Your word is dead to me
Can we talk for a second about just how terrible Microsoft Word is? I've been processing words since sometime in the late 1980s. Most of that time has been spent with Microsoft Word. Microsoft Word is the overbearing dick dad of software. Yeah, it sucks, but what are you going to do, it's your dad. Live in his house; follow his rules. For writers of all types, Microsoft Word is an app you just kind of have to live with.
But Google Docs feels a lot like your last semester in high school. It's not quite there yet, but almost. Almost. Oh, sweet freedom. I am so going to go out on dates with girls and drink soda pop when I get to college. Just you wait.
For several months now, I've been increasingly working in Google Docs. But I work alone, most days, and when I am in offices (or on the receiving end of emailed files) I typically see the tyranny of Word. So I've been wondering a bit about the adoption among professional writers.
So, today I was excited to see the following Tweet from Susan Orlean:
Ms. Orlean is not only a professional writer, she's a Serious Writer. (Not that she isn't funny, she is. I mean she's, all, profound, and shit.) A great writer*, even. Moreover, she writes books. My absolute longest documents run somewhere in the neighborhood of 8,000 words, at the outside. She's dealing with the tens of thousands.
But maybe I misunderstood. I also use Google Docs for backup and portability. If there's some important file I'm working on, I'll upload a current version of Google Docs. Then I can grab it later from anywhere, if I move to a different computer or want to read it on my phone, for example. I also have a backup copy in case my computer does what computers sometimes do. Perhaps she was simply doing the same. I asked for some clarification:
And indeed, Susan Orlean is writing her next book in Google Docs. Take that, Word.
Okay! Back to beverages for me.
*I should note here that I do not know Susan Orlean. I am receiving no compensation to promote her book, Google Documents, or anything else at all. Well, I mean aside from my own Twitter feed, I am trying to promote that. Did you see how I craftily slipped my Twitter username up there? I'm trying to get to 5,000 followers so I can raise my own army, take over the city of Woodside and force everyone to eat at Arby's. Just kidding. Actually I just need the 5,000 followers to level up, and then I can take care of Woodside all on my own.
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I hear once you get the 5,000 followers achievement, you're awarded a new Gamerpic.
I am not a Blogger, but having used Google Docs (which was nice), Microsoft Word (which doesn't seem to understand the concept of formatting), OpenOffice (which fits nicely on a flash drive and no longer sucks in OSX) and Lotus Symphony (I work at IBM, I don't really have a choice), none of them can compare to Wordperfect (assuming you are running Windows). Reveal codes is like a gift from the gods.
I learned word processing on Word Perfect on an OS2 based PC some time about 16 years ago. Word always seemed clumsier and more obscure to me. I've evolved techniques to get around the worst of its 'features' but it's still an obstacle.
I use Google Docs for most of my personal documents, including todo lists and shopping lists, and it's been fantastic. I can never think of an entire list at once, I always forget something... having that stuff in the cloud means I can update it from anywhere, so I build a list of 10 or 15 things over the course of a day. I'm glad to hear Google Docs can do well at the large tasks as well.
Anyway, adding your feed because of a great post.
Yes, word sucks. Except that outline view really helps organize a document, if styles are used consistently (not in fancy typewriter mode). Except that it integrates well with Endnote, which works well with ISI Web of Knowledge, which is the sine qua non of scientific research. After money of course.
And *all* of my correspondence and collaboration is with Word/Endnote, which even works across platforms, except for linux.
You may curse it (as I do) but I look around every few years and have to admit that for serious scientific work, it beats everything else.
BTW I'm still using Office 2000, IMO the best one, running under Crossover Office on linux.
I prefer LaTeX to any WYSIWYG word processor.
Make the computer handle all formatting issues.
I write most stuff in note pad, if it is longer I write it in q10. I use google docs for document management and editing. I use word for opening up email attachments that should have just been part of the email.
I've had a love/hate relationship with GoogleDocs since the beginning. I've never written with Word (or haven't since college), but primarily use Scrivener.
Now, I've found with some of the recent updates, GoogleDocs is more tolerable; I'm not surprised that even some Great Writers are using it! I still don't get how they get by without rulers, but it's miles improved. I write novels, short stories, blog articles, and back nearly everything up with GoogleDocs at the end of the day; that means I don't have to bog down my wee little Asus Eee with the files, and can access it anywhere later. Earlier versions were a nightmare with font problems, but by and large this seems fixed. Looking forward to more improvements *cough*ruler*cough*.
I use WORD, it works fine for what I need it to do.
I've always used Word and with Word 2003 still had some occasional frustrating issues with formatting. I'm not sure if that changed in Word 2007 or if I just learned it better but no issues anymore. Works great for me. I did use WordPerfect back in the 5.2 days and liked that a lot too. I guess it all comes down to personal preference.
Why is it either Word or Google Docs? What about all the other word processors? On Mac OS, at least, there are quite a few, including Apple's own Pages as well as Nisus Writer, Mellel, and the cross-platform ones like OpenOffice.
Personally, I like Pages a lot.
I realize that web browsers, and Google Docs, have come a long way, but I absolutely do not want to do real writing in a web browser. I've done some for collaborative purposes, or for blog posts, and it always feels clunky compared to a good native app.
Surprised, nay, shocked that you didn't consider OpenOffice. Are we getting a little fixed in our ways? hmmmmmm?
And what are you writing that requires so much firepower?
I love roughdraft on windows and plain old textwrangler on mac
@snej
Word.
I made the mistake of upgrading to Office 2007, and that mistake pretty much forced me to move into the Cloud. In the long run it will probably be for the best, but some advances in Web Browsers will need to take place before potential Google Docs is reached.
Mat, I've never understood why writers use Word. Even GDocs has about 20 more features than I need. I'm not a CLI snob—I barely touch the stuff these days—but a regular ol' text editor does everything I can think I might ever need as a writer. But maybe I'm missing out?
(P.S. WriteRoom 4 Lyfe.)
Cloud computing... behind the buzzword, that's basically timesharing on a mainframe with a middling-rich client, right?
Not that I'm knocking it. It's somewhat surprising how long it has taken folks to realize the big iron does, in fact, make a wonderful server, and that contracting out the server's maintenance and backup and so on may in fact make sense.
Having said that: I mostly trust Google's pledge ("don't be evil") right now... but I don't trust it to stand if they get taken over by someone. As a result, I am *very* reluctant to trust too much of my personal data to them. If I'm going to hire a server, I want a contract which makes *VERY* clear exactly what their obligations are in terms of protecting my bytes both from loss and from abuse, written in a way that preserves those protections even should they go through a takeover, bankruptcy, etc., and that makes them clearly liable for losses should that protection fail. Or should my data be unavailable for an extended period due to communications outages that could reasonably be routed around.
Not everything requires this kind of protection. My website, right now, is pretty darned disposable and there's nothing on it that I would mind someone (ahem) borrowing. But sometimes paranoia is insufficient...
I'm in web analytics and spend most of my time buried in Office. I upgraded to 2007 about 6 months ago. I love it all really, including Word. Myself and my coworkers who've tried the Google cloud gave up on it soon after. Word's stumbling block (especially '07) is that learning to use it well is like learning a foreign language by simply moving to another country.
Until I see something REALLY good, I won't switch from Word.
The new version of Pages, with it's full screen mode, has started to wean me off of BBedit. I've used Word a lot in my time, including the text-only Word for the PC that came before Word for Windows: it's just never hit me as a good tool for writing anything outside a typical office memo.
I too miss WordPerfect ...
Having said that, starting off a post about someone's usage of Google Docs that's tangenitally related to MSWord by stating that Word sucks is bad form. Is it really necessary to blather on about how much Word sucks when you're essentially advertising for Google Docs, or are you one of the people who think the I'm a Mac ads aren't annoying and stupid?
If I didn't use Office 2007, I'd use OpenOffice or similar (which I have done before - it's decent enough) before I used an online editor. I refuse to commit my ability to work on something to the vagrancies of an Internet connection, as I cannot guarantee connectivity every time I need to work. If you can, GREAT! but your ability to use the cloud doesn't immediately invalidate home-based solutions.
It looks like you're writing a break-up note. Would you like some help?
I dunno. I use openoffice these days, because i can still save in a format (word = useless .doc) that my dad can read. My problems with word started when it started deciding for me what was and wasn't what i wanted. If i want you to change something, word, i'll tell you. I'm still distrustful of cloud computing... maybe it's my old-world "i want it on -my- computer" ways, but i still like the idea that my data is primarily housed on a machine that i have the power to screw up. thoughts?
@Joel Johnson - Because you get so many requests for word docs, sometimes even with specific formatting. And lot of times people you're collaborating with want changes tracked. That's the last thing that keeps me from jumping completely to Google Docs. I sometimes start out in a simple text editor and then swap over to Word.
@ZekeSulastin - Well, you can also just save the document locally each time you finish working on it.
It's a fair question as to why I prefer Google Docs to other apps, and the answer is because of the browser. I love BBEdit (I have the t-shirt!) I'm a fan of OpenOffice, and Star Office, and Pages. But I typically have my browser running all the time, and often it's work related. Working in Google Docs lets me switch tabs between my document and an email, or a web page where I'm researching something. It's one less thing to switch. I don't have to fire up another app, or leave it running. That's nice. I feel like it makes me more productive.
@technogeek I think the above explains (to me, at least) why browser-based cloud computing apps are popular: it's right there in an app you're already running. It's all about conserving keystrokes. How can we cut down on global warming if we keep using all these extra keystrokes?
@oohShiny I saw your comment just after I clicked on Post. It doesn't have to be an either /or choice, that's the thing. You can keep data both places.
Work globally, save locally.
I use Google Docs for most of my writing, which consists of minimally formatted notes to myself on various subjects I'm researching or working on.
I use WordPad for the same purpose when I can't access the cloud.
I use OpenOffice when I need to do precisely formatted word processing (business letters, etc.) at home.
I use Word 2007 (to which everyone at my office was recently, forcibly, traumatically "upgraded") when I need to do precisely formatted word processing at the office...
...Except when working on the job-related stuff that HAS to be done in WordPerfect 11, due to the bizarre, archaic workflow at my company.
Depressing: having to choose between 2 Big Brothers (the bad kind).
LaTeX is the way and the light, Jesnow; and Bibdesk, a GUI for its bibliography format, interops with ISI/Web and with the medical databases, etc. What's up with that 'works across platforms except for linux'? There's no way Word works on more platforms than LaTeX does. If you like GUI platforms, there are LaTeX front-ends in several styles to suit your tastes.
Diffing text files is more useful than Track Changes, because I can compare three files, so I can send to two reviewers at once or keep working on something and not lose changes when I get an edited copy back. Boy, I wish my current lab wasn't afraid of visible formatting codes.
(I can't find a prettied-up diff reader, one meant for text files not code. Too hard? Market hollowed out by Word? I just didn't find it? What?)
Is Word no longer the resource hog it used to be, so that a quick fact-check in any browser is a horrific chore with it running?
I once heard Word described as "the crack cocaine of the software sector". It can be really hard to get office workers to use anything else.
Word tries to be a DTP package as well as a word processor, which makes it really hard to get teams to use styles, headings and other markup in any consistent way.
Pity the poor old Technical Author/Writer who has to create a 500 page manual. Given a choice, they would use FrameMaker or a Help Authoring Tool that can also create print copies. Unfortunately they are often stuck with Microsoft Word.
The cloud.
Is webmail now also "cloudmail?"
- Hey could you send me that document?
- Sure, let me just mail it through the cloud.
Web-based games, now cloud-gaming?
- Check out the high score I got, it's saved in the cloud.
(Note that Valve has Steam Cloud, saves your config to "the cloud")
Let's see where we can go with this.
Are websites now stored on and served from "the cloud?"
Blogs are now newsposts in the cloud?
I understand that storing stuff on a server sounds boring and very web1.0. I also understand that besides sounding hot, it helps people visualise something they don't understand.
The disappointment sets in when we're among people who do understand and still use the meme.
"Cloud" computing has been here for ages and there haven't been any major recent changes either. It's just a silly name.
@27 Noone wants to say "Thin Client" otherwise the magic pixie dust would blow away and we'd remember that a large percentage of users don't have broadband access.
As a writer I love using Word 2007. I don't usually need all of the bells and whistles, but if for some reason I do need them they are there.
Word USED to be good - right up until version 5.1 - for those who remember. Then it went loony. As it is now, it's a kind of Barry Manilow in software - you know - designed by a committee.
It is sheer crap.
Unfortunately I have to use if for some docs.
John Davis
i hate all software that tries to second guess me. hate it with a passion.
DAMMIT WORD! STOP SPLITTING UP MY NICE TABLES OVER 2 PAGES YOU SHIT!
Most of my writing is in plain text, with minor LaTeX styling. That lets me use Git or Subversion or what have you with it, but doesn't force me to spend more on formatting than I want to.
I've moved 99% of all my writing to gDocs, which includes one book (available at your favorite book retailer), a dozen or so articles for blogs and magazines across the library bibliosphere, and a ton of collaborative work on other sorts of docs.
I'm a complete nut for gDocs. BUT! It's not for presentation, just for pouring the words out. Unfortunately, most editors still seem to want a Word doc at the end of the day. Given my druthers, I'd save from gDocs into laTex, and style from there. But for simply pouring words out, it's by far my favorite tool right now.
Long Live .txt!
johninsapporo, oh man you're not kidding. I dug out an old Pentium 200 a few years back - long after it was seriously obsolete for daily use. I put a new install of Win95 and Office 95 on it. Not only did it boot faster than my dual-core machine, Word would load so fast that I swear it was ready before my finger had finished the upswing from having clicked on the Word icon. It was stunningly fast.
But it was missing so many features .. I could feel the siren call of format painter luring me away.
I gave the machine to a friend who used it for a while. It's amazing how well an old computer can work if you leave it off the 'net. But once she got an internet connection? Bam! useless. Lousy with spyware and viruses.
Point being, Word 95 was still really light and really fast. What happened?!
@ people using Scivener -- It's Mac only. Is there a similar app for Windows that is comparable and recommended?
I use what they pay me to use. Usually it's FrameMaker, often it's Word. I had to use Publisher for a while, and got better at it than I should admit.
I gave up on Word a while ago, and have settled on Pages for now. When Pages first came out it was trying too hard to be word processor and page layout all at the same time - jack of all, master of none sort of situation. It still has some decent page layout capabilities - not InDesign by any means, but can bang out a pamphlet if you're pressed for time. But the recent versions (I'm still on '08) have much more capable word processing features that actually let me get work done without fumbling about.
I've tried OpenOffice, and I think I'd rather run Word... Fails miserably on the interface front, in my opinion... I hate software that feels so utterly detached from the system I'm working on.
Which brings me to gDocs... There's a lot to be said for having everything stored on a server, accessible anywhere, but these web apps are UI trouble as well, in my opinion. Google has done a lot to make their apps friendly, with good kb shortcuts and all, and since I'm running in Safari at least I'm using Cocoa text widgets so I have the OS X inbuilt spell-check and dictionary access... I use gDocs right now for things that I need to be able to share with my business partner and have access to our changes at all times... But for my own work, it still just feels too much like an extra layer...
The great thing about Word is that it is hideously confusing and clunky to use if you are not adept at software in general.
Where I work, that's basically job security: Get rid of me and no one will be able to produce complex documents any more. Thanks, Microsoft!
Once, I received a document from someone new in my office who actually knew how to use Word properly: i.e., they didn't have hard returns between their paragraphs because they used the paragraph formatting. I had to break their formats and dumb the whole document down so that it wouldn't cause chaos and confusion as it worked its way through the various departments.
The lesson here: If you use Word correctly, you are doing it wrong.
Ahhh... the opportunity to say how much I loathe Word!
I vaguely remember using WordPerfect, after a couple of us in the office were formally told that we sold, installed and supported WordPerfect, and no, we were not permitted to us vi for company correspondence!
Then Word...
Can you do a letter head with a left-flush and a right-flush on the same line? Very easy in WP, and I'm thinking back to 5.something on a dumb terminal. Word?
That's enough... I start ranting in a minute.
I use Evernote these days for most writing-writing. I move to OpenOffice when I need to start seriously formatting. I've never really used Word except to prove that I could.
I used Google Docs for a while, but it kept making a mess of my paragraphing and formatting. Evernote lets you access your documents in a similar way, but has its own client and just feels a little easier. Formatting is very basic but it's great for the early stages.
WordPerfect was my word processor of choice for years, but the last version I bought (2002) crashed constantly even with patches, and eventually I gave up on it. (Still enjoying the kajillion fonts it came with.)
@5:
Ugh, Endnote sucks. It sucks almost as much as Word does. I much prefer the free (well, at least to me through my university, which I suspect is the case for most research institutions worth their salt) RefWorks.
having learned how to do everything in word 2003 they decide to completely change the interface and now i dont know how to do all the simple things that took me forever to learn in 2003.
Who is running this part of the company? why do they have to make everything more difficult than it has to be?
if it wasnt for endnote id get rid of it completely.
May I say a good word for Bean for Mac OSX? It's like TextEdit with a judicious addition of features and GUI ease. It has a ruler and live word count, and it's fast as heck -- and also useful for my visually-impaired writer friend.
Wow, the emacs/vi wars never ended...
Switching from MSWord to Goo-Docs seems like jumping out of the fire and into the pan. No huge improvement there.
Why not use open source?
'Software of the people, by the people, for the people, shall not perish from the Earth.'
A small plug for Textpad:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Textpad
I use it for almost all of my internal documents. Of course everything gets converted to Word as soon as I have to e-mail anything to a "civilian".
I do not need 40 tons of features in a WP package. I gave up on Word and now use Jarte. Free, Word compatible (to most levels), and uses WordPad as its base.
www.jarte.com
@43: EndNote is horrible for cataloguing papers but works well for citation management. I use Papers to catalogue my papers -- it's iTunes for papers, what EndNote should be but isn't. I just wish Papers did the citation management part.
I use Pages for most personal word processing. I prefer LaTeX for writing papers that include equations -- LaTeX is annoying but considerably less annoying than Equation Editor. (I think heavy formatting is annoying to do, no matter what. Doing it in Word is so annoying that it makes you want to jump out a window. With LaTeX you just cuss a little.)
I used OpenOffice throughout college. It's an okay substitute for Word, but was big and slow. The only real advantages it had were 1) being free (a deciding factor when you're a college student) and 2) exporting PDFs (handy, since I lived in a WIndows world where you otherwise couldn't without shelling out $). Otherwise it was a bigger, slower, carbon copy of Word and all of its bad design decisions.
When Office XP turned anti-user on me and tried to lock me out of my own documents for the crime of upgrading my RAM, I called shenanigans, defected to a highly configurable version of Notepad and never looked back.
Can you still read Word docs that were created 20 years ago? I regularly read and fiddle with text files created in the 1970's, with no problems whatsoever. The minor differences in end-of-line markers are easy to fix, and even without fixes, the text files are still legible.
Word?
I wouldn't touch it with yours.
I love Office 2007, including Word. That is all.
If I ever meet someone involved with developing any of the chart/table/image functions in Word, I'm going to punch them right in the throat. It probably won't even be the first time this has happened to them.
"It looks like you are writing an anti-Microsoft diatribe. Would you like some help?"
Smile. Cloud = mainframe. Yes, they can be useful. Does Google offer a greenscreen theme for Docs?
LaTeX user here. For the above poster who can't find a pretty diff, try DiffMerge on Mac OS X or just use diff -y instead of diff at the command line.
To fan any vi/emacs embers still burning, let me say Vim!
I used Microsoft Word because I needed it for Endnote. However, I have found a fantastic piece of reference software - Zotero. Its a free Firefox plugin, has much better internet integration than Endnote, plus you can use it with Word or Open Office Writer. If you are looking for reference software, check out Zotero.
Be a REAL writer and start using Framemaker! It's like driving a Hummer, while using Microsoft Word is like driving a scooter. Sure, it's fun and relatively simple, but when the weather changes, or you need to haul big loads, nothing beats Framemaker.
The word grinding app you choose will often be dictated by the sort of writing you do. There simply isn't One Word To Rule them all.
For example, I'm not sure how many folks would bother writing scholarly papers in Word once they find Mellel and other more appropriate tools that understand bibliographies and other important stuff.
Me, I'm a text editor guy. Vim on Windows and TextMate on OS X. If I need RTF for formatting I'll just use TextEdit.
Now, a human markup editor with plain markup in one panel, and the resulting HTML, XML, RTF, or Whatever in another panel *might* be the dream app for me.
I loved the old WordPerfect 5.1 showcodes view.
Perhaps a real writer just uses what they like, and not what is a Hummer or what is this or that. If you are creative and productive on an IBM Selectric, then for God's sake, use it. Who gives two shits about the logo on the box?
Open Office is free, works well, and runs on several platforms. You can download it for Windows, Mac, Linux, Solaris, and possibly other platforms by now. Microsoft Office documents can be opened by Open Office and the program can also save in Microsoft Office format as well.
Open Office includes equivalents to Word, Excel, Powerpoint etc.
The link to get it is :
http://www.openoffice.org/
I say no thanks to Google Docs, other than for minor personal stuff. I just can't get comfortable with my client's private documents just "out there." Am I thinking about this wrong? Also, what is so great about these other applications?
Yes, Word is bloated, but it does just what I want. What am I missing? For background, I started word processing with Bank Street Writer for my Commodore 64. I've used Worperfect extensively. Also have tried Open Office (linux and mac) and Google Docs. If there were a compelling reason to switch I would. But Google Docs keeps frustrating me with lack of features I have in my already-paid-for Word.
All my professional writing is very math intensive, so its LaTeX all the way for me. I only use Word to open other people's documents.
I will fully admit that LaTeX is only a realistic option for a small group of people with specific needs.
I totally understand if people would choose not to live a life of loading packages into your document preamble and writing things out like, $\sum_{t=0}^\infty$. I am glad to see people promoting it here, but unless you're doing some serious mathematical/academic writing, its not an ideal choice. But, if you are, take the time to learn LaTeX.
Best text editer I ever used was SuddenView on the Atari ST.. Windows/Mac/Linux world has still not caught up to it.
(SPOKEN ANGRILY:) Sometimes, colon-close paragraph is just a way to indicate directions, and NOT an emoticon. Got that?!?!
One important note re:OpenOffice.org: For the mac, NeoOffice is an open source alternative version with the same features and full compatibiity, but a much nicer interface and it's native to OSX, so you don't have to deal with the nuisance of X11.
I've been using it for the last few months for a really major and complicated project, and I'm as happy as a clam. Highly recommended.
If only it had "reveal codes," it'd be perfect... (Longtime WordPerfect supporter I am, as well.)
Like many others, I am habituated to Word. Like many others, I deal with a vast majority of documents produced with Word. While I have major beefs with many Microsoft products, I would like to make a couple of points: having produced my first works on a typewriter, and having had my mind blown by what I could do with the paleolithic word processing program Sprint, I think it's absolutely awesome that we are having discussions like this and that we have the choices we do today. So, let's get down and dirty about who or what sucks more but let's remember the way back when this topic used to be the exclusive domain of highly imaginative people (such as Mr. Doctorow).
(Also, for the cloud folk, do you ever hesitate to put your nascent, ground-breaking ideas up into the ether? Even if you're a CC-type like me?)
Word 2007 is awesome for research papers. Anything that makes my Bibliography for me is okay by me.
@#64: You know, it took me a little while to feel OK with putting my ideas into Google Docs. But the advantages of being able to access and edit all my notes and research from both home and office quickly won me over. Now I'm a true believer.
And the truth is that there's very little information in there that Google or anyone else could make much mischief with.
OpenOffice no longer sucks in OSX? It seems only yesterday that it did. I guess I'll swallow my bitterness and give it a shot again.
LaTeX is certainly good, as is Vim, if you can handle the interface, but my all-time favorite word processor is still WordPerfect 5.1, and when it was king, every serious writer I knew was using it, happily. Then came the primacy of the GUI and almost grudging acceptance of Word when WordPerfect's graphical interpretation turned out to be not so intuitive. Although I retained my secret love and still get out 5.1 when I want to write in an unfettered manner.
But after reading this... I will have to try Google. I use it already for lists, never considered it for hardcore use. But now I will.
Has Google Docs increased their maximum size per document? I uploaded a 150-200 page Word document, and received messages that the file was too large for Google Docs.
I'd love to write a novel in Google Docs, but not if it's going to flake out and loose data.
I was a XyWrite III user back in the day. But, of course, everything got swallowed up by Word as time went on. Word 2007 and its "helpful" ribbon bar just makes me want to stick red hot forks in my eyes and twist. Slowly. Glad to hear that Google Docs is making progress.
Sadly, since I work for CodeWeavers, and we advocate running MS Office products on your Linux or Mac PC, well, guess who gets to eat all the MS dog food? That's right. Hey, so it goes: it's a great company to work for and we have kind of a cool product. And I was basically fine with running Word up through Word 2003. But Word 2007, honest to Christ, no invective is dire enough to describe it.
Thanks, also, to prior posters for the mention of CrossOver--we appreciate it.
Best Wishes,
-jon parshall-
COO
www.codeweavers.com