WordPerfect 9 Released.

Embrace the future! The King is dead, long live the King: WordPerfect For Windows 9 has just been released as part of the new WordPerfect Office 2000 suite. (WordPerfect 9 Legal Edition is due out in August or October, depending on whom you ask.)

I haven't exercised it yet, but there are several interesting new features. Nevertheless, be patient. Remember the standard wisdom about new releases: Wait a while. In 6 months or so an update will no doubt come out that will be a bit faster, a bit more stable, and accompanied by better documentation. Also by then, the support community will have gelled, improving availability of books, training videos, tutorial articles, FAQs, and more knowledgeable trainers and consultants. (Besides, if you wait, your friend across the hall will have time to learn it and can answer your questions!)

How to Change All File Extensions to .WPD

Soon thereafter an interesting question wandered in by e-mail:

> I would like to be able to add the extension .WPD to all the files
> that were saved in a single directory.

Well this turns out to be a very simple matter. Here's the solution. From the DOS prompt, in the target directory, type this command:

Naturally, it's wise to make a backup before doing anything this major. If you have many directories that contain WordPerfect documents, you'll need to repeat this command in each one. (If you really have lots of directories, there are utility programs with names like XX.COM or SWEEP.COM that will repeat a command in all directories.)