“I had a word processor that ran on a PRE - PC S100 based computer - in a DOS like environment it was astounding in what it could do ... Today’s BLOATED WORD still cannot do what this little Word Processor could do ... “
Was it Emacs, Vi or Vim?
Emacs was released in 1976.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Emacs
Vi was released in 1976.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vi
Vim was released in 1991, based off of Vi.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vim_%28text_editor%29
Most Vi users now use Vim, and beginners often use an easy-to-get-started version called Cream for Vim:
http://cream.sourceforge.net/
Emacs and Vim are the two most powerful editors on the planet. No modern editor can come close to what they can do. They can run either in a modern GUI or in a terminal, just like the old DOS days.
I use Emacs and LOVE it. It takes getting used to and the default keystrokes are a little weird, but the power of Emacs is that *everything* can be customized. All settings are held in a file named “.emacs”. You can tweak everything — colors, sidebars, add abilities, shortcuts, have it auto-load often used files at the touch of a key... anything.
I’ve been using Emacs for several months and I’ve got it so customized it fits like a glove. It’s amazing.
Here’s a few sites to get you started:
http://www.gnu.org/software/emacs/
http://www.emacswiki.org/
http://www.emacswiki.org/emacs/EmacsNewbie
If you’re into personal organization, look into the well-loved Org-Mode module. I don’t use it — I have my own system set up —but many Emacsers rave over it.
http://orgmode.org/
PS. If you find you like a text editor over Word but find you have to go back to Word when you want a document formatted with bold headers, etc., you don’t have to. Look into using LaTeX. LaTeX is FAR more capable than Word and produces letters and documents that look more professional. Many books have been published using LaTeX.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/LaTeX
You can use LaTeX right in Emacs or Vim, both have LaTeX plugins available.
If you try either Emacs or Vim you’ll never go back to Word. Enjoy!
Okay, I started with paper tape. So there.
But I learned to use whatever technology was "right" for the job. These days it's C# on Windows, PHP on Linux for websites, Objective C for OSX and iOS software, whatever, etc. and etc.
Or anything else the client (or the Boss) insists on...
C would be my language of choice, but companies willing to pay for the extra hours it takes are few and far between. Flexibility gets you clients who come back. VB is okay for some; I never liked it much, but would take on a VB extension or maintenance project in a heartbeat, to put beans on the table. The idea is to get it done.
A shovel is better for detail work, but a Bobcat gets it done faster if the job's big (and they all are, these days), and if it's really big, you use a D9 Caterpillar. Development of software is a lot like developing construction projects.
Look. We could all flop them out on the table and use a yardstick -- or we could just get the job done with what works. We make more money with the latter strategy. I use Emacs for Ruby and Python and PHP and Bash scripts, Vim for quick and dirty edits, VS for C#/VB/ASP.net, and even Text Wrangler for a lot of stuff, but come on, none of that makes me a bigger or smaller or better or worse person. I use a Macbook Pro (yeah, with Parallels) these days, but I won't knock your Windows or Linux box. We're all just making the client happy or stroking the boss for a good review.
But hey -- "script kiddies"? Gimme a break. Do you (OP) really know what that is?
No - it was not Emacs. But it would not surprise me that it was based on Emacs. It was a proprietary word processor that ran on a Jacquard 500 (a very different device for that era - of late 1970’s) The Jacquard could run in straight Word Processor mode - or is a computer mode where you could run programs in Basic - very sophisticated ones. It had a type of programming environment - Very Advanced for the time ... but it died out in the early 1980’s...