued commercial software - CA-Textor initially sold at mid price with an RRP of USD 225 and a street prices ranging from 129 to 150 US$, by 1995 it was squarely a budget application, the RRP was USD 99 and street prices usually USD 69. Appears to have been discontinued in the "great purge of 1996" at CA.