wordcraft/docs/hardware-parity.md

Hardware parity with Microsoft Word

Last reviewed: 2026-10-12 · Last updated: 2026-10-12 · Change: trivial (32-bit Windows starts on OpenGL; previously major: first version) · Target: Microsoft Word (Microsoft 365) for Mac 16.113.4 and Word for Windows

Printing update: 2026-10-12 · direct desktop printing through craft-print; details below.

Word is not a hardware-heavy app, but a few devices matter to its users: printers above all, then pens, microphones (Dictate) and speakers (Read Aloud), and displays.

Dimension: ~40% (estimated), 20–40 h to full (pen/ink hours are counted with the Draw tab in target-app-parity.md).

Hardware	Word	WordCraft macOS	Windows	Linux / BSD	Web	Parity	Hours
Printers: native print dialog, printer choice, copies, duplex, page ranges, tray, scaling	✅ (WordPDE.plugin print-dialog extension on Mac)	🟡 Direct CUPS printing; printer, copies, collation, duplex, ranges and grayscale	🟡 Direct spooler printing; printer, copies, collation, duplex, ranges and grayscale	🟡 Direct spooler printing; printer, copies, collation, duplex, ranges and grayscale	✅ browser print dialog (#209)	35%	5–8
GPU rendering, HiDPI/Retina, pixel-aligned text	✅	✅ wgpu + vello_cpu rasteriser, whole-pixel text (#110, #165)	✅ DirectX 12 default (#50), OpenGL when DirectX 12 has no GPU driver (#316) or on 32-bit; startup crash on Intel UHD (#170)	✅ (soft text on KDE at some zooms, #140)	✅	80%	3–5 (bugs)
Multiple monitors, per-monitor DPI, remembered window position	✅	✅ (#38, #76)	✅ (winit DPI fix pending, #155)	✅	—	85%	1
Pen / stylus: ink, pressure, eraser, ink to shape/math	✅ (Draw tab, InkRender.bundle)	❌	❌	❌	❌	0%	(Draw tab, 15–25)
Microphone: Dictate	✅ (cloud speech service)	❌	❌	❌	❌	0%	8–15 + owner (speech model choice)
Speakers: Read Aloud	✅	✅ system speech, speed, sentence skip (#190)	✅	🟡	🟡	75%	1–2
Touch screens and touchpads: pinch zoom, inertial scroll	✅	✅ pinch (#179)	✅	✅ inertial scroll (#252)	✅	85%	0–1
Scanners/cameras (Insert from device / Continuity Camera on Mac)	✅	❌	❌	❌	❌	0%	2–4

Revision history

Date	Change	Summary
2026-10-12	trivial	32-bit Windows starts on OpenGL: DirectX 12 graphics pipeline creation returns "The parameter is incorrect" and the app exited before the window appeared
2026-10-12	minor	Desktop File > Print now discovers printers and submits PDF jobs through pinned craft-print with printer choice, copies, duplex and grayscale; browser printing and PDF export remain available. The upstream preview, page ranges, parity and Print Markup remain available. Remaining print parity includes driver-specific tray/options and pages-per-sheet UI; physical printer fidelity needs hardware validation.
2026-10-10	trivial	Windows falls back to OpenGL when DirectX 12 offers only the software adapter (#316)
2026-10-10	trivial	Desktop File › Print opens the PDF in the system viewer (#286)
2026-10-10	trivial	Inertial touchpad scrolling landed (#252)
2026-10-10	major	First version