software for thesis writing (text+figures) - (Jul/28/2013 )
Though I don't like to defend Microsoft stuff, some comments:
- you can set object anchors to fix positions of figures and also enter specific values for absolute or relative positions.
- pdfs can be created by an add-in quite easily in office 2007 and later versions (but according to wikipedia with the second service pack it's integrated (again))
- you can get back the old UI with an add-in such as this: "RibbonCustomizer Starter Edition"
- With help (but you have so many websites and forums or colleagues you can ask) and more advanced typographic features I agree with you, but the latter I don't need for scientific papers, as journals anyway don't want this (and my thesis is luckily finished 
. )
I'd say you should not worry too much about which program to use for the writing. You can do all the writing and layout thing in MS Word with which you are surely most familiar. The layout and appearance for journal articles can all be done with Word! If you really want to some fancy stuff, you can use Adobe Indesign or the free program called Scribus. But these programs have sophisticated functions and a long learning curve as well. So, do it in Word and focus on science.
My main reason (or one of the more important ones) for using word is pretty simple: almost everyone uses it... and if you want to send papers to others or exchange data etc... its just easier...
No point in me working in latex or something else if everyone else uses word..
I even dont know if there are many biological science journals out there that accept non word formats...
Well I hope journal editors have a DTP program even if I send it in Word, yet my thesis is not exactly edited this way ;)
So for the same reason interchangebility in not an issue for this case (the topic was asking about thesis, otherwise interchangebility is an issue) and it's only important if my editor supports my citation manager plugin.
And, I wrote my master thesis a bit before Word 2007, so I know there are some things better now (and few worse).
If they just mixed all the good stuff from old and new Word and Open Office, it could be really joy to work with that ;)
Trof on Tue Aug 20 17:55:27 2013 said:
Well I hope journal editors have a DTP program even if I send it in Word, yet my thesis is not exactly edited this way
So for the same reason interchangebility in not an issue for this case (the topic was asking about thesis, otherwise interchangebility is an issue) and it's only important if my editor supports my citation manager plugin.
And, I wrote my master thesis a bit before Word 2007, so I know there are some things better now (and few worse).
If they just mixed all the good stuff from old and new Word and Open Office, it could be really joy to work with that
No it is a problem, especially for writing a thesis!
Didnt you have to send your thesis to your promotors etc? Here we do.. and all of them used word.. so no point in writing it in another program... they wouldnt be able to check it anyway...
When we send papers/drafts etc to others... (other people at the lab, other labs) its all in word...because they all use word.. if you use something else... problems..
pito on Tue Aug 20 17:58:28 2013 said:
No it is a problem, especially for writing a thesis!
Well I hope journal editors have a DTP program even if I send it in Word, yet my thesis is not exactly edited this way
So for the same reason interchangebility in not an issue for this case (the topic was asking about thesis, otherwise interchangebility is an issue) and it's only important if my editor supports my citation manager plugin.
And, I wrote my master thesis a bit before Word 2007, so I know there are some things better now (and few worse).
If they just mixed all the good stuff from old and new Word and Open Office, it could be really joy to work with that
Didnt you have to send your thesis to your promotors etc? Here we do.. and all of them used word.. so no point in writing it in another program... they wouldnt be able to check it anyway...
When we send papers/drafts etc to others... (other people at the lab, other labs) its all in word...because they all use word.. if you use something else... problems..
Well it would be nice of course from Microsoft to add a converter for Openoffice text formats...I guess they're too smug and complacent for that 
(if they didn't do this in 2010/13, no idea)
hobglobin on Tue Aug 20 18:34:03 2013 said:
pito on Tue Aug 20 17:58:28 2013 said:
No it is a problem, especially for writing a thesis!
Well I hope journal editors have a DTP program even if I send it in Word, yet my thesis is not exactly edited this way
So for the same reason interchangebility in not an issue for this case (the topic was asking about thesis, otherwise interchangebility is an issue) and it's only important if my editor supports my citation manager plugin.
And, I wrote my master thesis a bit before Word 2007, so I know there are some things better now (and few worse).
If they just mixed all the good stuff from old and new Word and Open Office, it could be really joy to work with that
Didnt you have to send your thesis to your promotors etc? Here we do.. and all of them used word.. so no point in writing it in another program... they wouldnt be able to check it anyway...
When we send papers/drafts etc to others... (other people at the lab, other labs) its all in word...because they all use word.. if you use something else... problems..
Well it would be nice of course from Microsoft to add a converter for Openoffice text formats...I guess they're too smug and complacent for that
there are converters out there... but it does not work 100%
pito on Tue Aug 20 18:34:57 2013 said:
hobglobin on Tue Aug 20 18:34:03 2013 said:
pito on Tue Aug 20 17:58:28 2013 said:
No it is a problem, especially for writing a thesis!
Well I hope journal editors have a DTP program even if I send it in Word, yet my thesis is not exactly edited this way
So for the same reason interchangebility in not an issue for this case (the topic was asking about thesis, otherwise interchangebility is an issue) and it's only important if my editor supports my citation manager plugin.
And, I wrote my master thesis a bit before Word 2007, so I know there are some things better now (and few worse).
If they just mixed all the good stuff from old and new Word and Open Office, it could be really joy to work with that
Didnt you have to send your thesis to your promotors etc? Here we do.. and all of them used word.. so no point in writing it in another program... they wouldnt be able to check it anyway...
When we send papers/drafts etc to others... (other people at the lab, other labs) its all in word...because they all use word.. if you use something else... problems..
Well it would be nice of course from Microsoft to add a converter for Openoffice text formats...I guess they're too smug and complacent for that
there are converters out there... but it does not work 100%
okay...and well I've the also converting problems but with doc <-> docx which is IMO quite a shame for MS....
hobglobin on Tue Aug 20 18:43:36 2013 said:
pito on Tue Aug 20 18:34:57 2013 said:
hobglobin on Tue Aug 20 18:34:03 2013 said:
pito on Tue Aug 20 17:58:28 2013 said:
No it is a problem, especially for writing a thesis!
Well I hope journal editors have a DTP program even if I send it in Word, yet my thesis is not exactly edited this way
So for the same reason interchangebility in not an issue for this case (the topic was asking about thesis, otherwise interchangebility is an issue) and it's only important if my editor supports my citation manager plugin.
And, I wrote my master thesis a bit before Word 2007, so I know there are some things better now (and few worse).
If they just mixed all the good stuff from old and new Word and Open Office, it could be really joy to work with that
Didnt you have to send your thesis to your promotors etc? Here we do.. and all of them used word.. so no point in writing it in another program... they wouldnt be able to check it anyway...
When we send papers/drafts etc to others... (other people at the lab, other labs) its all in word...because they all use word.. if you use something else... problems..
Well it would be nice of course from Microsoft to add a converter for Openoffice text formats...I guess they're too smug and complacent for that
there are converters out there... but it does not work 100%
okay...and well I've the also converting problems but with doc <-> docx which is IMO quite a shame for MS....
Really?
No I have never had that problem.. thats indeed a shame!
But first time I hear that someone has problems with this kind of converting.
Thanks for the answers! ;)