ScuzzBlog: Diaries March 2026
Entry 26th March 2026: Post 1: So is it WordPro or is it Word Pro? - Let's find out.
So is it WordPro or is it Word Pro? - Let's find out.
I love tracking a train of thought from a simple notion. You just
never know where it is going to take you. What is more fascinating
is following two distinct trains of thought and realise they are
about to collide... or not.
I picked up this Lotus SmartSuite97 booklet from a stack of old
Windows stuff I have stored at the base of stairs and noticed the
tell tale sign of a tiny spider dropping. Not something I tolerate.
There was obviously a rogue spider that entered the house from the
adjacent external door when I was outside. I took the booklet to
the bench to clean off the dropping and checked for any staining.
The booklet appeared fine.
My curiosity drew me in to start reading the document and I was
fascinated to read about how LotusScript was yet another form of
BASIC that I had not previously encountered. Excuse the wobbly pics
as I was not set up with tripod or lights. I ventured further by
extracting the Lotus software from the library.
Pause for a cuppa and onto the net. As ever following up on forum
posts and one in particular relating to the storage of disks. For
this I referred to my Pensieve of disk storage and the first pic
was of the disk box with the 1581 ToolBox inside. The 1581 being
the 3.5" drive for the C64. Looking at the disks inside I noted
the ICPUG magazine disks. This was a user group that published
readers articles or member of the group articles, and provides a
fascinating insight into the world of Commodore, mostly 8bit style.
I was curious to see if the magazine was still active and became a
little troubled that following the COVID years post 2022 there did
not appear to be any entries. The site itself still carries all the
previous articles though the site is not secure, which usually means
a failure to renew the security certificate. I didn't check.
Where is this going ? .....I'm getting there.
OK one or two posts in and I am being transported to the Plus/4 site
which is a wealth of Commodore topics and a bucket load of downloads.
I really have to avoid this site cus I very quickly drop down the
rabbit hole and I need to get back to Lotus.
Anyhoo... Surprise, surprise, surprise ( I have got to stop listening
to Steve Hacket ), there was a link to WordPro and a whole batch of
discussions about the product including a download from the mighty
Zimmer. The software was produced by Professional Software Inc of
Needham Mass with no mention of AmiPro or Lotus.
OK tea finished and back to Lotus. The Word Pro here was first created
by AmiPro in the late eighties. It was then rebadged by IBM to become
Lotus Word Pro. I think that little gap between Word and Pro is the
main difference between the two products. And so my anticipation of
a crossover product from Commodore Plus/4 to Windows PC with WordPro
amounted to nothing and I felt I had wasted my time.
As to the LotusScript BASIC I guess I can log that away as yet another
of the many BASIC versions that was released. I was tempted to install
the software onto my Win98 machine in the Workshop but resisted as I
was due a session on Tera. You know how it is.
So in summary there were two bits of software with nearly the same
name. Looking at the WordPro version I gotta say it looks very BASIC.
Get it .... BASIC. I'm going now.
It's what I do. Keeps me out of trouble. Turned out nice again.
PS All the links to those sites are on the images. I take no credit
for the displayed site content. I snipped the text to force readers to
go and visit the originating site.
So is it WordPro or is it Word Pro? - Let's find out.
Updated 27th March 2026
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