We've come to expect a lot of our word processors. Spreadsheet features, mailmerge, drawing tools, the ability to produce basic desktop publishing output, and even while-you-type spellchecking and error correction. But many users would be quite content with a word processor that did less and, accordingly, cost less.
Pro Word is very basic, but it is also very cheap and only eats
ADVERTISEMENT
3Mb of hard disk space (around 10% as much as a full-scale product). And this includes, alongside all the standard layout features you need (including the ability to use TrueType fonts and place headers and footers on your documents), a 150,000-word spellchecker. Pro Word can import graphics files from a good range of formats, including .pcx, .gif, .tga, .bmp and .wmf. It's not so expansive on the text import side, though, recognising only .rtf, Ascii and plain text files. So you won't be able to import files from other word processors unless you first save them in one of these formats using the original program.
The only thing Word Pro really lacks to make it an ideal small office tool is a mailmerge facility. Even the smallest business, and even many individual users, will want to send a form letter at some stage. This apart, though, Word Pro is a very cheap and cheerful alternative to expensive and, some would argue, over-featured word processing software.
