July 2007 Poll Results

Some of the most frequently asked questions on the PEN e-mail loop are about Microsoft Word, from formatting problems to overall difficulty in navigating the application's layered interface. In conjunction with research we conducted for the September issue of PEN Points, our quarterly newsletter, we asked people their opinion of next gen alternatives to Word. In response to the question "Is your workflow frequently interrupted by Word technical issues or other difficulties?" voters responded as follows: 9 percent of respondents think the difficulties are a constant drain on their productivity. 55 percent claimed that technical issues were an occasional problem but not a daily concern. 27 percent said their workflow is rarely interrupted. 9 percent said they experienced no difficulties. Regarding our followup question "If a next gen writing/editing application-such as Google Docs-becomes more mainstream, how likely are you to use it?" the response was overwhelmingly one-sided: 9 percent of respondents claimed they stay up with the latest technology and have already tested at least one of the next-gen alternatives to Word. 9 percent intend to master new technology as soon as it starts catching on, as a matter of course. 9 percent said they would try anything that's more streamlined and user-friendly than Microsoft Word. 73 percent intend to master new software if it becomes mainstream, but would rather the industry standard remain Word. No respondents claimed they would hang on to Word until it was pried from their cold dead fingers. Most respondents did not provide additional comments. Of those who did, many seemed unaware that Google and other developers were creating software intended to compete with Microsoft. Several respondents seemed rather passionate about their opinion. For example, one anoymous respondent wrote: I hate Word. It's stolen technology from the get-go as is Windows. Another anoymous writer said: I suppose I would consider it IF it could convert Word docs into its format, and then convert it back to send to the client. (Am I dreaming?) I can't imagine an application that would replace Word ... especially with its functionality within MS Office. Another wrote: I'm from the Smith-Corona Cartridge Typewriter days. I hate changing anything that works. I came to MS Word only recently because it seemed to be the industry standard for submissions and document transfer. I'd really hate to have to go into the learning curve again. I've got better things to do with my time. A couple of our respondents mentioned a preference for Wordperfect, which is noteworthy because Wordperfect was not mentioned anywhere within the poll text. One writer said: I was a Wordperfect fan, but the educational systems and the state offices got a price break on Microsoft products, so I switched to Word and MS Office because it was hard to transfer documents from Wordperfect to Word. Even with college professors pleading with administration to stay with Wordperfect, the administration still chose to buy Word. I still like Wordperfect better, but I use Word because it still is the standard for most large organizations. I can't honestly say I know what all the differences between Word and Wordperfect are, but I do know that, whenever I would have a problem in Wordperfect, it was always fairly easy to solve it by going to Reveal Codes. One difference that comes in handy in recent versions of Wordperfect is the conversion to PDF feature. I don't think newer versions of Word have that. Another wrote: My preference ALWAYS is WordPerfect. It's a much more powerful word processor and is an industry standard with many attorneys. The later versions can also interface with Microsoft products very well. I have WP11 so I don't interface all that well with Word, but if I'm creating a document I do it in WP then convert to Word if I have to send it somewhere. Microsoft Word does, however, have its fans. PEN member and respected Internet writing and editing specialist MeLissa Houdman wrote: I've really enjoyed Word 2007. I think it is user-friendly once you learn the differences between the new version and older ones. PEN member Susan Lohrer, who specializes in substantive editing of inspirational romance and women's fiction, commented: Until a broad variety of writing and editing programs are fully compatible with one another, I don't foresee the majority of writers and editors leaving Word for greener pastures. As a community, we need to work together, often under tight deadlines. The one time I used an alternate program (my regular computer was in the middle of an upgrade) was a disaster, and after sending the client several unreadable files, I ended up pasting her work into an e-mail message with the edits [IN CAPS AND SQUARE BRACKETS]. Yuck, right? I'm sure that wouldn't happen to everyone, but I would much rather use a program I know won't cause inconvenience for me or my clients. Perhaps an anoymous respondent summed up the poll results best when he or she wrote: I find Word works better than anything else I've used ... but then I haven't tried anything else in about a decade. [This] applies to just about any new technology; if it takes more than five minutes to learn, I'll put off "updating" until the only alternative is to regress to the typewriter! Based on the overwhelming response to our second poll question, most respondents did seem to agree. 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