The original Mac can print to a dot matrix printer called the ImageWriter, but quality was only adequate. Similar word processors followed, including the first GUI version of Microsoft Word and WriteNow, which addressed many of MacWrite's limitations while adhering to much the same user interface. MacWrite established the conventions for a GUI-based word processor, with such features as a toolbar for selecting paragraph formatting options, font and style menus, and a ruler for tabs, margins, and indents. (Early versions of MacWrite held the entire document in memory, and early versions of the Macintosh had relatively little free memory.) Nevertheless, it increased user expectations of a word processing program. The first versions of MacWrite are rather limited, supporting only the most basic editing features and able to handle just a few pages of text before running into performance problems. Allegedly, Steve Jobs was not convinced of his team's abilities, and secretly commissioned another project just to be sure its development was eventually released as WriteNow. Before it was released, MacWrite was known as "Macintosh WP" (Word Processor) and "MacAuthor". He agreed to lead the MacWrite development team on a semi-official basis. ![]() ![]() The MacWrite development team was a company called Encore Systems, founded and led by Randy Wigginton, one of Apple's earliest employees, and included Don Breuner and Ed Ruder (co-founders of Encore Systems and also early Apple employees Gabreal Franklin later joined Encore Systems as President.) Wigginton, who had left Apple in 1981, maintained a relationship with many Apple employees, many of whom were on the Macintosh development team. The result was MacWrite and MacPaint, which shipped free with every Macintosh from 1984 to 1986. In order to fill this void, several members of the Mac team took it upon themselves to write simple applications to fill these roles until third-party developers published more full-fledged software. Users would end up with a computer that did nothing. This presented a problem to Apple: the Mac was due to be launched in 1983 (originally), with a new user interface paradigm, but no third-party software would be available for it, nor could users easily write their own. Having an approachable, consistent GUI was an advantage for the Mac platform, but unlike prior personal computers, the Mac was sold with no programming language built-in. Some of these programs may have presented a graphical user interface of their own, but on the Mac, users would instead be expected to stay in the standard GUI both for launching and running programs. Typical computers of the era booted into text-only DOS or BASIC command line environments, requiring the users to type in commands to run programs. The real Bean is free.When the Mac was first being created, it was clear that users would interact with it differently from other personal computers. You may find (paid) imitators in the Mac App Store - ignore them. Go ahead and download Bean to get started. ![]() It offers more than TextEdit and less than Pages.īean is no longer actively developed, but it still works well on modern Macs and is well worth checking out if complex word processors are bogging you down. And if the job is quickly doing some writing, completely with some quick formatting and perhaps the occasional image, Bean is probably right for you. Instead, Bean's homepage claims, " sometimes you just want the right tool for the job. Whatever your reason, Bean is a great alternative lightweight word processor for Mac users everywhere.īean is not a full-fledged replacement for Word or Pages – software it claims "try to be all things to all people". Maybe you're looking for something lightweight and speedy? Or maybe you just like the idea of using simple software to get things done. Maybe you're unwilling to fork out the funds for Apple's Pages or Microsoft's Word.
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