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After using it for a while, we can speculate on a handful of potential reasons why. To see the document properly, you have to enter the correct password.Ĭreative Writer is a fun program for kids, but it wasn’t a smash hit. Encrypt Your Work: If you click a secret agent icon, you can enter a password, and Creative Writer will scramble all the letters (and hide the pictures) in your document.

They come from a special machine or picture frame on the fourth floor. Magic Combobulators: If you have writer’s block, Creative Writer includes 8,000 writing prompts to aid your brainstorming in the form of random silly sentences or pictures.

The entire document explodes with a sound effect and goes blank. Blow up Your Words: If you want to delete all the text on the page and start over, you can click an explosion icon, and then click the text.Sound Effects: Creative Writer allows you to insert silly sound effects into your word processing document from a sound library that comes with the application.Clip-Art Stamps: Microsoft included hundreds of pieces of playful cartoon clip art that kids can insert and manipulate in their documents.

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Quirky Features of Creative Writer Encrypting text in Microsoft Creative Writer.Ĭreative Writer includes dozens of silly features or wacky representations of typical word processor software conventions.

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Upon launching, Creative Writer takes over your computer’s whole screen, minimizing distractions and preventing kids from accidentally switching away from the program in Windows or doing damage to Mom and Dad’s PC. Microsoft Creative Writer in action with an example document.

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(In 1993, a Word 6.0 upgrade alone cost $99.) It also included a completely novel kid-oriented interface.

So why would a kid in 1993 use Creative Writer instead of Microsoft Word? For one thing, it was far cheaper, retailing for about $65, but often available for far less in stores. RELATED: Dogs, Dinosaurs, and Wine: The Lost CD-ROMs of Microsoft Innovative Features of Creative Writer Creative Writer and a sister product, Fine Artist, were the first two Microsoft Home productivity applications. In 1993, Microsoft reorganized its consumer products department under the Microsoft Home label, which encompassed mice, keyboards, CD-ROM edutainment titles (such as Microsoft Dinosaurs), and home reference products ( Encarta). Microsoft predicted an upcoming multimedia boom (thanks to affordable VGA graphics, CD-ROM drives, and digitized sound) and wanted to capitalize on this potential untapped consumer market. The Creative Writer lobby, with mascot McZee on the left.Īccording to a 1993 New York Times article, Creative Writer originated as part of Microsoft’s push into home computing products due to a slowdown in the business productivity market. With Bob, users interacted with their computers through the metaphor of a house, with the help of interactive assistant characters.īut few remember that some of Bob’s original principles also appeared in an earlier Microsoft product called Creative Writer, which was released in December of 1993 for Windows 3.1 and Macintosh computers. Bob represented a bold, alternative vision of computing for novices that fell flat in the marketplace. Among these products, an operating system shell called Microsoft Bob (1995) remains infamous for its coddling approach. In the 1990s, Microsoft began experimenting with software for kids and computer novices.