Chris Pratley on the history of Word

Chris Pratley writes a history of Microsoft Word from his point of view.

Details like great design were not critical to most customers, so that didn’t really make it into the products, except where it mattered to the customer.

Understand the market, and the customers, and then go pedal to the metal, with release after release focused on what the customers need, incorporating their feedback. That puts the competition into reaction mode.