MS Word - what a mickey mouse pile of sh!t.

[Guest]

I have never come across such an ill thought out, unintuitive or illogical
piece of software.

 

[Jay Freedman]

I have never come across such an ill thought out, unintuitive or
illogical piece of software.

Aw, c'mon... tell us what you really think!

What I really think is that you're a troll.

 

[Amedee Van Gasse]

David shared this with us in microsoft.public.word.newusers:

I have never come across such an ill thought out, unintuitive or
illogical piece of software.

Fortunately you have every right in the world to ignore it and use
something else.
Likewise people here have every right in the world to ignore *you* and
read something else.

G'day!

*plonk*

 

[Amedee Van Gasse]

Jay Freedman shared this with us in microsoft.public.word.newusers:

Aw, c'mon... tell us what you really think!

What I really think is that you're a troll.

So don't feed him!
(someone should put a sign here)

 

[TF]

Hear! Hear! PLONK.

--
Terry Farrell - Word MVP
http://word.mvps.org/

: David shared this with us in microsoft.public.word.newusers:
:
: > I have never come across such an ill thought out, unintuitive or
: > illogical piece of software.
:
: Fortunately you have every right in the world to ignore it and use
: something else.
: Likewise people here have every right in the world to ignore *you* and
: read something else.
:
: G'day!
:
: *plonk*
:
: --
: Amedee Van Gasse using XanaNews 1.17.1.2
: If it has an "X" in the name, it must be Linux?
: Please don't thank me in advance. Thank me afterwards if it works or
: hit me in the face if it doesn't. ;-)

 

[Guest]

Is there supposed to be a question in here somewhere??

 

[Debutante]

The loser oops I mean "user" took the time to find a Microsoft Newsgroup,
Subscribe, and post a thread about something he doesn't like.

No one talks to you much, huh? Wonder why?

Hmmm...

 

[RWN]

Gosh, shows you how much I know.
I thought it worked really well (mind you, I had to read the directions).

 

[Guest]

Yeah, I guess the millions of us that use and love (okay, maybe not *love*)
are wrong.

 

[Gordon]

Yeah, I guess the millions of us that use and love (okay, maybe not *love*)
are wrong.

Millions of you use it because you're not given any other choice.

--
Registered Linux User no 240308
Just waiting for Broadband to complete the conversion!(4 weeks and
counting!)
gordonATgbpcomputingDOTcoDOTuk
to email me remove the obvious!

 

[HT]

There are other choices, Corel Wordperfect, Firefox, Safari, Lotus Notes..

Is there a point in here?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I don't have to use Word, and in fact I moved to Word from other word
processing software (WordStar, XyWrite, WordPerfect). There are still some
features of those programs that I miss in Word. But by and large I feel I
understand the way Word works, and I'm comfortable with it. Most of the time
I just use it, some of the time I get frustrated with it, but more often I
am very pleased with it. I think most Word users have at best a love-hate
relationship with it, with love outweighing hate most of the time. I suspect
that's true with other programs as well (I certainly find it true of most of
the software I use--and not just software from Microsoft, either).

One of the things that most often makes the balance tip to the "love" side
for me is the extent to which Word can be customized to work the way I want.
I also love the fact that there is always uncharted territory to explore.
There are some features of Word that I may never need to use and
consequently never fully understand, but I am happy knowing that they are
there if I need them.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[Gordon]

There are other choices, Corel Wordperfect, Firefox, Safari, Lotus Notes..

Is there a point in here?

Yes. For some reason, it seems that most organisations have gone for MS
Office. Why, I'm not quite sure......so that's why most people don't
have a choice. Private individuals certainly have a choice, but I should
think they are far outnumbered by those who use Office at work.


--
Registered Linux User no 240308
Just waiting for Broadband to complete the conversion!(4 weeks and
counting!)
gordonATgbpcomputingDOTcoDOTuk
to email me remove the obvious!

 

[Amedee Van Gasse]

Suzanne S. Barnhill shared this with us in
microsoft.public.word.newusers:

One of the things that most often makes the balance tip to the "love"
side for me is the extent to which Word can be customized to work the
way I want.

Yeah kewl!
I like the fact that you can modify the source code, but also that you
can recompile it with optimization flags specific to your processor.
Ow...

ERROR!

Right, this is MSOffice@Windows, not OpenOffice@Gentoo
braino...

I also love the fact that there is always uncharted
territory to explore. There are some features of Word that I may
never need to use and consequently never fully understand, but I am
happy knowing that they are there if I need them.

OTOH, Gentoo has this system of USE-flags. Got a feature you don't
need? Don't use it! Need it later? Activate the flag and recompile!
Like this:
app-office/msoffice -VBA -WIZARD -SPELL

In theory, this would compile MS Office without VBA, that bloddy
stoopid paperclip, and spellling checker. (find the joke)

Of course, MS Office is NOT Open Source, so you could do this only in
Erehwon.

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi Amedee,

OTOH, Gentoo has this system of USE-flags. Got a feature you don't
need? Don't use it! Need it later? Activate the flag and recompile!
Like this:
app-office/msoffice -VBA -WIZARD -SPELL

In theory, this would compile MS Office without VBA, that bloddy
stoopid paperclip, and spellling checker. (find the joke)

Control Panel/Add-Remove Softare. Choose Office from the list. Click
Change. Find the options you want to enable/disable and set "Run from
my computer" or "Unavailable". OK. Comes to about the same amount of
work, I imagine...

Of course, MS Office is NOT Open Source

That's right, it's not. Advantages and disadvantages. Advantages?
Someone in this thread mentioned they couldn't understand why so many
companies choose/chose the MS product over others on the market. One
reason is standardization (definitely NOT provided by open source).
IT departments want to have *control* over what's installed, and when
people call in with problems, have an idea what it could be. When
Open Source involved, that's more of an issue. As is having some
assurance that the source of the program will still be around in a
few years.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow
question or reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[Greg]

Then my choices are work here with MSOffice or work someplace else.
There are always choices.

 

[Gordon]

Then my choices are work here with MSOffice or work someplace else.
There are always choices.

That's not really the point though is it? My thoughts were *why* Office
has become so widespread. Take the comparison between Office and
Smartsuite. I find (as an Advanced Excel user) that there are some
things that Excel does which 123 doesn't, and there are some things that
123 does that Excel doesn't. (The ability to email PART of a worksheet
directly from that worksheet springs to mind). I find Outlook is
exceptionally good in the corporate environment. Smartsuite doesn't have
an email client - perhaps that may be one of the reasons why office is
used rather than Smartsuite? I don't know. I also find that Word is one
of the most infuriating and illogical WP applications I have ever used!
Yes it's very clever if you need to produce fancy formatting and graphic
documents - most users just need to write letters and memos, and for
that Word is far to complex and complicated and does some of the most
irritating things imaginable. Example. You want to indent the first line
of a paragraph. Logical action, place the cursor at the beginning of the
line and press tab. In Word? Oh no! That indents the WHOLE paragraph!
And that's the DEFAULT setting! And then you try to get it back to where
it was in the first place. A real waste of time.

--
Registered Linux User no 240308
Just waiting for Broadband to complete the conversion!(4 weeks and
counting!)
gordonATgbpcomputingDOTcoDOTuk
to email me remove the obvious!

 

[Amedee Van Gasse]

Cindy M -WordMVP- shared this with us in
microsoft.public.word.newusers:

Hi Amedee,

That's right, it's not. Advantages and disadvantages. Advantages?
Someone in this thread mentioned they couldn't understand why so many
companies choose/chose the MS product over others on the market. One
reason is standardization (definitely NOT provided by open source).

May I mention LSB here?
http://www.linuxbase.org/

IT departments want to have control over what's installed, and when
people call in with problems, have an idea what it could be. When
Open Source involved, that's more of an issue.

You have a point there, however one might argue that some non-MS
systems give IT departments even more control and standardization. It
all depends how well it is implemented. I'm sure you'll agree on the
implementation argument.

As is having some assurance that the source of the program will still
be around in a few years.

I do not agree. (or: I don't understand your point of view)

Closed source software does NOT give you any assurance that the source
will be around when the company that developed it goes out of business.
I can name you dozens of excellent closed source programs that are lost
for humanity forever, because the makers stopped.
I know about escrow services, but these can be quite expensive, and the
escrow system only works if you registered the software before Bad
Things Happened.

Open Source software OTOH will always be available as source - why,
that's the very definition of Open Source. Your opinion seems to differ
so could you please explain?

 

[TF]

Example. You want to indent the first line
: of a paragraph. Logical action, place the cursor at the beginning of the
: line and press tab. In Word? Oh no! That indents the WHOLE paragraph!
: And that's the DEFAULT setting! And then you try to get it back to where
: it was in the first place. A real waste of time.


Gordon

What you have described above is NOT normal: it is because Normal Style has
been set to automatically update. If you use Format, Style and select
Normal, you will see an Automatically Update check box that should be
cleared.

What you say about just writting letters and memos is also nonsense. Just
writing a letter more than a couple of times means that you are constantly
typing in your address, entering the current date and a signature block,
etc. All these repetitive actions are wasting your precious time. Spend just
five minutes creating a personailised letter template and reap the rewards:
you will never have to add your address or the current date again.

Take some time and learn to use Word's powerful features: it will save you
loads of repetetive work and make your output consistent, error free and
faster.

 

[Gordon]

Example. You want to indent the first line
: of a paragraph. Logical action, place the cursor at the beginning of the
: line and press tab. In Word? Oh no! That indents the WHOLE paragraph!
: And that's the DEFAULT setting! And then you try to get it back to where
: it was in the first place. A real waste of time.


Gordon

What you have described above is NOT normal: it is because Normal Style has
been set to automatically update.
If you use Format, Style and select
Normal, you will see an Automatically Update check box that should be
cleared.

But that's just my point - that is the the *DEFAULT* setting - unless
you "undo" it, that's how Word is installed. At least with Office XP.
You shouldn't have to "undo" a function that isn't needed and causes a
lot of irritation - those who DO need it should be able to enable it,
not the other way around.

What you say about just writting letters and memos is also nonsense. Just
writing a letter more than a couple of times means that you are constantly
typing in your address, entering the current date and a signature block,
etc. All these repetitive actions are wasting your precious time. Spend just
five minutes creating a personailised letter template and reap the rewards:
you will never have to add your address or the current date again.

Take some time and learn to use Word's powerful features: it will save you
loads of repetetive work and make your output consistent, error free and
faster.

Don't quite know where you got that lot from in my post - I can't
see any mention of that! Of *course* I use templates etc,and have done
in all the WP apps I've ever used, my point was that Word does some very
illogical and unintuitive things which other WP apps do NOT - and the
"average" user (and by that I *don't* mean secretaries, I mean those
people to whom Word is not something that they use sufficiently
frequently to warrant advanced training in all it's functions) finds
these blips frustrating.

--
Registered Linux User no 240308
Just waiting for Broadband to complete the conversion!(4 weeks and
counting!)
gordonATgbpcomputingDOTcoDOTuk
to email me remove the obvious!