Bit of info on WordPerfect and Linux. WP was ported to SCO Xenix by SDC of Utah in the early 90's. Several of us figured out how to get it running on Linux (1.0 or 1.2 series kernels, libc5) using the SCO libs and iBCS2 the old Intel binary compatible interface (I wrote the Linux WP mini-howto about 15 years ago).
The SDC version was WP 6 or 7. They later made native Linux versions of WP 7 and 8. There were several serious problems with macros and some stability problems which AFIK were never fixed.
In the late 90's, I wrote numerous long documents in WP on my Linux desktop! For long docs it was far better than Word.
Novel bought WordPerfect for $885M in 1993-94 and sold it to Corel for $185M in 1996. See: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/WordPerfect
After Corel purchased WP, they stopped working with SDC (WP/UNIX/Linux was SDC's major contract if I recall correctly). Corel then released WP9 for Linux using Wine and also made a lot of improvements to wine in the process. This version was nearly identical to the Windows version but seemed slower and had stability issues.
However, when Microsoft bailed out Corel, Corel stopped shipping both Corel Linux and WP for Linux. This left a big hole in office suites and was a major impediment to Linux on the desktop for YEARS until OpenOffice came out and was stable (last few of years). A strategic move by Microsoft.
Some organizations still use WP (governments, medical, legal, etc.). Most have migrated to Word.
BTW, I wrote all the papers for my MBA using macros in DEC Runoff, spooled the papers to 9-track tape, and drove 1/2 mile to the other building to use the DG-controlled 20' long LASER printer.... Now my kids write all their High School & College papers using OpenOffice and print at home in color. Very different skill set and it gets the job done (less time learning the tool and more focusing on content).
Cheers, -- Wade Hampton