Microsoft Word
processing software. It was first released in 1983 under the name Multi-Tool Word for Xenix systems. Versions were later written for several other platforms including IBM PCs running DOS (1983), the Apple Macintosh (1984), SCO UNIX, OS/2, and Microsoft Windows (1989). It is a component of the Microsoft Office system; however, it is also sold as a standalone product and included in Microsoft Works Suite.
Beginning with the 2003 version, the branding was revised to emphasize Word’s identity as a component within the Office suite: Microsoft began calling it Microsoft Office Word instead of merely Microsoft Word. Nomenclature usage in the wild is currently in flux, with both names being commonly used. The latest release is Word 2021.
Hidden features
- Typing “=rand (n)”, where n is a number between 1 and 201, generates a placeholder statement n times:
- Word 2003 and older generate the sentence “The quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” (or another default pangram in a non-English version) in older versions of Word.
- Office 2007 will generate the following text once or twice if n is 1 or 2:
1. “On the Insert tab, the galleries include items that are designed to coordinate with the overall look of your document. You can use these galleries to insert tables, headers, footers, lists, cover pages, and other document building blocks. When you create pictures, charts, or diagrams, they also coordinate with your current document look.”
However, typing “=rand (3)” or higher will generate repetitions of the following text:0
2. “On the Insert tab, the galleries include items that are designed to coordinate with the overall look of your document. You can use these galleries to insert tables, headers, footers, lists, cover pages, and other document building blocks. When you create pictures, charts, or diagrams, they also coordinate with your current document look.”
3. “You can easily change the formatting of selected text in the document text by choosing a look for the selected text from the Quick Styles gallery on the Home tab. You can also format text directly by using the other controls on the Home tab. Most controls offer a choice of using the look from the current theme or using a format that you specify directly.”
4. “To change the overall look of your document, choose new Theme elements on the Page Layout tab. To change the looks available in the Quick Style gallery, use the Change Current Quick Style Set command. Both the Themes gallery and the Quick Styles gallery provide reset commands so that you can always restore the look of your document to the original contained in your current template.”
- Microsoft Word 97 contained a hidden pinball game.
- On the note about the pseudo-function rand, in Office 2003 and newer the function can take two parameters (i.e. =rand(2,3)). When using this pseudo-function this way, it will create 2 sets of the same line 3 times. The maxes for this function seem to be 200 and 99 so that you cannot create more than =rand(200,99) worth of text. About 235 pages.
