In the days of DOS, WordPerfect was the premiere word processor for PC users. That accolade has long since been taken by Microsoft Word. However, both now face a number of challenges from the plethora of free alternatives widely available, such as OpenOffice and Google Docs.
Lightning isn't in the same league as these programs. It isn't a fully functioning word processor, but a viewer for Word, WordPerfect and PDF files - with note-taking abilities that give Notepad a run for its money.
However, one area where Lightning lives up to its name is speed: load times are extremely fast, and the application doesn't consume system resources. Files are accessed via the Navigator, where notes and other linked documents are stored. When you create a note you can perform basic formatting with text - changing fonts or alignment, for example, or adding bullet points and images.
If you want to create more complex documents, you'll want a copy of Corel Office X3 - without this, Lightning's abilities are limited. Those with WordPerfect can use Lightning to quickly type notes, then send these to a full WordPerfect document or email package once finished. And there is a snapshot tool to copy images and text from other applications, although this could be awkward to use.
The Navigator is effective as a tool for organising documents, which can then be backed up online. However, some of the features are a little pointless. When viewing PDFs, for example, you can't search through documents. We can't see any good reason to replace the free Adobe PDF viewer with this particular application.
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