The Last DOS Word Processor: Uncovering WordStar 7’s Legacy

Before WordPerfect, the most popular word‑processor was WordStar. Now the final DOS‑based version has been bundled for free with macOS by its biggest fan.

WordStar 7.0d is the last classic DOS word‑processing program, still admired by many, including Canadian sci‑fi author Robert J. Sawyer, whose novels inspired the TV series “Future Flash”.

Sawyer has packaged the final version with useful tools, such as modern Windows‑compatible DOS emulators, and shared the source code, allowing anyone to experience the program’s powerful capabilities.

He says:

"The program is a vital part of my career—I wrote all 25 of my novels and almost all short stories with it, and in my early freelance days I produced hundreds of newspaper and magazine articles using WordStar."

The software is 680 MB and includes the application, full documentation, conversion tools for modern formats, and two open‑source FOSS utilities—DOSBox‑X and vDosPlus—that let the MS‑DOS app run on contemporary Windows systems.

History of WordStar

WordStar began on CP/M, was later ported to DOS, spawned several incompatible versions, and eventually moved to Windows. Its final version became part of a little‑known office suite.

The company behind WordStar, MicroPro, changed hands many times—SoftKey, The Learning Company, Mattel, and finally Houghton Mifflin Riverdeep—often cited as one of the worst acquisitions in business history.

Sawyer notes the last update was in December 1992; the developing company has been defunct for decades, leaving the software abandoned with unclear intellectual‑property ownership.

Despite being abandoned, the term “abandoned software” has no legal meaning, and the original owners are unlikely to object to its continued use.

Various forks exist; a C rewrite produced the incompatible WordStar 2000, abandoning the keyboard‑centric UI that defined WordStar. MicroPro also acquired a Modula‑2 project, rebranding it WordStar Express.

Amstrad licensed the program as “WordStar 1512”. Even WordStar 7 was not based on the original code but on a competitor’s product, NewWord, rebranded as WordStar 4.

For many CP/M and MS‑DOS users, WordStar’s keybindings—Ctrl+S/E/D/X for navigation, Ctrl+K K to mark block start, Ctrl+K K to mark end, Ctrl+K C to copy, Ctrl+K V to move, and Ctrl+K S to save—are iconic, and modern editors like Joe still emulate them.

Open‑source clones such as WordTsar provide similar functionality on Windows, Linux, and macOS without needing a full DOS emulator.

Although modest by modern standards, WordStar meets the essential needs of writers like Robert Sawyer, who remain its most enthusiastic users.