It is not as wonderful and perfect as everybody says it is. Clearly, its biggest appeal to most Linux Kiddiez is that it is not 'Micro$oft'. As we all know, each and every Microsoft product sucks beyond belief. Actually, it is all these immature kids that want to differentiate themselves from the big crowd that suck, they usually don't know what they are talking about.
So, what about LaTeX. First of all, I absolutely [b]hate[/b] software with funny names. As if "Latex" isn't bad enough, an apparently even "LaTeX" couldn't do the job for sufficient weirdness (see logo - this is how the software is referred to in the manual on a continuous basis. The horror!). It is like software as Lotus Symphony! or Act!, or that wonderful non-IBM compatible 80186 powered monster that Philips introduced in the 80's, the :Yes! (an exlcamation mark is sooo common, let's throw in a colon for good measure).
Before I continue to rant; Latex is really, really good. I like it. However, saying that 'Word is the worst word-processor ever invented' and 'no match for Latex capabilities' is like making claims that 'Outlook is much better at email than Powerpoint' - you're comparing two different pieces of software. Latex is purely typesetting software. It is language, not a word processor. The result is the same (a printed document), but the software - and the expectations - are different. So, in defence of word, some of the 'Latex myths' about how horrible word is - and what in my view the reality is.
Latex' output is much better than in word.
Could be, but that's probably because you're looking at something that LaTeX excels at (mathematical formulas for instance). I've been looking for the example that I found that was 'honest' proof - two identical documents with just plain text. "Look at how much better LaTeX handles whitespace, especially at the second sentence". The text in case had an indentation at the LaTeX document, forcing the words closer together. Of course did the Word document look bad...
Latex can handle large documents, Word can't
Technically speaking, LaTex doesn't allow editing of any document - you will have to edit your files with a seperate text editor. Stuck with an old-fashioned Notepad in Windows 98? Too bad, only 1 Mbyte...
Microsoft Office is such a memory hog.
Excuse me? I installed LaTeX (the ProText package) on my machine, which took a whopping 800 megabyte. With Microsoft Office, you get Word, Excel, Powerpoint, Outlook, Access and a whole bunch of tools - and there's still room left
Word is so slow, LaTex is muuuuch faster.
True, if you're interested in a 500 page dissertation laced with formulas every other paragraph. If on the other hand, the scenario "Boss: can make something to show sales blah blah blah geographical bla bla costs blah?" is your daily routine, Word can usually help you out in less than 30 minutes (and that includes making the two bar charts in Excel and the map in Mappoint)
WISYWIG is horrible!
I saved the best for last. WISYWIG may not always be the best solution, but it is pretty much convenient. Switch to normal mode, show hidden characters on and there's not a lot left to surprise you in Word. And of course, make documents the way you're supposed to - using templates and styles. But no, reading the manual is only allowed for LaTeX, with Word we expect you to do everything correctly at once. And at the same time you see all those LaTeX editors that do have WISYWIG ability. Oh yeah, soooo horrible...
I could go on for a long time. Again, LaTeX is excellent and fun to play with for Geeks. It is definetely better than Word when it comes to large, complex documents. But fight Word on it's hometurf (30 page documents with lots of integrated charts, pictures, and excel spreadsheets embedded in it) and it won't come out that pretty...
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