I somewhat agree, but I don't see that Locoscript was really exposing much of the underlying OS to the user.
It booted straight into Locoscript, with no CP/M-like functionality exposed. The application was booted directly by the bootloader which as you say was loaded itself by the not-really-ROM in the bloody great ASIC.
People just put the "Start of Day" disk in the drive, powered it up, waited five seconds, and then picked the thing they'd worked on last with a single keystroke. Now I have to admit, I have never used a Canon Cat - I'm surprised I haven't even run across an emulation - but the videos I've seen of them in use didn't look all that different.
[2] And because it came along late enough to be influenced by the new wave of 16-bit computers and GUIs and the combination of those and how they affected word processors.
LocoScript didn't expose any CP/M functionality because it didn't run on CP/M. It used the disk structure, and that meant it could use CP/M User Areas as a single-layer directory structure, which was inspired. TBH for non-technical users, 8 flat folders & multiple disks is enough, I suspect.
As for the Cat, yes, it was profoundly different, from the demo videos I've seen. Martin Wichary got lucky finding a cheap one. I've never seen a working one. :-(
It booted straight into Locoscript, with no CP/M-like functionality exposed. The application was booted directly by the bootloader which as you say was loaded itself by the not-really-ROM in the bloody great ASIC.
People just put the "Start of Day" disk in the drive, powered it up, waited five seconds, and then picked the thing they'd worked on last with a single keystroke. Now I have to admit, I have never used a Canon Cat - I'm surprised I haven't even run across an emulation - but the videos I've seen of them in use didn't look all that different.