well-reviewed product and included many features normally only found in more expensive desktop publishing packages. However, its delayed launch meant that Microsoft Word had already firmly established itself as the corporate standard during the two previous years. Abandonment WordStar is no longer developed, maintained or sold by its owners. It is the property of Riverdeep, Inc. Notable users WordStar was the program of choice for conservative intellectual William F. Buckley, Jr., who used the software to write many works, including his last book. This was noted by his son, Christopher Buckley, who wrote of the almost comical loyalty and affection his father had shown for WordStar, which he had installed into every new computer he purchased despite the technical difficulty of such an endeavor as the program became increasingly outdated and incompatible with newer computers. He said of WordStar, "I'm told there are better programs, but I'm also told there are better alphabets." Ralph Ellison also used WordStar. Canadian science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer continues to use WordStar for DOS 7.0 (the final release) to write his novels. A Song of Ice and Fire author George R. R. Martin still () uses the MS-DOS version of WordStar 4.0. Andy Breckman, the creator of Monk, is a devoted WordStar user. Vampire fiction writer Anne Rice was another faithful user of WordStar who struggled to have it installed on newer computers until it could no longer reasonably be done. She then grudgingly transitioned to Microsoft Word, whose design she felt was comparatively unintuitive and illogical: "WordStar was magnificent. I loved it. It was logical, beautiful, perfect," adding, "Compared to it, MS Word which I use today is pure madness." Version list This is a list of the various WordStar versions released over the years for different machines. WordStar 1.0 for CP/M (1978) WordStar 2.0 for CP/M (1978) WordStar for TRS-80 LDOS (1979) WordStar for Epson Personal Computer (1980) WordStar for Osborne 1 Portable Computer (1981) WordStar 3.0 for CP/M and MS-DOS (1982) WordStar 2000 for MS-DOS (1985) WordStar 2000 for AT&T UNIX (1985) WordStar Express for MS-DOS (1986) WordStar 2000 Release 2 for MS-DOS (1986) WordStar 2000 Plus Release 3.5 for MS-DOS (1987) WordStar 4 for CP/M and MS-DOS (1987) WordStar 5 for MS-DOS (1988) WordStar 6 for MS-DOS (1990) WordStar for Windows 1.0 (1991) WordStar for Windows 1.1 (1991) WordStar 7 for MS-DOS (1992) WordStar for Windows 1.5 (1992) WordStar