SHARP, November 1987 WD-540 - Japanese AI word processor

19872 📃sharp
SHARP WD November 1987 - cover / シャープ「日本語ワープロ WD-540/WD-541/WD-545」カタログ 昭和62年11月 表紙

シャープ「日本語ワープロ WD-540/WD-541/WD-545」カタログ・ミニ書院・昭和62年11月

A leaflet for SHARP’s WD-series word processors - WD-540, WD-541 and WD-545, priced at ¥165,000. The front side demonstrates the creation of the OCEAN CLUB logo featuring a swordfish, showcasing the built-in graphics editor. The reverse side contains detailed technical specifications for all three models and the tagline: “10 years of achievement - the first professional-grade personal word processor with an AI dictionary.” Print date: November 1987.

AI was a big buzzword in the 1970-1980s. Especially in Japan.

Back then the most promising approach was not neural networks like now but symbolic computations.

Then it all collapsed with the "AI winter". Government funding went away, venture investors disappeared too, the oh-so-promising startups went bankrupt. The very word "AI" started being shunned because it became associated with vaporware and bad investments. Even as late as the 2010s people used terms like "machine learning" and "computer vision/imaging" for the areas that were called "AI" before the "winter" (and are called "AI" now, again) - the joke was "if it works, it's ML, if it doesn't, it's AI" (source: I was in grad school working on computer vision in late 2000s)

We'll see if the current AI boom ends up in a new "AI winter" as well.

elder_george, computer vision researcher
ModelTypePrice
WD-540Japanese Word Processor¥165,000
WD-541Japanese Word Processor¥165,000
WD-545Japanese Word Processor¥165,000
Technical termsTranslation
AI辞書AI dictionary
グラフィック機能graphic function
プリンター内蔵built-in printer
Marketing termsTranslation
ミニ書院Mini Shoin
New Business PeopleNew Business People
10年の成果です。はじめてAI辞書を持ったプロ仕様のパーソナルワープロ。The result of 10 years. A professional-grade personal word processor with an AI dictionary for the first time.
新しいマークを創りました。We created a new mark.
書院の歴史はワープロの歴史です。The history of Shoin is the history of word processors.
この文章力と、この完成度。 新しい“知能”を持った、プロ仕様のオールインワンタイプです。This writing power and this level of finish. A professional-grade all-in-one type with a new "intelligence."
いかに滑らかに書けるか…かなから漢字への変換効率こそ、ワープロの生命です。いち早く日本語ワープロを開発して10年、シャープは、新しい変換水準を実現しました。How smoothly can you write... Conversion efficiency from kana to kanji is the very life of a word processor. Ten years after being among the first to develop a Japanese word processor, SHARP has achieved a new level of conversion.
熱い思い、暑い日差し、厚い友情… 新しい“知能”が、正しく書き分ける。Warm feelings, hot sunshine, thick friendship... The new "intelligence" correctly tells which kanji to write for each.
私信とビジネス文書… 文字の大きさにも気を配りたい。Private letters and business documents... You want to pay attention to the size of characters as well.
文章をまとめて、ブロック単位で入力・編集できる。移動や複写も簡単だ。You can enter and edit text in blocks. Moving and copying are easy too.
タテ書きもヨコ書きも、そのまま画面で確認できる。Both vertical and horizontal writing can be checked right on the screen.
写真やスケッチをなぞるだけで文書の中に取り込める。しかも、編集・加工もできる。Just trace photos and sketches and they are brought into the document. And you can edit and process them too.
昭和62年11月（1987 November）
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