Resources on the history of word processors

Agree. There was a lot of innovation back then as well, but many of the companies who brought real innovation didn't make it and some are even long forgotten.

In an ideal free market the ideas that bring more value to people succeed, but in the real world that's not always the case.

Just my opinion, of course.

@John Doe The software market and the computing industry were still new and largely unknown back them, so this may have had something to do too.

Many software projects fail because of mismanagement. Nowadays, that usually happens after small companies are acquired by the big ones.

Another reason is the unethical and (most of the time) illegal monopolistic practices. When companies are big enough, they can do almost whatever they want and get away with it.