Long before the advent of GPUs and multi-core processors, Microsoft entered the world of business software with its word processor, Word. If you're wondering how long ago that was, the ubiquitous electronic typewriter is celebrating its 40th birthday this week.

Word first appeared in 1983, when Intel's most popular CPU was the 16-bit 80286, RAM was a few KB and cost several hundred dollars, and Apple introduced the Lisa, the very expensive predecessor to the Macintosh. At the time, most Microsoft programs were designed to operate on the command line, but Word (first named Multi-Tool Word) was designed to operate with a horribly radical technology: the mouse.

Another major selling point of the software was that it was a WYSIWYG ("you get what you see") word processor. Priced at just under $400, it was aimed directly at the business sector, with the goal of beating the market leader, WordStar.

However, the initial reception was far from favorable, and it was not until the mid-90s that Word really took hold in the market. However, although it took a long time to achieve that goal, Word actually became the de facto writing package used by institutions, schools, and businesses around the world.

During that time, it changed a lot, though not for the better for many people. For me, Word peaked at the turn of the millennium as part of the Office 2000 and Office XP packages; Word was everything I had come to expect from Word, with a clean interface.

The latest version of Microsoft 365 may be a bit overkill, but it is as feature-packed as you could hope for, and Microsoft shows no signs of slowing down the implementation of additional goodies. The next big thing will almost certainly be the integration of Microsoft's AI-powered Copilot.

Still, 40 years is a remarkable time, during which other word processing applications have come and gone. WordStar, which once dominated the scene, is no more, at least commercially, although some prominent writers still use it.

I have no doubt that Word will continue to be as popular for the next 40 years, unless something happens to Microsoft. Perhaps by then we will all just be using the power of thought to put words on the screen.