10. After-the-goof feedback. After you’ve botched up—and we all do sooner or later—the program will tell you how you did so.
11. Ability to customize. You or at least a software expert can customize good programs for your use on your machine.
12. Availability of “accessory” programs to make your original software still more useful.
13. Support. Ideally, the software seller will stand behind his product if you have problems. MicroPro’s record here is far from the best; this may change.
Again, WordStar isn’t perfect (see Backup [III], “The Lucky 13,” for a more detailed description of it and criteria for choosing good software), but it comes closer than most other popular programs.
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Here are a few terms useful to people shopping for a word processor:
1. A cursor is just the marker on your screen—a blinking line, maybe—that shows where a letter will appear when you type. Cursor keys move the cursor up, down, left, or right.
2. A file is an electronic version of a letter, report, or other document or collection of data.
3. A control key is what you start holding down to turn a letter or series of letters into commands for your computer. Used with the control key, the letters normally won’t show up in the document you’re typing. Some programs, by the way, may use the control key and an escape key, which could be a way to get from one part of the program to another. Or the escape key may take on functions similar to the control key. In addition, there’s an alternate key that you may also use to help boss your machine around.