<s>
Sprint	B-Application
is	O
a	O
text-based	B-Application
word	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
for	O
MS-DOS	B-Application
,	O
first	O
published	O
by	O
Borland	O
in	O
1987	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sprint	B-Application
originally	O
appeared	O
as	O
The	O
FinalWord	B-Application
application	O
,	O
developed	O
by	O
Jason	O
Linhart	O
,	O
Craig	O
Finseth	O
,	O
Scott	O
Layson	O
Burson	O
,	O
Brian	O
Hess	O
,	O
and	O
Bill	O
Spitzak	O
at	O
Mark	O
of	O
the	O
Unicorn	O
-	O
a	O
company	O
(	O
headquartered	O
in	O
Cambridge	O
,	O
MA	O
)	O
which	O
is	O
now	O
better	O
known	O
for	O
its	O
music	O
software	O
products	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
At	O
the	O
time	O
MOTU	O
sold	O
MINCE	B-Operating_System
and	O
SCRIBBLE	O
,	O
a	O
text	B-Application
editor	I-Application
package	O
based	O
on	O
Emacs	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
As	O
The	O
FinalWord	B-Application
,	O
the	O
package	O
met	O
with	O
some	O
success	O
:	O
for	O
example	O
,	O
the	O
manuals	O
of	O
the	O
Lotus	O
software	O
package	O
were	O
written	O
on	O
it	O
,	O
as	O
was	O
Marvin	O
Minsky	O
's	O
book	O
The	O
Society	O
of	O
Mind	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
FinalWord	B-Application
II	O
was	O
renamed	O
Sprint	B-Application
when	O
it	O
was	O
acquired	O
by	O
Borland	O
,	O
which	O
added	O
a	O
new	O
user	O
interface	O
,	O
new	O
manuals	O
,	O
and	O
features	O
to	O
the	O
application	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
This	O
was	O
the	O
time	O
of	O
European	O
development	O
for	O
Borland	O
:	O
Sidekick	B-Application
and	O
Turbo	B-Application
Pascal	I-Application
had	O
been	O
founded	O
in	O
Denmark	O
;	O
and	O
the	O
management	O
of	O
the	O
European	O
subsidiary	O
comprised	O
former	O
Micropro	B-Application
France	O
managers	O
(	O
Micropro	B-Application
was	O
at	O
the	O
time	O
the	O
world	O
leader	O
in	O
Word	O
processing	O
software	O
with	O
the	O
famous	O
WordStar	B-Application
line-up	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
They	O
had	O
success	O
with	O
the	O
launch	O
of	O
WordStar	B-Application
2000	O
-	O
the	O
first	O
word	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
package	O
with	O
a	O
spelling	O
dictionary	O
in	O
French	O
.	O
)	O
</s>
<s>
Sprint	B-Application
is	O
one	O
of	O
the	O
very	O
few	O
major	O
projects	O
from	O
an	O
American	O
software	O
program	O
publisher	O
that	O
had	O
a	O
French	O
version	O
shipped	O
earlier	O
than	O
the	O
American	O
version	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sprint	B-Application
v1.0	O
shipped	O
in	O
France	O
with	O
notable	O
initial	O
success	O
,	O
capturing	O
a	O
30	O
percent	O
market	O
share	O
and	O
getting	O
the	O
jump	O
on	O
competing	O
word	B-General_Concept
processors	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
MicroPro	B-Application
was	O
weakening	O
with	O
old	O
Wordstar	B-Application
products	O
and	O
still-new	O
WordStar	B-Application
2000	O
;	O
WordPerfect	B-Application
was	O
having	O
problems	O
with	O
the	O
translation	O
and	O
the	O
user	O
interface	O
;	O
and	O
MS-Word	O
was	O
a	O
decent	O
but	O
less	O
polished	O
or	O
powerful	O
product	O
,	O
and	O
was	O
also	O
DOS	O
and	O
text-based	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
lack	O
of	O
beta-test	O
mixed	O
with	O
pressure	O
to	O
ship	O
for	O
back-to-school	O
time	O
resulted	O
in	O
a	O
Sprint	B-Application
1.0	O
which	O
had	O
a	O
range	O
of	O
minor	O
glitches	O
and	O
bugs	O
that	O
had	O
to	O
be	O
corrected	O
with	O
model	O
1.01	O
and	O
a	O
whole	O
new	O
set	O
of	O
diskettes	O
for	O
each	O
registered	O
user	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Traditional	O
Borland	O
fans	O
who	O
bought	O
Sprint	B-Application
were	O
happy	O
with	O
the	O
editor	O
,	O
but	O
wondered	O
why	O
the	O
package	O
included	O
a	O
sophisticated	O
formatter	O
,	O
while	O
business	O
users	O
who	O
wanted	O
a	O
word	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
just	O
to	O
write	O
their	O
memos	O
and	O
letters	O
wondered	O
what	O
to	O
do	O
with	O
the	O
heavy	O
manual	O
and	O
powerful	O
features	O
of	O
the	O
formatter	O
language	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
any	O
event	O
,	O
word	O
processing	O
was	O
shifting	O
to	O
WYSIWYG	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Version	O
1.5	O
was	O
a	O
reasonable	O
success	O
in	O
France	O
for	O
some	O
years	O
,	O
but	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Word	I-Application
and	O
Windows	B-Application
gained	O
momentum	O
and	O
obscured	O
all	O
the	O
other	O
products	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
In	O
North	O
America	O
,	O
Sprint	B-Application
never	O
really	O
gained	O
traction	O
in	O
the	O
marketplace	O
,	O
as	O
it	O
was	O
overshadowed	O
by	O
WordPerfect	B-Application
and	O
then	O
Microsoft	B-Application
Word	I-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
Crash-recovery	O
:	O
Sprint	B-Application
had	O
incremental	O
back-up	O
,	O
with	O
its	O
swap	O
file	O
updated	O
every	O
3	O
seconds	O
,	O
enabling	O
full	O
recovery	O
from	O
crashes	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Spell-as-you-type	O
:	O
With	O
this	O
feature	O
,	O
Sprint	B-Application
could	O
beep	O
at	O
you	O
in	O
real	O
time	O
when	O
detecting	O
a	O
typo	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Multilingual	O
editing	O
:	O
Sprint	B-Application
included	O
dictionary	O
switching	O
,	O
support	O
for	O
hyphenation	O
,	O
and	O
spelling	O
and	O
thesaurus	O
dictionaries	O
that	O
have	O
yet	O
to	O
be	O
matched	O
by	O
the	O
competitors	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Powerful	O
programming	O
language	O
:	O
Programming	O
in	O
Sprint	B-Application
was	O
done	O
with	O
the	O
internal	O
language	O
of	O
the	O
word	B-General_Concept
processor	I-General_Concept
-	O
a	O
language	O
that	O
is	O
much	O
like	O
C	B-Language
.	O
Programmers	O
have	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
"	O
get	O
under	O
the	O
hood	O
"	O
and	O
add	O
modifications	O
and	O
extensions	O
to	O
an	O
extent	O
not	O
possible	O
with	O
other	O
word	B-General_Concept
processors	I-General_Concept
.	O
</s>
<s>
Once	O
written	O
,	O
Sprint	B-Application
programs	O
are	O
compiled	O
into	O
the	O
interface	O
,	O
and	O
run	O
at	O
full	O
speed	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Interface	O
switching	O
:	O
Modifications	O
and	O
extensions	O
to	O
Sprint	B-Application
can	O
be	O
saved	O
into	O
separate	O
interfaces	O
which	O
can	O
be	O
easily	O
and	O
quickly	O
switched	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Handling	O
large	O
documents	O
:	O
Sprint	B-Application
has	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
publish	O
large	O
documents	O
(	O
hundreds	O
of	O
pages	O
)	O
with	O
strict	O
formatting	O
consistency	O
and	O
automatic	O
table	O
of	O
contents	O
,	O
index	O
generation	O
,	O
tables	O
of	O
figures	O
,	O
and	O
tables	O
of	O
authorities	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
These	O
features	O
made	O
Sprint	B-Application
a	O
leader	O
in	O
the	O
production	O
of	O
technical	O
documents	O
-	O
and	O
Borland	O
itself	O
did	O
all	O
its	O
manuals	O
on	O
Sprint	B-Application
,	O
for	O
years	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
PostScript	B-Language
capabilities	O
:	O
Sprint	B-Application
could	O
print	O
in-line	O
EPS	B-Language
images	O
with	O
dimensioning	O
,	O
and	O
also	O
had	O
the	O
ability	O
to	O
add	O
in-line	O
PostScript	B-Language
procedures	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Sprint	B-Application
could	O
size	O
by	O
0.04	O
increment	O
and	O
scale	O
the	O
line	O
spacing	O
and	O
kerning	O
accordingly	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
Consistency	O
with	O
familiar	O
environments	O
:	O
The	O
default	O
editor	O
key	O
bindings	O
were	O
a	O
subset	O
of	O
those	O
provided	O
by	O
EMACS	B-Application
,	O
and	O
the	O
mark-up	O
language	O
was	O
a	O
subset	O
of	O
Scribe	B-Protocol
,	O
making	O
it	O
easy	O
for	O
people	O
familiar	O
with	O
those	O
tools	O
to	O
use	O
Sprint	B-Application
.	O
</s>
<s>
BYTE	B-Application
in	O
1984	O
praised	O
FinalWord	B-Application
1.16	O
'	O
s	O
low	O
memory	O
requirements	O
and	O
many	O
powerful	O
features	O
.	O
</s>
<s>
The	O
magazine	O
in	O
1989	O
listed	O
Sprint	B-Application
as	O
among	O
the	O
"	O
Distinction	O
"	O
winners	O
of	O
the	O
BYTE	B-Application
Awards	O
,	O
stating	O
that	O
"	O
if	O
you	O
can	O
live	O
without	O
[WYSIWYG],	O
Sprint	B-Application
may	O
be	O
all	O
you	O
need	O
in	O
word	O
processing	O
software	O
"	O
.	O
</s>
