Welcome

Welcome to wpvsword.com. This site is devoted to comparing Microsoft Word with Corel WordPerfect (as you would imagine). A point system is used to award points to each program's features and abilities, depending upon which is better and/or easier to work with.

TIP! Please use Full Screen Mode (F11) to view this site

You may prefer to 'jump' straight to the comparison or you may like a bit of background information. If your preference is the former, then please click HERE to review the Legend, so that you understand the System Used. Alternatively, if you would like a bit of background information pertaining to the difference between WordPerfect and Word (in addition to why I created this site), please read on. Either way, you can navigate the site using the image map to your left.

Understanding the Fundamental difference between Word and WordPerfect

To start, before I discuss my interest in WordPerfect, you should understand that there is a significant difference between the 2 programs: Word is Object‑Oriented, WordPerfect is Stream-Formatted.

What does this mean? Well, this basically means that when you make a change to a WordPerfect document, the changes take effect 'From THAT Point Forward'. You generally don't need to select an Object (e.g., a word, sentence, or a paragraph) in order to effect a change. You can simply select a color, a font, a paragraph style, etc, and the whole document will be affected (as stated, from that point forward). Stream Formatted is, as you can imagine, like a stream of formatting that flows throughout the document.

Word, on the other hand, is object-oriented. Every letter, word, sentence, and paragraph is an object. To help people grasp the concept of object-oriented programming, Microsoft uses a simple analogy: oranges. You can imagine that an orange has several attributes that can be changed: it has a color, a texture, etc. It can be changed by being painted or peeled. Therefore, once you understand that you need to select an object when you want to manipulate your Word document, you begin to understand how to work in Word.

I'll illustrate these concepts further by using a real-life example that you would commonly encounter when word processing:

Say you had typed a report in the following style:

If you typed the report in WordPerfect and you wanted to amend everything but the Headings to Courier, 11 pt, Fully Justified, you would press ctrl+home to go to the top of the document and make 3 formatting changes (3 clicks); your entire report (excluding Headings, which are Styles) would then follow these changes.

If you typed the same report in Word and you wanted to make the same changes, you would have to do one of the following:

• Go to Format » Style » Modify » Format » Font (and Paragraph), then change the Normal (or predefined) Style
• 'Select All', make these changes, then modify Headings Styles
• Create a complex search to amend these formatting changes
• Go through and change each paragraph individually using the Format Painter

NOTE: A feature in Word 2003 (introduced in WordXP) provides a quicker way to achieve this, but the concept remains the same, i.e., objects need to be selected and changed as opposed to the document being amended 'From This Point Forward'.

I outlined the difference between the two programs primarily because I believe that WordPerfect's stream-formatting makes it an easier program to work with. It will also help you to understand why certain tasks are easier to accomplish in WordPerfect as you read through this comparison. Finally, it was one of the aspects of WordPerfect that made me start to fall in love with it, which in turn led to my creating this site . . . and that leads nicely into the Background. Again, you may be interested in knowing what drove me to create this site. If so, the Background follows. Alternatively, if you wish to move on to the comparison, please read the Legend below and then navigate the site using the Image Map to your Left.

Background

MS Word 6.0 was the first Windows word processor I ever used. At the time, I worked in a Bank, and I was happy that I didn't have to use it very often. I hated that it wasn't WYSIWYG. I found that vexatious (and still do). In later years, I changed careers, moving to I.T. Again, Word was the program I used (and received all my training in). Whereas before I didn't like it, now I hated it. I found that accomplishing (what I believed to be) simple tasks was unnecessarily difficult, and I was often exasperated by its inadequacies. I then moved to a new company; that company used WordPerfect. What a joy! Everything that I hated in Word was suddenly easy to accomplish in WordPerfect. In addition, it was a true WYSIWYG program. I then found Reveal Codes, and my conversion was complete.

Microsoft produced a White Paper (Word 97: Life after Reveal Codes), which tried to explain why you don't need Reveal Codes in Word , but it was nothing more than a lame attempt to justify the fact that Word can't produce the equivalent of Reveal Codes.

"Word is based on a hierarchical formatting system that allows the user to format based on the entire document, a section, a paragraph, or even character. The hierarchical architecture of Word does not allow for stream-based formatting like in WordPerfect".

NOTE: In complete contradiction to this, Word XP subsequently introduced a feature called 'Reveal Formatting' (in response to people decrying the fact that Word lacked a feature similar to Reveal Codes). You can read my thoughts on that in the comparison! :)

Anyway, when I added Reveal Codes to WordPerfect's other features, I became a devotee of WordPerfect; this feature alone is one of the main reasons WordPerfect has obtained such a devoted following.

Personally, I found this program amazing. Instead of wanting to throw my PC out the window, I was actually enjoying working with this program! It made my life easier, and I was continually astounded by the program's power AND ease of use.

I then bought a new PC and wanted Excel, so I purchased MSOffice 97 OEM with it; when I would come home and work on Reports or Assignments for courses I was doing, I would use Word 97. Grrrr. I hated it; Word 97 was just as bad as Word 6.0 and Word 7.0. I wished I could install WordPerfect 6.1 (which I was using at work) and use that instead of Word 97, but at that time, I was unaware that Corel allowed you to install a copy at work and at home. In total frustration, I took the plunge and went out and bought WordPerfect 8.0. Wow! I thought WP6.1 was good? WP8 introduced *so* many fantastic features that I went all-out trying to get my company to upgrade, which they did, but they waited for the soon‑to‑be‑released (at that time) Version 9.

Then, one day, I had a discussion with someone (who worked in the same building) who loved Word. Stunned, I mentally started to go through all the things that WordPerfect could do that Word couldn't (as well as the things that were so much easier in WP). At that point, I resolved to make a website comparing the 2 programs. My first comparison went online approximately 4 years ago, and since then, I've updated it to compare the 2 programs when a new version is released.

That's the background. Hope it wasn't boring! I'm sure you're itching to move on to the actual comparison, so I won't ramble any longer.

Overview/Legend

The Comparison is broken down by Menu Item. Each Item is compared and assigned points based on which is better.

The Icons:
	If Word has introduced a feature that WordPerfect previously had, WordPerfect will have an icon below the points awarded
	Similarly, if WordPerfect has introduced a feature that Word has had in previous versions, Word will have an icon below the points it is awarded.
Example:	Under Drawing, Word will have 4 Word icons, meaning that its Drawing features were at least 4 versions ahead of WordPerfect, i.e., Word users benefitted for 8 years with a feature that WordPerfect lacked.