Comments for Poll: What Tool Do You Use For Word Processing?

Poll: What Tool Do You Use For Word Processing?

2007-08-27T08:27:13Z

This poll is about the Web Office, our feature this week. We're looking to find out your current word processing habits - have they changed much now that online word processing is an option? Not wanting to sway the poll results, but currently I use browser-based word processors much more than desktop ones. I find it very handy to type in the browser and share documents with my workmates and others. How about you? Please participate in the poll below:

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Comment from Tara on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T09:25:20Z

I clicked on the Take Our Poll link (http://www.polldaddy.com/poll.asp?p=94752) directly from my RSS feed. When I cast my vote, I received the following error:

Microsoft OLE DB Provider for ODBC Drivers error '80004005'
[Microsoft][ODBC SQL Server Driver][SQL Server]Cannot open database "PollDaddy_data" requested by the login. The login failed.
/voteView.asp, line 48

Comment from Josh on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T09:40:29Z

I use Scrivener for the mac. Excellent for storyboarding a large work.

Comment from Daniel Sherson on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T10:28:39Z

I use writeroom for mac. I get distracted easily especially when writing. It's good. most of my writing is really done in dreamweaver or smultron. and adium. and gmail. and blog comments. but those aren't reeeeeallly writing. so yeah.

Comment from Girish Kulkarni on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T10:29:24Z

I use OpenOffice or Google Docs for quick word processing. But for producing documents that matter I prefer LaTeX (Emacs for typing). I don't quite know if it is correct to say that LaTeX is a word processor. But it produces documents of the highest quality.

Comment from Tech Thoughts on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T11:21:53Z

Can't think anything other than MS Word. It's the best word processor :)

http://mgopinath.blogspot.com

Comment from Andrew on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T11:23:21Z

I tend to use Google Docs in the earlier stages. I then switch to Word. So I'm not sure how best to respond to the single-choice poll.

Comment from Brian on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T11:26:49Z

Pages, and all of iWork, is now my word processor of choice, along with the other apps. I have Office 04 for Mac but seldom use it unless I get something really strange that just will not open any other way.

Comment from john on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T11:30:28Z

i use Neo office (open office for Mac)

Comment from Christian Decker on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T12:12:37Z

What about Latex? Working in an academic environment it is almost enforced on us, but it's really good and still the best way to write professional documents.

Comment from bcarrera on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T12:15:26Z

Zoho because I like the facebook app that goes with it.

Comment from Eric on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T13:12:10Z

Google Docs for the bulk of it, then I drop it into Word for formatting, if necessary.

Comment from Todd on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T13:15:51Z

Google Docs - easy, fast, free and exports to .doc and .pdf.

I abandon Office in 2003. Yahoo Mail, Google Docs and my RAZR are all I need.

Comment from tim finin on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T13:22:43Z

Systems like Word are fine for simple documents, like letters. For anything more complicated, like a proposal or an article, I find that Latex is still the best. This is surprising, since it has not changed all that much in the past 25 years.

Comment from David Parry on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T13:38:40Z

I use Mellel, takes some getting used to, but once you start there is no going back. Word Processing done right.

Comment from Nate Westheimer on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T14:25:50Z

I've recently switched to Google Docs and it's changed my life.

Comment from Eric on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T14:42:40Z

I too am using Pages and the rest of the iWork '08 suite. Fantastic product.

Numbers is AMAZING!

Comment from Ioannus de Verani on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T15:47:53Z

I use LaTeX for really large things, but for simpler stuff, I am now tending to use the online flash-based Buzzword from Virtual Ubiquity (see my blog for invites). Buzzword and LaTeX are both great solutions for different needs.

I also have Office 2007, which I love; but lately, I have been needing to use it less because of Buzzword. Also, I can't get over how poorly it renders fonts compared to Mac and Buzzword after I got a ton of fancy Adobe fonts on my machine.

Comment from Terrence on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T16:51:38Z

I'm a bit of a software whore, I use a myriad of different apps depending on the situation... I do most of my writing on Writer, an online clone of WriteRoom, or if I'm offline (which is rare) JDarkRoom a cross platform Java based version. I occasionally use Google Docs, but I find that it's often either too much or not enough for most tasks. If I need a more powerful word processor, I use either Open Office when in Ubuntu (which I usually am) or Word 2007 for those rare times I'm in Windows. Though I will say I am a big fan of Office 2007.

Comment from David on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T17:07:16Z

WIth the improvements in the new Pages (iWork 08), I now use it as my default Word processor for daily tasks. When I need to knock out a lot of concentrated writing, I use Writeroom for Mac OS.

Comment from Steven on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T18:21:14Z

It depends on what I'm doing. For quick and straight forward docs, I will use Pages on the mac. For more complicated (formatting) docs I'll use MS word. For to-do lists or temporary notes I just use textedit (mac) or notepad (pc). I also have a few good apps for writing on the mac: Avenir, Scrivener, Copywrite.

Comment from Kelli on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T18:55:43Z

Hmmmm. For me, the answer to this depends largely on where I'm at. At home, on my desktop, and at work, I use MS Word primarily. I'm not a huge MS fan, but I still think it's a bit cleaner than many of the open source/free alternatives. However, I also have a laptop running a lightweight Linux distro that I frequently use for writing (that's about all I use it for) and I have Abi Word on it. OpenOffice is a bit bulky for an old laptop, when all I need is the word processor, though I do slightly prefer it. I also quite often just write rough drafts of things in my favorite text editor-- Crimson Editor, and then I'll pull it into a word processor for final formatting and spell checking.

Comment from Dan Grossman on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T19:00:43Z

MS Word. It's ubiquitous. Everyone has it and everyone can read/write its files. At every job, it's been preinstalled on the computers. At school, every new student is given a copy of Office when they arrive, and existing students can download Office 2007 from the university's website.

Comment from Joe Flood on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T20:34:14Z

Didn't really think about it until this poll but I use multiple tools for word processing. At work, I use Word supplemented by TextEdit. At home, I use Scrivener, TextEdit, Google Docs and have been experimenting with Pages. TextEdit is good for short pieces, like something you're just going to paste into an email message or a web page. Google Docs I use for things I want access to at work. Pages makes everything look pretty. And Scrivener is perfect for longer, more complex pieces, like the novel I'm working on.

Comment from Literanista on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T20:57:16Z

I use Google Docs and MS Word

Comment from Joe Flood on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T21:12:22Z

Comment from ayo on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T21:52:27Z

abiword!
It does all I need to do - and compatibility isnt a big issue

Comment from kamla bhatt on 2007-08-27

2007-08-27T22:35:25Z

I find that my dependence on word processing tools has declined considerably in the last couple of years. I now use a blogging software to write my blog posts and type my emails in draft form, tweak it for errors and then hit the send button. For my other needs I tend to use Notepad.

I did experiement with Star Office for a while, but recently switched back to that ubiquitous tool called Microsoft's Word. I switched because I was having trouble reading all those MS-Word attachements or people wanting the attachment in a Word format.

kamla

Comment from tim wieringa on 2007-08-27

2007-08-28T02:17:23Z

I am actually using a lot 'Pages' (Mac iWorks '08). just for the sake of formatting. for collaboration and drafts I rely on Google Docs

Comment from Steven Finch on 2007-08-28

2007-08-28T12:09:41Z

I hate to say it but i will most probably always stay with any microsoft office application. I have grown up with it .. and it is just very hard to change. Plus it is just used by everyone

Comment from vabhe on 2007-08-28

2007-08-28T13:09:26Z

NeoOffice (mac OO.o) & Google docs (for the precious collaboration feaure)

Waiting for the openoffice tool for online collaboration...

Comment from John on 2007-08-28

2007-08-29T00:30:50Z

I have shifted all my word processing to Buzzword (getbuzzword.com)a new invite only beta online word processor. For everything else I tend to use microsoft office

Comment from Aryan on 2007-08-29

2007-08-29T07:15:17Z

I use MS word,tried Google docs,but didnt like it.

Comment from solong on 2007-08-29

2007-08-29T15:48:57Z

Apple iWork

Comment from Gary McCurry on 2007-08-31

2007-08-31T13:28:19Z

I like these type polls. Why? They are just like reading software reviews you always learn about at least one good program that you had never heard of:) If it's a serious document I use MS Word but otherwise I like the ones online like Zoho, Google, etc.