This episode features the Atari Word Processor, originally announced in January 1981 at CES (Consumer Electronics Show). It shipped in summer of 1981. Atari Word Processor was the first third word processor for the Atari 8 bit line of computers, but the second one announced.
Podcast: Download
Atari Word Processor In Action
Editor and Menu:
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The bright orange square is the section of the document you are currently viewing in the editor.
Command Cheat Sheet
Download PDF: Cheat Sheet
Show Links:
- Atari Mania: http://www.atarimania.com/utility-atari-400-800-xl-xe-atari-word-processor_18561.html
- Atari Wiki: https://atariwiki.org/wiki/Wiki.jsp?page=Atari%20Word%20Processor
- Atari Connection Volume 1 Number 3 (Sep 1981) at Internet Archive: https://archive.org/details/Atari_Connection_Volume_1_Number_3_1981-09_Atari_US
- TextEditors.org: http://www.texteditors.org/cgi-bin/wiki.pl?Atari_Word_Processor
- The Richman’s Word-Processor with “Column 80”: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/144787-richmans-word-processor-with-column-80/
- Infinity by Matrix Software: http://atariage.com/forums/topic/195232-infinity-by-matrix-software/
If you want to listen to the cassette training, you can find it at the Atari Wiki link, its in WAV format.
inverseatascii.info 
Good Review. Good Podcast!! The idea of an application podcast is perfect for me. I like Atari games, but the applications, as you stated, is where the work gets done. I have been collecting 8-bit, & ST application software for years, and have quite a collection.
I used Atari Word Processor for several years in high school. I did all my reports on it. You mention that you can only work on one page at a time. I do not recall having to do that. I wrote many 10-15 page papers, and it handled them just fine. Watching the formatting, and pagination was kind of fun.
I’m curious how you will handle AtariWriter with all it’s different versions released in different years.
Can’t wait for the next podcast.
KLund1
Well Done!!!
Thanx for the feedback! It’s been fun looking back at all these old programs and I’m looking forward to doing more.
The terms for pages and documents gets confusing with Atari Word Processor because your document can consist of many pages which are not necessarily representative of a single printed page. Pages would have been better named as Sections because in reality the “page” is a section of the document the way Atari had it set up.
Great review/podcast. Looking forward to more. I love the productivity software on the Atari 8-bits. It is something that gets shadowed by all the games. Glad that they are getting attention. Did you know that Atari Corp. had contracted someone to write a Office-like set of software but never released it?
http://atariage.com/forums/topic/195232-infinity-by-matrix-software/
Interesting, I had not seen that before. Too bad it never made it to market. I remember Lotus Symphony being fairly “popular”, or at least a recognizable name in the market. Something like that would have been great for the Atari 8 bits, but they were probably a year or so too late by 1985. Thanks for the info and feedback!