Amen! I started using WordPerfect in the early 1980s. Randy Barnett has it exactly right that the only advantage of Word is the Track Changes feature ... and the fact that almost everyone else uses it. The network effects issue often can be overcome with pdf, but not with co-authors who have gone over to the dark side.

I used to use WordPerfect exclusively until I discovered OpenOffice. However, I stopped using OpenOffice after about one semester into law school. Even though OpenOffice can read Word .doc files, sometimes it does not render them correctly. (Does WordPerfect render perfect Word documents, nowadays?) I found that Word was necessary just to read the documents that professors would email to students, etc. Also, colloboration was more difficult without Word. So, I relented and bought M$ Word.

Although this is divergent, companies that refuse to use open standards for something like a digital document drive me insane. I applaud efforts to create and proliferate open document standards, like here.

Maybe I spoke to soon 'bout OpenOffice, this claims that OpenOffice opens word documents flawlessly. (However, I don't trust Wired, they sensationalize way to much!)

I have several iterations of Word, Wordperfect and mow OpenOffice, as well as quite a few other niche word processors (I consult/troubleshoot/train a disparate array of small businesses and organizations, so I need to be familoiar with what they use).

Early iterations of OpenOffice did indeed have quite some few problems opening some complex Word documents. The issues were largely due to MS attempts to lock some feature sets out of cross-platform and cross-application use, though, I feel. The current iteration of OpenOffice has opened and parsed every office suite document I've thrown at it. That doesn't say it _will_ open and correctly parse them all, but I've thrown a large number of documents from other apps in the hopper and gotten good results.

Is any one word processor or office suite better than the others. No. Each serves particular situations and individual users with slightly different feature sets and usability experiences. All of them handle what most folks need with no prolem, and all the major word processing apps will handle any word processing task needed. Yes, they often do things differently. but different does not necessariloy mean better. What is "better" to one user is "nusable" for another. It's the very, very rare application that stands head and shoulders above all others in its field for usability and functionality... and that'ssually only for a short time in those rare cases where it happens.

Choosing between MS Word and Wordperfect _today_ is an example of a choice that makes a difference only on the level of personal taste.

I have an elderly aunt who uses wordperfect. She has typed a list of friends with whom she plays bridge. Using wordperfect, how does she alphabetize the list?