What do people really think about Microsoft Word?

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Something that I've found baffling for a number of years now:

The vast majority of computer buyers still seem (to me) to base their computer purchasing decision around whether the computer will run Microsoft Word (or rather, Microsoft Office).

This may have made sense back when Microsoft Word was a decent word processor, but now it's a bloated mess. There must hundreds of thousands of man hours wasted every day, from people trying to fiddle with Microsoft Word in order to get their lists to number properly, etc..

Or am I wrong? Do people feel that Microsoft Word (despite a few flaws) is still a great app and that they would continue to use it (even if document compatibility wasn't an issue)?

Kap
 
Microsoft's automatic formatting is a joke. I would rather use a respectable, clean, and fast text editor like TextEdit, SubEthaEdit, or BBEdit and have complete control over my work.
 
I think it's gotten to a stage now where there are so many features that it has just become ridiculous. Most features shouldn't even be there.

As for the auto formatting, it can be turned off, but its a terrible terrible thing. Even finding it is just a task! It's still the word processor I use for compatibility's sake, but it still doesn't touch the PC version.
 
I've had my iMac for over 2 years now and all I've ever used is Microsoft Word (on important papers and such - Textedit for minor personal lists, etc.) and I have to say that it is a very nice app. I may not be doing hardcore stuff with it (as hardcore as Word can get..heh..) but for a college student, it's ideal.


By the way...Veljo.....High five for the Alias action you got going :D
 
Stridder44 said:
I've had my iMac for over 2 years now and all I've ever used is Microsoft Word (on important papers and such - Textedit for minor personal lists, etc.) and I have to say that it is a very nice app. I may not be doing hardcore stuff with it (as hardcore as Word can get..heh..) but for a college student, it's ideal.
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I know same here, i use to right papers, cause everybody uses M$ Word its the standard for papers. But if i really want to do serious page layout like a classy resume, i'd use QuarkXpress or InDesign.
 
i think its crap, just like any other microsoft product!!!

and its full of security holes !!!
sometimes theyre patches, sometimes there not....

and while you are using Office on your make you are constantly at risk :)
 
Microsoft Word is great unless you want to print your document or add photos to it. Hmm, that doesn't leave much else, does it?!!

I work in the print world and whenever a client tries to give me a word file to use I just say give me raw text and I will reformat it for you—it saves tons of time down the road.

Printers hate Microsoft Word for many reasons, one of which is the fact they can't tell which page is printing at any one time (vital in the RIPing process) and things print out differently than they look onscreen and there are no warnings.

In short, Word is an outdated, crappy program in which you must search through several menus just to change the freakin tabs! Ugh.

But WordPerfect is even worse… :)
 
blue&whiteman said:
I don't like office or word much. appleworks 6 is all I need and is far more efficient.
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I own AppleWorks, but I can't honestly say that I use it much for word processing (ironically, because it doesn't seem to do a very good job at opening Microsoft Word documents :eek: - I just use TextEdit and SubEthaEdit).

The only thing I tend to use AppleWorks for is creating/manipulating images (and I probably won't even doing that, once I can afford Macromedia Fireworks).

Kap
 
I find Office X very sufficient, except for placement of images and printing.

I'm very happy with it for the most part, even if I only use Word and Excel.

I'd like a more Apple-based Word processor that isn't AppleWorks (which actually went to poo when they bought Claris), but til they make one (which I don't think they'll do for a while. Microsoft's had 20 years to make Word what it is - it's an awful lot of work) I'm more than happy with Office X. Infact I'd like Office 2004 so I could have the audio recording/note-taking features in Lectures where the lecturer doesn't upload notes.
 
I've found Word on OS X to be much better and more usable than Word on Windows. I like the floating palette thingy, the ability to export PDFs and the overall look. I've found it to be much cleaner than the Windows version.

The alternative to word would be TeX. My supervisor has been nagging me to use TeX for scientific papers, but I haven't really bothered to shift yet. Will probably do that when it comes to my thesis, but till then it's Word for me :).
 
I wrote my dissertation in TextEdit before laying it out properly in Quark. I hate Word and it's auto-ass-wiping and having said that, Quark 6 is a steaming pile too.


::love::
 
I find word a fine app, I hope it continues to improve and constantly surpass its windows counterpart
 
Stridder44 said:
By the way...Veljo.....High five for the Alias action you got going :D
Click to expand...

Hehe...w00t @ Alias...

I agree with Stridder44. Though it has its faults and can be extremely annoying at times with its auto-formatting it is a great app.
 
I have used word since version 1.0. Then it was a decent word processor. Now I agree it is a bloated mess. I do not like auto formating. I do not like it making a link out of email address's and/or URL's. I use it for compatibility sake with work. I have found the think free works for most MS products. You might lose some fancy formatting and it is only $50.
 
I chose to install OpenOffice on my work Mac, even when teh company asked me to install M$ Office fully licenced and all. I just can't deal with M$ office. I spent enormous time finding the PIDs of the zombie processes, which must have been left by M$ office as since I don't have that installed now, I don't have any zombies running either.
But I'm prolly the only one with open office here.
 
I kinda have to work with ms word just to keep the compatibility to the windoze users here on work. But right now I am still on office vs. x and not office 2004. It was very buggy on my system for certain tasks and I just kicked it from my disk. Maybe this was an issue with the test version but I believe microsoft is not that stupid to release a completely messed test version while their full version is much more stable. ;)
 
The issue of cross-compatability will always be a consideration because of Office's dominanace -- regardless of the program's quality. That's just reality right now. Whenever we share files in our workplace, it's either in *.pdf or in an office format.

Remember that Office is a HUGE cash cow for M$. Its in their interest to update and "improve" it every few years with features most people don't need, and sell it to enterprises as must-have software. For the average user, it usually makes the sofware somewhat less stable and exponentially harder to use. Is the world really better off with any of the upgrades to office since 1997?

With that being said, I find WordPerfect version 6 to be the best windows word processor because of the customizability and because later features amounted to bloat. For the Mac, I'm like Zammy -- I 'm sticking with Office v.X.
 
Its also worth mentioning that many people grow up with Ms Word, its very common in schools etc, and most non-techy people don't like change. I remember being surprised how intuitive it was to use a browser other than IE for the first time (years ago now) - I think a lot of people assume a different program would work differently and need operating differently, and so don't bother finding out. After all Firefox looks different but after five minutes you have no more questions do you?
 
i grew up with Word Perfect. an app far more superior than ms word (on the pc)...
but thanx to microsoft and their tricks its been pushed aside....
hope same thing doesnt happen with OpenOffice !!!
 
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