[justin66]

> any software of any version that doesn't force auto-updates (e.g. Chrome, Skype) can also be "finished" if the particular user is satisfied with that old version

That’s obviously not true. WordStar 4’s output is interoperable with newer software, it runs on today’s hardware with a little work, and a user won’t be under constant threat of getting hacked because they’re running an old version. It is safely “finished” in a lot of ways the other software Martin was using when he settled on WordStar is not.

[pjmlp]

Having written printer drivers for MS-DOS, I doubt Wordstar will work properly with modern printers.

[justin66]

I have a few thoughts on how I'd try to make it work, but it does look like WordStar 5, which came a year later, would be an easier one to try, with its Postscript support.

[pjmlp]

Maybe, except that it would require passing that Postscript file into another application, or getting a Laserprinter still able to plug into MS-DOS infrastructure or FreeDOS.

Anything requiring moving the Postscript file via other applications or operating systems, is working around the problem of WordStar not really working on modern infrastructure.

[justin66]

I think you’d probably use vDos (or something similar) today if you tried to do run old WordStar with modern hardware. I gather there are some features available that help with printing.

I actually used Borland Sprint in Windows at one time during the 32 bit era in the manner you described, “passing that Postscript file into another application,” and it worked great. That was a DOS word processor that invited a little hacking, as I recall.

[pjmlp]

Yeah but all of that are ways to workaround the issue that it doesn't actually work without issues, and some clever ideas are required to use it like on its MS-DOS heyday.

[justin66]

Or some older hardware, yeah, which is incredibly easy to keep running because of how much of it was made. But the original question was about whether the software was "finished." It wouldn't be worth the effort if it wasn't in some meaningful way "finished."