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Word processing software a good fit for legal, government work
Microsoft Word may be the dominant word processing software used in offices today, but Corel's WordPerfect still has a home in many federal agencies for at least the immediate future.
Thousands of federal employees still use WordPerfect, including many at the Justice Department, Census Bureau and Federal Trade Commission (FTC). Corel officials have sold federal agencies more than 100,000 licenses for WordPerfect Office 12, the company's latest release of the product, a spokesman said. That version includes word processing, spreadsheet and multimedia applications.
Officials at Justice's Bureau of Prisons plan to use WordPerfect, Word or both applications for computer vocational training next year, and Input analysts predict that the Defense Information Systems Agency's wide-area network will continue supporting WordPerfect users for some time.
"It's safe to say there are still WordPerfect users in the government, and they're probably spread across all the different agencies and departments," said Input analyst Payton Smith, although he could not quantify the number of Word users vs. WordPerfect users.
Corel officials say their product is well-suited for the legal profession and government agencies. Officials at the Library of Congress, the White House and federal courts use WordPerfect at some level, said...