Microsoft word and office - Technologies of Text

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Introduction

Microsoft Word is a widely used word processing software that has significantly shaped document creation and collaboration. The Office suite, includes programs like PowerPoint and Excel, has completely changed how businesses communicate and are productive.

Microsoft office new launch (Microsoft 365, 2023).

History of Microsoft word and office

MS Office is a discontinued Microsoft suite of client software, server software, and services. Bill Gates initially presented it on August 1, 1988, at COMDEX in Las Vegas. The initial edition of Office was a marketing phrase for an office suite (a packaged collection of productivity apps), and it included Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint (Wikipedia Contributors, 2023).

Evolution of microsoft office (Abdul Bais Stanikzai, 2020).

Microsoft Word was initially introduced in 1983 as Multi Tool Word for Xenix and was later renamed MS-DOC (Wikipedia Contributors, 2023). Microsoft published Word 6.0 in 1993, which was compatible with Macintosh, Windows, and DOS. Word 6.0 was the final version designed to operate on DOS and the last to be identifiable by a version number; following versions were titled after the year they were released (Wright, 2018).

Evolution of Microsoft word (Intro History, 2023).

Functions

The Home tab has common formatting tools like font, alignment, and styling. Insert incorporates elements like pictures and tables. Draw lets you write on the page with a stylus or mouse. Design and layout control document structure, while References aids in citations. Mailings streamlines mass communication. Review offers proofreading and editing tools, and View adjusts document display.

Microsoft Office helps professors and students create interactive notes and tasks in education using word and one note. It streamlines chores like sending letters, invoices, and creating reports at work using excel.

My Experience

Microsoft Word is a vital tool in my education as a university student. Its job encompasses many aspects of university life, beginning with the essential activity of academic writing. Word’s user-friendly interface and formatting capabilities give a trustworthy platform for expressing ideas and organizing information, whether you’re writing essays, assignments, or formal notes. The collaboration tools, such as Track

Changes and Comments, are essential in group assignments, allowing for clear communication and rapid feedback sharing with peers. As my studies continue, Word becomes increasingly useful in the preparation of longer documents, such as research papers and theses. Its capacity to collect citations and organize huge papers simplifies the typically complicated process of academic research and writing

Back in school, everything was about paper and pen – essays, creative writing, you name it. The school had this old-school belief that using electronic devices, especially Microsoft Word, would somehow mess with our spelling and grammar skills. They thought Word fixing up our mistakes was some kind of cheat code to avoid learning the ropes. Then, enter the era of COVID, it was a complete U-turn.

Suddenly, we were thrown into the digital realm, heavily relying on Microsoft Teams to stay connected with classes through screens. Microsoft Office tools like OneNote, Excel, and Word became our new buddies for getting stuff done. It was a wild twist because, pre-COVID, I hardly touched Word for anything beyond spell checks. My creative writing were strictly on paper. But then, Word became the go-to for all sorts of assignments. When I was bored I would play around with Word, creating funky word art, fixing up grammar like it was an art form, and just exploring all those settings.

Over the years the accessibility and ease of use of Microsoft office and word have improved by a lot. For example, Word in 2010 Ui was horrible it didn’t look aesthetic nor did its ribbon have all the tools we have right now. People had to take word classes back in the day to even understand what those tools did or to figure out where the tools were.

The word 2023 includes more options like Dictate, sensitivity, editor, and add-ins etc. The new tabs aids improving your creativity.

References

Abdul Bais Stanikzai. (2020, January 11). Evolution of Microsoft Office 1995-2019 and 2020 update [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aO4i2kOgJSc

Microsoft 365. (2023, April 26). The Microsoft 365 app [Video]. YouTube. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=i5Sov7Hz9bg

Wikipedia contributors. (2023a, November 10). Microsoft Office. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Office

Wikipedia contributors. (2023b, November 15). Microsoft Word. Wikipedia. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Microsoft_Word

Wright, L. (n.d.). The history of Microsoft Word. https://www.core.co.uk/blog/blog/history-microsoft-word#:~:text=The%20first%20ever%20version%20of,was%20called%20Multi%2DTool%20Word.