<s>
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
is	O
a	O
word	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
program	O
for	O
the	O
Atari	B-Device
ST	I-Device
developed	O
by	O
GST	O
Computer	O
Systems	O
and	O
published	O
in	O
1985	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
Plus	I-Protocol
was	O
a	O
greatly	O
improved	O
version	O
released	O
by	O
GST	O
when	O
the	O
bundling	O
deal	O
ended	O
in	O
1987	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
addressed	O
performance	O
issues	O
and	O
added	O
dozens	O
of	O
features	O
that	O
made	O
it	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
faster	O
and	O
most	O
feature-packed	O
word	B-General_Concept
processors	I-General_Concept
on	O
the	O
platform	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Among	O
its	O
more	O
notable	O
additions	O
were	O
a	O
spell	B-Application
checker	I-Application
,	O
mail	B-Application
merge	I-Application
,	O
and	O
support	O
for	O
footnotes	O
and	O
similar	O
long-document	O
editing	O
features	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Plus	O
was	O
later	O
ported	O
to	O
the	O
Acorn	B-Device
Archimedes	I-Device
and	O
IBM	B-Device
PC	I-Device
under	O
GEM	B-Application
as	O
First	O
Word	O
Plus	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1990	O
,	O
an	O
entirely	O
unrelated	O
program	O
known	O
as	O
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
Plus	I-Protocol
4.0	O
was	O
released	O
by	O
Compo	O
Software	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
used	O
a	O
new	O
file	O
format	O
,	O
and	O
while	O
it	O
could	O
load	O
files	O
from	O
the	O
original	O
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
,	O
the	O
older	O
versions	O
could	O
not	O
read	O
the	O
newer	O
files	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Atari	O
released	O
the	O
ST	O
in	O
the	O
summer	O
of	O
1985	O
,	O
and	O
to	O
ensure	O
there	O
was	O
some	O
useful	O
software	O
at	O
release	O
,	O
they	O
bundled	O
it	O
with	O
the	O
ST	B-Protocol
Writer	I-Protocol
word	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
a	O
purely	O
text-mode	O
program	O
that	O
had	O
been	O
ported	O
from	O
the	O
best-selling	O
Atari	B-Device
8-bit	I-Device
program	O
,	O
AtariWriter	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
company	O
made	O
it	O
clear	O
ST	B-Protocol
Writer	I-Protocol
was	O
being	O
offered	O
only	O
as	O
a	O
stop-gap	O
solution	O
while	O
a	O
graphical	B-Application
user	I-Application
interface	I-Application
(	O
GUI	B-Application
)	O
program	O
was	O
being	O
developed	O
,	O
known	O
as	O
GEMwrite	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
For	O
reasons	O
unknown	O
,	O
the	O
company	O
contracted	O
GST	O
Computer	O
Systems	O
of	O
Cambridge	O
,	O
UK	O
to	O
port	O
their	O
Sinclair	B-Device
QL	I-Device
products	O
to	O
the	O
ST	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
December	O
1985	O
,	O
Atari	O
began	O
bundling	O
their	O
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
with	O
the	O
ST	O
.	O
At	O
the	O
time	O
Atari	O
suggested	O
this	O
would	O
be	O
a	O
short-term	O
arrangement	O
while	O
GEMwrite	O
was	O
completed	O
,	O
but	O
from	O
this	O
point	O
on	O
any	O
mention	O
of	O
GEMwrite	O
disappears	O
and	O
it	O
was	O
never	O
released	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
When	O
the	O
deal	O
concluded	O
in	O
late	O
1987	O
,	O
GST	O
released	O
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
Plus	I-Protocol
,	O
a	O
major	O
update	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
Plus	I-Protocol
version	O
2.0	O
credits	O
Mike	O
Bees	O
,	O
Howard	O
Chalkley	O
,	O
Phil	O
Champ	O
,	O
Martin	O
Dickens	O
,	O
Chris	O
Scheybeler	O
,	O
and	O
Alun	O
Gladman	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
version	O
had	O
been	O
updated	O
to	O
work	O
on	O
the	O
Atari	B-Device
TT030	I-Device
series	O
machines	O
,	O
along	O
with	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
other	O
fixes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Acorn	O
Computers	O
commissioned	O
GST	O
to	O
make	O
a	O
version	O
known	O
as	O
First	O
Word	O
Plus	O
available	O
for	O
the	O
Archimedes	B-Device
range	O
of	O
computers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
After	O
the	O
release	O
of	O
RISC	B-Operating_System
OS	I-Operating_System
,	O
a	O
new	O
version	O
of	O
the	O
software	O
was	O
released	O
to	O
take	O
advantage	O
of	O
the	O
multi-tasking	O
environment	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Also	O
priced	O
at	O
£92	O
,	O
with	O
an	O
upgrade	O
from	O
the	O
earlier	O
version	O
costing	O
£45	O
,	O
the	O
software	O
was	O
regarded	O
as	O
not	O
providing	O
any	O
"	O
giant	O
leap	O
forward	O
in	O
capability	O
"	O
from	O
similar	O
products	O
on	O
Acorn	O
's	O
8-bit	O
computers	O
,	O
but	O
nevertheless	O
made	O
the	O
activities	O
of	O
such	O
a	O
"	O
simple	O
system	O
"	O
easier	O
to	O
accomplish	O
on	O
the	O
more	O
capable	O
hardware	O
,	O
lending	O
itself	O
to	O
efficient	O
use	O
of	O
dot-matrix	B-General_Concept
or	O
daisywheel	O
printers	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
A	O
PC	O
version	O
was	O
produced	O
that	O
ran	O
using	O
Digital	O
Research	O
's	O
GEM	B-Application
interface	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Other	O
versions	O
were	O
produced	O
for	O
the	O
Torch	B-Device
XXX	I-Device
and	O
for	O
Digital	O
Research	O
's	O
CP/M	B-Application
and	O
FlexOS	B-Operating_System
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
1992	O
,	O
Compo	O
Software	O
released	O
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
Plus	I-Protocol
4.0	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
is	O
a	O
GEM	B-Application
program	O
and	O
follows	O
its	O
conventions	O
fairly	O
closely	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
became	O
a	O
feature	O
found	O
in	O
a	O
number	O
of	O
similar	O
programs	O
;	O
WordUp	B-Application
took	O
this	O
further	O
with	O
two	O
lines	O
of	O
such	O
keys	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
contrast	O
to	O
the	O
Macintosh	B-Device
,	O
the	O
ST	O
did	O
not	O
normally	O
work	O
in	O
a	O
multi-font	O
environment	O
,	O
and	O
required	O
the	O
separate	O
GDOS	O
device	B-Application
drivers	I-Application
to	O
be	O
loaded	O
from	O
disk	O
to	O
do	O
so	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
meant	O
that	O
most	O
programs	O
on	O
the	O
system	O
,	O
including	O
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
,	O
were	O
limited	O
to	O
the	O
single	O
system	O
font	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Although	O
dot	B-General_Concept
matrix	I-General_Concept
printers	O
could	O
produce	O
any	O
font	O
or	O
size	O
by	O
outputting	O
them	O
as	O
graphics	O
,	O
as	O
was	O
the	O
case	O
on	O
the	O
Macintosh	B-Device
,	O
this	O
was	O
slow	O
and	O
offered	O
limited	O
quality	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Most	O
word	B-General_Concept
processors	I-General_Concept
on	O
the	O
ST	O
thus	O
used	O
whatever	O
font	O
was	O
directly	O
supported	O
by	O
the	O
printer	O
,	O
outputting	O
the	O
text	O
as	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
and	O
using	O
control	O
characters	O
where	O
appropriate	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
could	O
take	O
this	O
to	O
the	O
extreme	O
,	O
printing	O
or	O
exporting	O
as	O
pure	O
text	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
could	O
display	O
underlining	O
,	O
but	O
this	O
did	O
not	O
follow	O
the	O
text	O
during	O
typing	O
and	O
only	O
updated	O
during	O
a	O
reformat	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
the	O
former	O
,	O
features	O
such	O
as	O
word-wrapping	O
and	O
character	O
styles	O
were	O
turned	O
off	O
and	O
the	O
documents	O
were	O
saved	O
as	O
plain	O
ASCII	B-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
original	O
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
was	O
otherwise	O
quite	O
limited	O
,	O
lacking	O
support	O
for	O
common	O
features	O
such	O
as	O
double-spacing	O
,	O
multi-line	O
header	O
and	O
footer	O
text	O
,	O
date	O
and	O
time	O
,	O
and	O
footnotes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
Plus	I-Protocol
added	O
a	O
huge	O
number	O
of	O
new	O
features	O
while	O
still	O
remaining	O
very	O
similar	O
to	O
the	O
original	O
in	O
most	O
ways	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Among	O
the	O
many	O
new	O
features	O
was	O
a	O
spell	B-Application
checker	I-Application
with	O
a	O
40,000	O
word	O
dictionary	O
,	O
although	O
lacking	O
many	O
American	O
English	O
terms	O
,	O
a	O
mail	B-Application
merge	I-Application
program	O
,	O
footnotes	O
and	O
semi-automated	O
hyphenation	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
spell	B-Application
checker	I-Application
included	O
the	O
relatively	O
rare	O
,	O
for	O
the	O
time	O
,	O
option	O
to	O
check	O
on-the-fly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
program	O
only	O
supported	O
a	O
single	O
graphics	O
format	O
,	O
GEM	B-Application
's	O
own	O
file	O
format	O
,	O
which	O
was	O
used	O
by	O
practically	O
no	O
programs	O
on	O
the	O
ST	O
.	O
A	O
desk	B-Application
accessory	I-Application
,	O
Snapshot	O
,	O
was	O
used	O
to	O
convert	O
other	O
formats	O
into	O
GEM	B-Application
files	O
for	O
inclusion	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
note	O
that	O
its	O
wide	O
distribution	O
made	O
the	O
.DOC	O
format	O
a	O
de	O
facto	O
standard	O
,	O
saying	O
"	O
you	O
almost	O
have	O
to	O
have	O
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
because	O
it	O
is	O
the	O
program	O
you	O
are	O
most	O
likely	O
to	O
have	O
in	O
common.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
Having	O
moved	O
from	O
all-text	O
programs	O
to	O
a	O
GUI	B-Application
with	O
some	O
hesitation	O
due	O
to	O
performance	O
,	O
they	O
are	O
happy	O
that	O
"	O
Text	O
entry	O
is	O
smooth	O
and	O
straightforward	O
;	O
no	O
matter	O
how	O
fast	O
you	O
type	O
,	O
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
keeps	O
up	O
and	O
never	O
drops	O
a	O
character.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
Calling	O
it	O
"	O
a	O
truly	O
full-featured	O
word	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
"	O
that	O
"	O
can	O
hold	O
its	O
own	O
against	O
control-code	O
ridden	O
"	O
programs	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
concludes	O
,	O
"	O
All	O
things	O
considered	O
,	O
I	O
think	O
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
Plus	I-Protocol
is	O
an	O
outstanding	O
package.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
STart	O
magazine	O
was	O
also	O
very	O
happy	O
with	O
the	O
Plus	O
release	O
,	O
calling	O
it	O
"	O
a	O
dramatic	O
upgrade	O
of	O
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
"	O
,	O
and	O
"	O
a	O
powerful	O
contender	O
in	O
the	O
word	O
processing	O
market.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
reviewer	O
did	O
note	O
one	O
significant	O
problem	O
;	O
the	O
program	O
did	O
not	O
check	O
if	O
there	O
was	O
enough	O
memory	O
to	O
load	O
the	O
spell	B-Application
checker	I-Application
dictionary	O
,	O
and	O
would	O
crash	O
if	O
one	O
attempted	O
to	O
do	O
so	O
while	O
many	O
desk	B-Application
accessories	I-Application
were	O
loaded	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
also	O
knocked	O
it	O
for	O
lacking	O
any	O
keyboard	O
controls	O
,	O
even	O
for	O
common	O
operations	O
like	O
cut	O
and	O
paste	O
or	O
moving	O
about	O
using	O
cursor	B-Device
keys	I-Device
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
concludes	O
"	O
I	O
would	O
recommend	O
it	O
as	O
an	O
ideal	O
word	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
for	O
students	O
because	O
of	O
its	O
spell	B-Application
checker	I-Application
,	O
footnote	O
ability	O
and	O
flexible	O
margins	O
for	O
indented	O
quotations	O
and	O
bibliographies	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
It	O
also	O
has	O
all	O
the	O
strengths	O
of	O
a	O
business	O
word	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
with	O
its	O
ability	O
to	O
keep	O
'	O
skeleton	O
 '	O
formats	O
on	O
disk	O
and	O
its	O
accompanying	O
1st	O
Merge	O
utility.	O
"	O
</s>
<s>
Atari	B-Device
ST	I-Device
disk	O
magazine	O
ST	O
News	O
was	O
written	O
entirely	O
using	O
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
and	O
,	O
later	O
,	O
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
Plus	I-Protocol
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
first	O
Volume	O
(	O
1986	O
)	O
was	O
distributed	O
as	O
a	O
plain	O
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
.DOC	O
file	O
,	O
after	O
that	O
a	O
custom	O
shell	O
was	O
produced	O
that	O
enabled	O
the	O
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
documents	O
to	O
be	O
displayed	O
in	O
a	O
shell	O
program	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
1st	B-Protocol
Word	I-Protocol
was	O
reviewed	O
several	O
times	O
in	O
the	O
magazine	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
On	O
the	O
plus	O
side	O
,	O
the	O
program	O
finally	O
added	O
command	B-Device
key	I-Device
shortcuts	O
for	O
many	O
common	O
functions	O
,	O
improvements	O
to	O
the	O
spell	B-Application
checker	I-Application
and	O
a	O
host	O
of	O
other	O
additions	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
recommended	O
mid-price	O
GEM	B-Application
based	O
word	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
for	O
a	O
long	O
time	O
to	O
come.	O
"	O
</s>
