[LINK] ArsT: 'Microsoft Word, RIP: 1983 - 2009'

[Ivan Trundle]

On 03/08/2009, at 9:48 PM, Roger Clarke wrote:

> Ars writer Jeremy Reimer contemplates the life and times of Microsoft
> Word, the reasons it has endured for so long, and its (lack of?)
> prospects in a post-print, wiki-based world.

I believe that his initial premise is faulty: that all documents  
require a level of collaboration best achieved through a wiki, and  
that the final documents are shared amongst a number of people. This  
is one function of Word that has its drawbacks, but it's not the  
reason for Word to die.

I agree with much of what he said, and I actually wince whenever  
anyone sends me an attachment which could easily have been embedded as  
plain text in an e-mail. Some people have a penchant for bullet  
points, headings, tabs, and the joys of document dressing up (and  
generally do it badly, without any reference to the very powerful  
stylesheet functions built into all word processors, including Word).

I do not agree that Wikis are the Nirvana that all people are seeking:  
and yet I work in an environment where collaborative text work is my  
bread and butter (and pays my wage). The entire workflow process of  
wikis is far too democratic, which means that a lot of work is spent  
sifting through disjointed thoughts and unstructured thinking (or work  
from multiple sources which each has a different focus).

There are many times when democracy in writing is an asset, especially  
on well-focussed material that requires what I would otherwise refer  
to as 'documentation'. But there are as many times and more when the  
authorship is more important, and the process of writing becomes  
iterative but autocratic.

Different strokes for different folks: but it really does depend on  
what process is preferred, what output and readership is sought - Word  
offers a solution for many people which I believe will continue as  
long as people wish to write. But wikis will have their place too.

How else would a novelist write anything? (Declaration 1: as much as I  
loathe Word, I have in the past written a 65,000-word book with the  
infernal software. Declaration 2: you'd have to drag me screaming and  
kicking to use it for most purposes, but I am yet to find an  
alternative that would work as well for the same number of words - as  
much as I have tried).

iT