In my first post I described how I gave up Word. For those engaged in academic writing, or the production of certain kinds of complex documents, there’s reason to do so as well. To follow this up, I would like to bring your attention to Marko Pinteric comparison of Word and LaTeX:
Although Word is a useful and practical tool for writing short and (very) simple documents, it becomes too complex or even unusable when one wants the word processor to do more complicated tasks. Moreover, many rather commonly needed features, like user-customised automated numbering or various automated indexes, cannot be created using Word at all. LaTeX does require more effort and time to learn to use even for simpler tasks, but once learned, difficult tasks can be accomplished rather easily and straightforwardly. Therefore, LaTeX is simpler, faster and better way to produce large or complex documents and the additional effort eventually pays off. Additionally, LaTeX is especially well suited for scientific and technical reports, even shorter ones. Writing only one diploma or master or doctor dissertation will pay off all your additional effort. And not to be forgotten—LaTeX is completely free of charge!
Well, a picture is worth a thousand words, and Marko very helpfully provides the following diagram which jibes well with my experience:
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