Welcome to the MacNN Forums.

beb · May 18, 2003, 05:14 PM

I have this wonderful friend who has floppies of about 100 MacWrite files. What software can I use to open these?

Rainy Day · May 18, 2003, 06:13 PM

Well, MacWrite, of course!

I think AppleWorks can open them, although some minor formatting errors might occur. MacLinkPlus should also do the trick.

ambush · May 18, 2003, 07:36 PM

hheheehehehheheheeheeh MacWrite

it was a pretty neat app.

theory · May 18, 2003, 08:29 PM

Get vMac and run macwrite under system 6.
It's fun and it works

Brass · May 18, 2003, 08:49 PM

MacWrite II was great in its time. Did spell-as-you-type by beeping, not underlining. I much prefer beeping to underlining, as it leaves the document looking truly WYSIWYG. It also did table of contents many years before ClarisWorks/AppleWorks.

AppleWorks will import both MacWrite and MacWrite II, I think.

beb · May 19, 2003, 07:59 PM

Well it was a Macwrite II to Clarisworks v.4 to save in Word v.4 operation. 98 files. Whew!

Thanks!

voodoo · May 19, 2003, 08:59 PM

Wasn't Macwrite made by Microsoft?

CharlesS · May 19, 2003, 09:23 PM

Originally posted by voodoo:
Wasn't Macwrite made by Microsoft?

No.

voodoo · May 19, 2003, 10:10 PM

Originally posted by CharlesS:
No.

oh

Rainy Day · May 20, 2003, 12:15 AM

MacWrite and MacPaint, by Apple, were the two original applications for the Mac and were bundled with the OS in 1984.

k2director · May 20, 2003, 12:55 AM

Maybe you're thinking of *MICROSOFT WRITE*, which was MS's cheapy version of Word for a while. Didn't last too long...

veryniceguy2002 · May 20, 2003, 06:24 AM

Originally posted by beb:
I have this wonderful friend who has floppies of about 100 MacWrite files. What software can I use to open these?

Other than AppleWorks, I think PageMaker can import it as well (Although PageMaker 7 can only run under Classic).

Nisus writer can also open MacWrite files (Nisus claimed it, I haven't try it myself).

Ludovic Hirlimann · May 20, 2003, 06:39 AM

Originally posted by voodoo:
Wasn't Macwrite made by Microsoft?

MacWrite was written by Bill Atkison I think. I wrote it because He wanted to rewritte one of the toolbox text which was limited to 32kb of text. It turned out that they made a product instead of the toolbox routines.

beb · May 20, 2003, 06:57 AM

Think Apple will call it MacWrite again when they release the whole office-like package? Or will it be called iWrite or Write or something.

It's not that Apple doesn't write great application software -it's just the lack of followups and proper updates. Hypercard, Apple Media Tool, QuickTime Authoring Studio...

I personally think the last three should be combined as some sort of super QuickTime authoring application.

veryniceguy2002 · May 20, 2003, 07:07 AM

Originally posted by beb:
Think Apple will call it MacWrite again when they release the whole office-like package? Or will it be called iWrite or Write or something.

AppleWrite? Or AppleWord??

I think Apple intentionally stop calling new applications with Macsomething back in the late 80's or early 90's, when they created Claris (I think Apple wants Claris to create Windows 3.1 apps as well as System 7 apps). That's why MacDraw (I, II and Pro) becomes ClarisDraw...

osxisfun · May 20, 2003, 10:27 AM

Wouldn't it be sweet if apple shipped the rumored "document' and it was as swvelte and smooth and fast as the orginal macwrite?

they could even have black and white mode where the app itself would show up as 2 colors on the screen.

ahhh the old days.

Rainy Day · 06:21 PM

MacWrite was written by Bill Atkison I think.

No, i think Bill Atkinson wrote MacPaint, not MacWrite. Bill later went on to develop HyperCard.

I think Apple intentionally stop calling new applications with Macsomething back in the late 80's or early 90's, when they created Claris (I think Apple wants Claris to create Windows 3.1 apps as well as System 7 apps).

Claris was created in the late 80's. Since Claris was to write software for both Macs and Windoze, some product renaming occurred. If memory serves correctly, MacDraw became ClarisDraw, and AppleWorks became ClarisWorks. But MacWrite always kept the "Mac" moniker, as i recall.

Of course Claris is no more. Claris was renamed FileMaker, Inc. in the late 90's, and all software except FileMaker and one other package reverted to Apple.

Edit: typo correction

Brass · May 20, 2003, 05:35 PM

Originally posted by Rainy Day:
If memory serves correctly, MacDraw became ClarisDraw, and AppleWorks become ClarisWorks.

Sort of...

AppleWorks did not exist on the Mac before Claris. ClarisWorks 1.0 was the first of that line.

However, there was a similar "AppleWorks" integrated suite for the Apple II (long before Microsoft Works was develope, I believe). So in a sense, AppleWorks did predate ClarisWorks, but they were not based on the same code based, or even the same operating system.

Rainy Day · 07:54 PM

AppleWorks did not exist on the Mac before Claris. ClarisWorks 1.0 was the first of that line.

However, there was a similar "AppleWorks" integrated suite for the Apple II (long before Microsoft Works was develope, I believe). So in a sense, AppleWorks did predate ClarisWorks, but they were not based on the same code based, or even the same operating system.

You are correct; thanks for the memory jog. The first "Works" program for the Mac from Apple/Claris was "ClarisWorks." There was an AppleWorks for the Apple ][, but it was text based. There was also a GUI program for the Apple II GS called "AppleWorks GS." Claris acquired a company called StyleWare and renamed its "GSWorks" program "AppleWorks GS." Although ClarisWorks 1.0 is decended from AppleWorks GS, it was not a Claris project. Two former GSWorks engineers left Claris to form their own company Spartacus Software when Claris, initially, lost interest in a Works type program for the Mac. Claris later bought them out and ClarisWorks was born. A Brief History of ClarisWorks describes the whole saga.

Edit: ClarisWorks/AppleWorks History has additional info about the original AppleWorks.