Which Word Processor Do You Use? Does it Matter as Much?

Microsoft Word is the word processor of choice, but GoogleDocs now is used by 20 percent of users while OpenOffice is favored by 18 percent of users, according to a poll taken by 535 ReadWriteWeb readers. About seven percent of users reported a text editor, such as Microsoft's "Notepad," is the word processor of choice.

A couple of things got my attention here. Respondents were asked which text editor they "mostly used." My immediate impulse was to say "Microsoft Word." But then I thought about it. Looking at the text entry I do in a day, the number of occurrences is dominated by email messages, not an actual "word processor" application.

The other reflection is that, as a heavy blogger, I now use "notepad" or text editor apps, or the actual text entry areas of blog software more than the word processor itself. In fact, the clear pattern is use of email, notepad and blog word processing tools every day, Word for the few days a month when I actually prepare long-form magazine articles.

Add in other forms of text entry, such as short message service and traditional "word processing" doesn't get used, except for preparation of print magazine stories. All the other text is SMS, notepad, email or blog software. As I am on a temporary "get less connected" jag, I avoid starting up my IM clients. But that's another contender for text creation and editing.

I guess I hadn't really thought about it much, but my use of text tools has changed dramatically over the past few years, driven by blogging. I suspect most of us can cite similar or additional ways our use of word processing or text manipulation has changed over the past decade or so.