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Why is the Microsoft Word such a piece of shit software? Forum's RSS Feed Share

The Phantom's picture
IB
(King Kong, 1,069
 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 3:15pm

Sometimes I think Microsoft outsourced the developing of Word to a bunch of inbred retards...

Tags:
migs's picture

AGREED

 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 3:25pm

AGREED

Cries's picture

relative to excel,

IB
(Gorilla, 564
 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 3:31pm

relative to excel, definitely. However, it might be because I spend 20x more time in excel

elephonky's picture

Is there an equal/better

(Baboon, 155
 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 4:11pm

Is there an equal/better alternative? Word is pretty damn good IMO.

rufiolove's picture

Lemme guess... are you

IB
(King Kong, 1,766
 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 4:14pm

Lemme guess... are you putting together a memo? Formatting tables in word is so frustrating...

"In summary, people are morons and who cares. Make a shit ton of money. I've never seen a Ferrari paid for by what people think." - ANT

Edmundo Braverman's picture

It really is pretty awful if

ST
(Human, 11,011
 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 4:15pm

It really is pretty awful if you don't work with it every day. I honestly think Word Perfect from the late 80's was better.

Maximus Decimus Meridius's picture

Formatting anything in word

(Orangutan, 360
 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 4:19pm

Formatting anything in word is so frustrating....
I feel your pain man, it's so much worse than excel and powerpoint. I don't get it either.

heister's picture

Would you rather write on a

HF
(Neanderthal, 2,582
 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 4:23pm

Would you rather write on a piece of paper?

Follow the shit your fellow monkeys say @shitWSOsays

canas15's picture

I mean, if you really want

 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 4:30pm

I mean, if you really want formatting, you have to learn LaTex. But that's got a steep learning curve to basic use, and formatting is really terrifying. On the other hand, there are templates which make life a little easier.

Try Lyx out- I heard it's kinda in-between Word and Latex.

tellmewhatyouwant's picture

The problem with TeX is that

ST
(Monkey, 65
 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 4:41pm

The problem with TeX is that even if you know it, others will probably not have editing knowledge and will only be able to read it in PDF form.

But TeX is great, especially for math formulas. And it's freeware.

canas15's picture

tellmewhatyouwant wrote: The

 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 4:48pm
tellmewhatyouwant:

The problem with TeX is that even if you know it, others will probably not have editing knowledge and will only be able to read it in PDF form.

But TeX is great, especially for math formulas. And it's freeware.

Yeah, it's a major concern. I'm a math major, so that's something I tend to take for granted way too much. That's why I was thinking of Lyx, I heard it's relatively straightforward with a lot of inheritance from Word. But then again, it's probably not standard on a work computer/IT people might throw tantrums if you try to install it.

gstackle32's picture

rufiolove wrote: Lemme

O
 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 5:00pm
rufiolove:

Lemme guess... are you putting together a memo? Formatting tables in word is so frustrating...

THIS.

and columns in general...fuck columns

West Coast rainmaker's picture

I think the only reason it's

 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 5:45pm

I think the only reason it's still around is because it comes with office, and is basically guaranteed to be compatible with old documents.

But Latex is great. Everyone would always marvel how my math homework looked like it was photocopied from the text. You just have to reformat everything to a pdf; most people do not respond well to a .tex file.

Microsoft's product development always confuses me. Its like they're trying to force their "innovations" down users' throats, between their changes to the UI and horrible auto-format preferences. Seriously, fuck the ribbon UI. Windows 8 will be an abomination if they try to make it a core part of the OS.

I think I'd be happiest if they just released updated versions of XP and MS 2003. They do everything you need. The files are organized. Leave the fancy GUI stuff to Apple.

Hegel's picture

I use Adobe InCopy for text

(Monkey, 41
 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 6:20pm

I use Adobe InCopy for text based documents and LaTex for scientific based ones. Sometimes I edit my Powerpoint presentations (or text documents) with InDesign to make them look better.
And since I got a bunch of flashy and cool looking presets my job is pretty much done.

deal_mkr's picture

is it too much to ask to

IB
 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 6:47pm

is it too much to ask to standardize shortcut keys across PPT, Word, Excel and Outlook? I mean these were all made by the same company right?

whateverittakes's picture

Less than a decade ago, BB

IB
(King Kong, 1,122
 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 7:02pm

Less than a decade ago, BB banks were using Word to make pitchbooks. The horror...

little_monkey's picture

The 2011 Word for Mac is way

(Monkey, 50
 
Points)
  on 2/19/12 at 9:46pm

The 2011 Word for Mac is way user friendly for formatting, aligning etc. or maybe the older versions of Word were so shitty, that I got pleasantly surprised when working in the current one?!

Clever Name's picture

whateverittakes wrote: Less

IB
 
Points)
  on 2/20/12 at 2:04am
whateverittakes:

Less than a decade ago, BB banks were using Word to make pitchbooks. The horror...

As far as I know, GS still uses Word and DB was using it as recently as last year.

When one man, for whatever reason, has an opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.

swagon's picture

Clever Name

EN
(Neanderthal, 2,869
 
Points)
  on 2/20/12 at 2:47am
Clever Name:
whateverittakes:

Less than a decade ago, BB banks were using Word to make pitchbooks. The horror...

As far as I know, GS still uses Word and DB was using it as recently as last year.

wtf? why?

Clever Name's picture

swagon wrote: Clever Name

IB
 
Points)
  on 2/20/12 at 12:19pm
swagon:
Clever Name:
whateverittakes:

Less than a decade ago, BB banks were using Word to make pitchbooks. The horror...

As far as I know, GS still uses Word and DB was using it as recently as last year.

wtf? why?

Macros are pretty easy to program into Word. It's not stock Word that you have on your computer. Banks heavily customize it to fit their needs. I haven't had much experience building books with it, but it's more refined that PowerPoint, which, for my bank at least, is extremely buggy.

When one man, for whatever reason, has an opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.

elephonky's picture

swagon wrote: Clever Name

(Baboon, 155
 
Points)
  on 2/20/12 at 3:37am
swagon:
Clever Name:
whateverittakes:

Less than a decade ago, BB banks were using Word to make pitchbooks. The horror...

As far as I know, GS still uses Word and DB was using it as recently as last year.

wtf? why?

What would they use instead for pitchbooks? Adobe InDesign? What are all the other banks using?

jec's picture

elephonky wrote: swagon

(Orangutan, 323
 
Points)
  on 2/20/12 at 4:08am
elephonky:
swagon:
Clever Name:
whateverittakes:

Less than a decade ago, BB banks were using Word to make pitchbooks. The horror...

As far as I know, GS still uses Word and DB was using it as recently as last year.

wtf? why?

What would they use instead for pitchbooks? Adobe InDesign? What are all the other banks using?

power point

lifeofpurpose's picture

hey guys, does anyone have a

(Gorilla, 506
 
Points)
  on 2/20/12 at 1:04pm

hey guys, does anyone have a standard pitchbook so that we could have a look at it?

Clever Name's picture

Nobody working in banking

IB
 
Points)
  on 2/20/12 at 5:30pm

Nobody working in banking will you show you one of their books, but there are some floating around the internet that you can look at.

Qatalyst's Autonomy M&A pitch to Oracle is a good example (with some egregious errors by whatever analyst made the book). http://www.scribd.com/doc/66891999/Qatalyst-s-Autonomy-Slides-Set-1

When one man, for whatever reason, has an opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.

rufiolove's picture

Clever Name wrote: Nobody

IB
(King Kong, 1,766
 
Points)
  on 2/21/12 at 2:50pm
Clever Name:

Nobody working in banking will you show you one of their books, but there are some floating around the internet that you can look at.

Qatalyst's Autonomy M&A pitch to Oracle is a good example (with some egregious errors by whatever analyst made the book). http://www.scribd.com/doc/66891999/Qatalyst-s-Autonomy-Slides-Set-1

Egregious is way too strong... the book wasn't bad at all, especially because it's a draft and is clearly marked as such. People on this forum need a reality check.

"In summary, people are morons and who cares. Make a shit ton of money. I've never seen a Ferrari paid for by what people think." - ANT

Clever Name's picture

Linked the wrong one, my

IB
 
Points)
  on 2/21/12 at 3:05pm

Linked the wrong one, my fault. These did go to Oracle (Larry Ellison, no less), as they were leaked from Oracle's own website. So, the "draft" disclaimer is irrelevant. Overall, it's a decent book, but there are multiple errors that are easy to spot. Considering Oracle's M&A team is staffed with former bankers, they can spot these mistakes just as fast, if not faster. It may not be a big deal (in the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter at all, as Oracle clearly wanted to buy Autonomy, but didn't get the chance to), but it's far from perfect.

See thread: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/qatalyst-pitch-books

And your post:

rufiolove:

^^^ Being overstaffed isn't an excuse for errors that your team will accept... of course with your whopping one post on this forum you clearly know all about that... It's more about the mindset of your work... you always want it to be quality and error free. Now do mistakes slip through the cracks? Yes. But you can't start making excuses for stuff all the time. Also, this isn't a 200 page book... we're talking about a 9 page summary book. Not an overwhelming thing to check. At any rate, your comments show that you don't really have any perspective on this.

When one man, for whatever reason, has an opportunity to lead an extraordinary life, he has no right to keep it to himself.

alanja's picture

No competition means no

 
Points)
  on 2/23/12 at 1:27pm

No competition means no incentive to improve (on the non-extant competition).

rufiolove's picture

Clever Name wrote: Linked the

IB
(King Kong, 1,766
 
Points)
  on 2/23/12 at 4:45pm
Clever Name:

Linked the wrong one, my fault. These did go to Oracle (Larry Ellison, no less), as they were leaked from Oracle's own website. So, the "draft" disclaimer is irrelevant. Overall, it's a decent book, but there are multiple errors that are easy to spot. Considering Oracle's M&A team is staffed with former bankers, they can spot these mistakes just as fast, if not faster. It may not be a big deal (in the grand scheme of things, it didn't matter at all, as Oracle clearly wanted to buy Autonomy, but didn't get the chance to), but it's far from perfect.

See thread: http://www.wallstreetoasis.com/forums/qatalyst-pitch-books

And your post:

rufiolove:

^^^ Being overstaffed isn't an excuse for errors that your team will accept... of course with your whopping one post on this forum you clearly know all about that... It's more about the mindset of your work... you always want it to be quality and error free. Now do mistakes slip through the cracks? Yes. But you can't start making excuses for stuff all the time. Also, this isn't a 200 page book... we're talking about a 9 page summary book. Not an overwhelming thing to check. At any rate, your comments show that you don't really have any perspective on this.

Wow, great job taking things out of context... clearly you didn't read the whole thread...

Also my post:

rufiolove:

I've noticed that a lot of people on here disclose fake titles, which is really annoying. No way a 2nd year Associate would say that... This was a quality book overall, I really liked the level of detail (some slides got a bit busy but it was really professional and I even got some ideas for some pages based on what they showed even though I'm in a different coverage group). My only critique was that I didn't really care for the color scheme, which is personal preference. Anyone working or formerly in banking can clearly tell that a lot of effort went into the book.

It clearly does matter that the draft sticker is on them... and the fact that "it went to so and so no less." Is completely fucking irrelevant. We've sent books to the CFOs and CEOs of companies that are double the size of Oracle and they have draft stickers on them because they wanted to see where we were regardless of the fact that it wasn't fully scrubbed, and they were ok with that because it was done in the name of expediency. You don't have any context on the situation, so it very well could have been an identical circumstance. I completely stand by what I said... it was a quality book and it is saturated with some nightmarish charts that make it incredibly difficult to spot errors. The errors that were made weren't egregious at all... that's a completely inaccurate description for them... people were nitpicking trying to act like they were MDs, when in reality most of the kids on this forum who are analysts have made those types of mistakes.

My first post, which was taken out of context, was in reference to someone who was making excuses for the analysts making it sound like they have it so much harder than analysts anywhere else. The point of my reply was simply that your team won't give a shit if you are overstaffed / jammed up or not. That doesn't mean that I believe that the work was shitty or that I was judging it, because clearly at no point did I say anything negative about the book itself. In fact, I said quite the opposite which is easily referenced above. I was merely pointing out to someone who at the time had like 1 or 2 posts on this site that was talking in a condescending manner to current and former analysts as if we "didn't know that Qatalyst analysts get crushed" that the environment within your group will be vastly different than external people judging the work from afar.

Next time you try calling someone out, read the full extent of what the said first.

Good talk.

"In summary, people are morons and who cares. Make a shit ton of money. I've never seen a Ferrari paid for by what people think." - ANT

Oreos's picture

Word made my rage pretty hard

HF
(King Kong, 1,216
 
Points)
  on 2/23/12 at 5:25pm

Word made my rage pretty hard today, got some weird looks.