WordStar is at least adequate, and mostly superb, in all but the last of these areas:
1. Absence of bugs. The software maker should have gotten all the bugs out so that the program will run reliably on your computer. You can’t write a complex program that will be absolutely bug-free. But you can make it bug-free 99 percent of the time.
2. General ease of use. A program should be easy enough to learn and use. Being logical helps; ideally, you can use combinations of familiar commands to coax the program into doing many things that you haven’t done before.
3. Good documentation. The manual should be clear and logically organized. Either the simplest material should come earliest, or else there should be a beginner’s version; also, the manual should boast a good, comprehensive index.
4. Usefulness to beginners and old pros alike. You can adjust the best programs to suit your own level of skill with them.
5. Speed. It lets you do your job fast, especially when you use it with a hard disk.
6. Power. Related to speed. The program can quickly accomplish complicated tasks like substituting one word for another in a contract thousands of words long. Imagine the boon to lawyers plugging new names into standard boilerplate.
7. Fewer chances for botch-ups. Good programs limit the chances for careless errors in the first place.
8. The Jewish-uncle effect. Ideally, your software will slow you down or flash a warning when you’re about to ruin your work with a few taps on the wrong keys.
9. Damage limitations (if you do goof).