IBM DisplayWrite
| Company type | Software |
|---|---|
| Industry | Word processing software |
| Founder | IBM |
| Products | Word processing applications for IBM PC, PCjr, OS/2, IBM Office/36, and IBM zSeries mainframes |
| Parent | IBM |
DisplayWrite (occasionally styled as Displaywrite) was a word processing application created and sold by IBM for the IBM PC and PCjr platforms. It represented one of IBM's earliest internally produced software products intended for commercial distribution on personal computers.
The design of DisplayWrite drew heavily from the IBM Displaywriter System, a specialized microcomputer dedicated to word processing. This connection allowed users familiar with the Displaywriter environment to adapt to DisplayWrite with minimal difficulty.
DisplayWrite/PC
On the Intel architecture, available editions included DisplayWrite for PC running on MS-DOS, as well as DisplayWrite 5/2 developed for the OS/2 operating system.
DisplayWrite/36
DisplayWrite/36 functioned as the word processing module within IBM Office/36, featuring integration with its SQL-driven database to facilitate label creation and form letter generation.
DisplayWrite/370
Intended for IBM zSeries mainframe systems, DisplayWrite/370 offered enhanced capabilities such as full graphical interface and WYSIWYG functionality. Supported until May 2015, it was marketed from 1993 through 2015 and operated on MVS/CICS (currently z/OS) and VM/CMS environments. As a host-based application, DW/370 was aimed at enterprise-level mainframe users.
File format
The proprietary file format used by IBM DisplayWrite is founded on IBM's DCA (Document Content Architecture) RFT (Revisable-Form Text) standard, supplemented with additional structural elements. Document files typically bear .DOC or .TXT extensions depending on the version. The software supports importing and exporting pure DCA/RFT files, commonly identified by .DCA or .RFT extensions. It is important to distinguish IBM's RFT format from Microsoft's RTF (Rich Text Format).
Reception
By the year 1987, DisplayWrite stood as IBM's sole commercially successful software offering for personal computers. A survey conducted in 1990 by the American Institute of Certified Public Accountants indicated that 2% of its members utilized DisplayWrite as their preferred word processing tool.
Further reading
- Dennis P. Curtin: Displaywrite 4: Procedures Manual, Prentice-Hall 1988