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

[Richard Chirgwin]

Roger Clarke wrote:
> Microsoft Word, RIP: 1983 - 2009
> By Jeremy Reimer
> Last updated August 2, 2009 11:04 PM CT
>
> 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.
>
> http://arstechnica.com/microsoft/news/2009/08/microsoft-word-1983---2009-rest-in-peace.ars/2
>
> Go into any office today and you'll find people using Word to write 
> documents. Some people still print them out and file them in big 
> metal cabinets to be lost forever, but again this is simply an old 
> habit, like a phantom itch on a severed limb. Instead of printing 
> them, most people will email them to their boss or another coworker, 
> who is then expected to download the email attachment and edit the 
> document, then return it to them in the same manner. At some point 
> the document is considered "finished", at which point it gets dropped 
> off on a network share somewhere and is then summarily forgotten.
>
> People keep doing this, but it is an astoundingly awful way to work. 
> Here are just a few of the problems:
>
> ...
>
>   
Pretty much all that someone has to do to undermine their own argument 
is to present themselves, and their experience, as the perfect 
representative template for all users. Ecco homo ...

RC