I'm not trying to defend Word here. I don't like it too much either. Yet, the majority of the basis for your argument comes from features that you don't even have to use! That would be like complaining about Mac OS X because it has huge 128x128 icons that take up too much space. These are options. Options like these are good because they can tailor to how different people work.
On the other hand, the vast majority of installations use whatever the defaults are, and so the fact that Word ships with a lot of gimmicky and annoying (and often buggy) features turned on is a strike against it. Sad to say, MS' idea of user friendliness is frequently intrusive, presumptuous and condescending.
Also, spelunking into Word's various configuration dialogs costs 1D20 SAN.
That's true, Amorph, but another problem is that a number of people have gotten so used to those gimmicky features and the preferences are so poorly laid out that people would probably be wildly confused if in the next version these options were off as default.
The money we pay for Office (and Windows) is used to subsidize other products that MS sells for a loss. Once MS kills the competition in those markets, they?ll jack up the price and find another niche to monopolize.
The fast scrolling is a recognized problem, at least on the PC (never used it on the mac). It particularly bites you when you try to select text of the screen or select the content of tables.
The workaround is to learn the keyboard shortcuts for text selection--much more precise.
Also, as a software developer, I detest everything MS Word stands for, mainly how it tries to be everything to everyone and ends up a bloated mess when all most users ever needed or wanted was Wordpad with a spellchecker.
I'll save my full rant for another time but did you know that MS Word was specifically *designed* to have the same user-interface as a spreadsheet?
Word works for me, especially when doing cross-platform transfers, I have no problems(though the grammar check is kind of annoying, and also it's not letting me add new words for some reason)
...it's not letting me add new words for some reason
I had this problem until I created a supplementary dictionary in a folder to which I had the appropriate permissions. These UNIX-based folder permission thingies have screwed me up a couple of times.
-copy and paste huge swathes of text and you'll find your formatting randomly rearranged.
-it 'pauses' while you select text. You compensate and end up with gibberish.
-use graphics in a large document and you too will find they take an age to appear. Click on them to find out what they are and the app quits. EVERY TIME.
Oh, and there is NO EXCUSE for the little computer man. I have him switched off of course, but the very fact he's there, taking up disk space, lurking, annoys me.
Comments
Originally posted by Brad
I'm not trying to defend Word here. I don't like it too much either. Yet, the majority of the basis for your argument comes from features that you don't even have to use! That would be like complaining about Mac OS X because it has huge 128x128 icons that take up too much space. These are options. Options like these are good because they can tailor to how different people work.
On the other hand, the vast majority of installations use whatever the defaults are, and so the fact that Word ships with a lot of gimmicky and annoying (and often buggy) features turned on is a strike against it. Sad to say, MS' idea of user friendliness is frequently intrusive, presumptuous and condescending.
Also, spelunking into Word's various configuration dialogs costs 1D20 SAN.
*sigh*
My Gripe?
The money we pay for Office (and Windows) is used to subsidize other products that MS sells for a loss. Once MS kills the competition in those markets, they?ll jack up the price and find another niche to monopolize.
The workaround is to learn the keyboard shortcuts for text selection--much more precise.
Also, as a software developer, I detest everything MS Word stands for, mainly how it tries to be everything to everyone and ends up a bloated mess when all most users ever needed or wanted was Wordpad with a spellchecker.
I'll save my full rant for another time but did you know that MS Word was specifically *designed* to have the same user-interface as a spreadsheet?
It makes me sad just thinking about it.
Originally posted by Wrong Robust
...it's not letting me add new words for some reason
I had this problem until I created a supplementary dictionary in a folder to which I had the appropriate permissions. These UNIX-based folder permission thingies have screwed me up a couple of times.
Originally posted by alcimedes
no, the little computer guy is the most annoying. anything else is a distant second.
i dunno, i find he helps me when i ask a question most of the time.
-copy and paste huge swathes of text and you'll find your formatting randomly rearranged.
-it 'pauses' while you select text. You compensate and end up with gibberish.
-use graphics in a large document and you too will find they take an age to appear. Click on them to find out what they are and the app quits. EVERY TIME.
-it's shit, annoying, slow, bloatware.
Originally posted by SuperGrover
6. Word randomly decides to change fonts and font sizes on you. Who knows why.
let me add number 7 to that list
7. Its Microsoft