Microsoft Works for Macintosh

The toughest part of getting my first computer, a Macintosh, was choosing a word processor to buy. The choice was critical—I was a student, and the major practical reason for getting the computer was to write papers for school.

It was not an easy choice. There were seemingly countless word processors, and each appeared to have strengths and weaknesses. I remember reading reviews, and feeling more bewildered than when I started.

Making matters worse, this was an era long before trial downloads, let alone fully free software like today’s LibreOffice. Indeed, Macintosh word processors cost real money back then. So there was the thought: What if I buy the wrong thing and throw money away?

Finally, I decided to buy a copy of Microsoft Works (version 2.0). It was attractively priced for all the features it had. Plus it had gotten good reviews, and was a solid seller. Thus it seemed like the safest “first buy” choice.

Microsoft Works integrated several basic tools (word processor, spreadsheet, database, drawing, and telecommunications) into one program. A lot like AppleWorks (which I discussed a while back). Interestingly, Microsoft Works was apparently originally written by at least one of the AppleWorks creators, and then it was bought by Microsoft later on.

Of course, Microsoft Works was not something power users would like. It was pretty much the basics, and only the basics. One wag cracked that Microsoft Works proved that Bill Gates would lie awake at night worrying that he was giving away something for nothing.

However, Microsoft Works had as much power as many users would ever need.

The word processor—the part that really mattered to me—was more than adequate for my  needs. The only missing feature I could have used was an ability to automate either footnotes or endnotes. However, it wasn’t hard to manually insert a single footnote or two. It wasn’t hard to manually create endnotes. I’d have probably liked automation, of course—it would have appealed to my Inner Sloth—but doing it manually worked just fine.

Microsoft Works' word processor took advantage of the Macintosh way of doing things. So one could have different fonts in a word processor document. One could basic page layout.

Of course, it’s questionable if the capability I had with the Macintosh and Microsoft Works was really necessary for what I did. It was a simpler era back then. Fancy fonts were fun, but monospaced Courier would have been good enough for all the classes I took. For that matter, I probably could have survived using the Jessica Fletcher-style Royal typewriter I’d used in tenth grade.

Although, at the same time, the Macintosh and Microsoft Works did allow me to do things I couldn’t have. I took an arts appreciation class that required me to keep a journal. Most people just used a spiral notebook. I used my new toy computer. The end result was a bit ghastly—I had no sense of good page design. But it was fun—a lot more fun than a spiral notebook—and it wowed my professor. I got my best grade that term from her, and that journal was the only graded assignment.

I also enjoyed writing a couple of papers for French, using the Macintosh’s built-in support for diacritical marks.

Outside of school, I used Microsoft Works’ word processor for a bit of everything. I wrote lots of letters. I wrote some abominable short stories. I did a lot of word processing work for my mother.

Screenshot showing Microsoft Works (Version 2.0) word processor in operation.

Microsoft Works Works’ other modules, however, weren’t quite as useful. I used them sometimes, but not that often. Frankly, I probably could have gotten by without having them, although the spreadsheet did make life a little easier sometimes.

Unfortunately, Works had a dark side. My version had a bug that would sometimes crash Works after saving a word processing document. Fortunately, I never lost a document, but the crashes could be a huge pain. Particularly when they caused System 6 to crash, too. Some nights, it seemed like it would non-stop System crashes.

Eventually, the crashes got so tiresome that I bought a copy of WriteNow. I got a good deal on WriteNow. Plus I’d heard many, many good things about it.

The Macintosh version of Microsoft Works was discontinued a few years later. By that point, the market was probably considerably more competitive. Claris (owned by Apple) was making ClarisWorks, which was much better than Microsoft Works.

Looking back, I can’t honestly say I have much love or sentiment for Microsoft Works. But—apart from the System crashes—it at least did the basics well enough to get by on.