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> I know Microsoft Word is disliked around here, but I regularly produced complex documents hundreds of pages in length both by myself and in collaboration with

> I know Microsoft Word is disliked around here, but I regularly produced complex documents hundreds of pages in length both by myself and in collaboration with others. I found it to be a good tool for doing so. Anyone who doesn't think Microsoft Word is now on-par or superior to every other word processor in ability and function, tells me they have no idea how to use. Part of that is Microsoft - Word is extremely complex with, literally, hundreds of options, much of which you need to be actively taught (a high quality book or a long course) - the other part is that it's user interface is still very much rooted in earlier computer design ideology. It has to be. This kind of reminds me of the people who complained that Maya was so much more complex than KPT Bryce. Yeah... it has to be. One of them is almost unfathomably powerful for creating computer-generated graphics, and the other displays its limitations well within the first hour of usage.

james_in_the_uk 3y ago
+1 Microsoft Word is a very capable piece of software. If Microsoft's software engineers were forced to write board papers and legal contracts, it would probably be more intuitive too. IntelliSense for defined terms would be amazing.
sombragris 3y ago
Seconded. I'm mostly a LibreOffice user now (since I use the Linux desktop almost all the time), but Word is an extremely capable piece of software. Sadly, the atrocity that is the ribbon interface manages to obfuscate or hinder most of this advanced functionality. A lot of people told me "I wanted to do X in Word but it cannot be done...". Yes, it can be done, you just have to discover that functionality and learn how to operate it. Used to be easier ("Just go to Tools > Mail Merge, and follow the wizard"). Now you have to learn which tab of the atrocious ribbon interface, and in a completely unintuitive way.

james_in_the_uk 3y ago

+1 Microsoft Word is a very capable piece of software. If Microsoft's software engineers were forced to write board papers and legal contracts, it would probably be more intuitive too. IntelliSense for defined terms would be amazing.

sombragris 3y ago

Seconded. I'm mostly a LibreOffice user now (since I use the Linux desktop almost all the time), but Word is an extremely capable piece of software. Sadly, the atrocity that is the ribbon interface manages to obfuscate or hinder most of this advanced functionality. A lot of people told me "I wanted to do X in Word but it cannot be done...". Yes, it can be done, you just have to discover that functionality and learn how to operate it. Used to be easier ("Just go to Tools > Mail Merge, and follow the wizard"). Now you have to learn which tab of the atrocious ribbon interface, and in a completely unintuitive way.