What most people think of today as "word processor" programs are actually low-end desktop publishing systems. A useful taxonomy might include: * text editors:

What most people think of today as "word processor" programs are actually low-end desktop publishing systems. A useful taxonomy might include: * text editors: produce and edit text, saved to files * formatting languages: inline, interlinear and/or out-of-band formatting to define semantic and/or visual layout * word processors: text editors with an integrated formatting system with the ability to integrate some graphic elements, producing either printable documents or a specialized save format. Most likely to offer WYSIWYG-ish as the primary interface. * publishing systems: formatting systems designed to create templates and apply them to produce repeatable-but-tweakable documents from multiple inputs and updated contents