Talk:Word processor (electronic device)

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File interoperability

Does anyone object to a brief section on word processing file format interoperability? I don’t think there is an ideal existing topic for See Also that explicitly covers this topic for word processors from a historical context. Data conversion is oriented to ETL. The goal is to have just enough historical context for a few appropriate wikilinks. Background: In 1984 IBM introduced Document Content Architecture (DCA) and in 1987 Microsoft released Rich Text Format (RTF). By 1985, DCA was used across the IBM mainframe and PC products, and other dedicated word processor and mainframe word processor vendors developed conversion apps to allow porting to and from IBM DCA Revisable-Form Text (DCA/RFT), or to emerging PC-based software. Some interoperability efforts initially envisioned that DCA/RFT would be a sufficient feature superset of other formats that it could be used as a canonical repository/intermediate format for bi-directional conversions. There was limited success in that approach but formats were specialized enough that too much was lost in a two-step conversion of complex documents so specific format-to-format conversion was preferred. MS Rich Text Format and eventually OPEN XML offered improvements on DCA for revisable interoperability. The early diversity of word processing file formats also gave rise to a cottage industry in word processor file conversion. Example vendor for Talk purposes.. Note: On the one hand, I’m old enough to have been involved with testing and using these early tools; on the other hand I’m also old enough to not be able to readily remember their project/product names in order to google up the references so I'll need some help with citations. Zatsugaku (talk) 05:47, 12 March 2021 (UTC)

AES sold

AES was sold to Lanier Business Products in 1975. The product was rebranded as the "No Problem" word processor — Preceding unsigned comment added by 208.115.90.154 (talk) 16:26, 3 May 2022 (UTC)

AES-90 Claims

The claim that the AES-90 was the first device to combine floppy drives, a microprocessor and display is somewhat contentious and poorly cited. There is at least one contemporaneous example that could hold this claim, the 1972 Q1/T, which contained many very similar characteristics to the AES-90. These included a video display terminal, floppy disk drives and microprocessor both contained in a desk-side cabinet, availability starting in 1972 at a similar price point, and initial marketing towards businesses and data processing applications. The launch year(s) of the AES-90 noted in this article are also not cited and differ (at one point listed as "1972", at another that the "first eight units" were delivered in "February 1974"), and looking through what is cited (including some of the marketing) seems to show no indication of the AES-90 containing a microprocessor, or its release date. ArtechDVD (talk) 16:55, 1 January 2026 (UTC)