Review of Word Processors
DonationCoder.com has just published the first part of a three-part review of word processors. Part one covers the three “major word processors” in detail (OpenOffice.org / StarOffice, Microsoft Word 2007, and Corel WordPerfect X3).
The next part will cover a crop of good word processor alternatives that aren’t as well-known, and the third part of the series will cover the new category of online word processors that are getting a lot of attention now.
For today’s part, author Zaine Ridling sums up:
“Throughout 2006, I worked directly with a dozen businesses who tested Office 2007. Not a single one said they would upgrade to it. Does that surprise you? The general feeling was that Word 2007 had become a desktop publishing app, with so many features that they found their people wasting a lot of time with the new interface, unable to find their familiar features, despite what Microsoft has marketed to them about the new user interface (UI). Five of those twelve businesses made plans to switch to OpenOffice.org over the next year, while the remainder will stick with their current version of Microsoft Office (2000-2003 versions). There are more than enough reasons to use Microsoft Word, but fortunately, there are more than several great choices among word processors now.
Thus this review won’t champion a “winner,” because most of the word processors reviewed were either good or very good. With so many good choices in the word processor category, it’s impossible to say someone shouldn’t use something like TextMaker or Atlantis if they like it, are productive with it, and it suits their needs. And debates between Word and OpenOffice.org often come down to cost and control in the end for businesses; personal preference for individuals.”