TOP 100 TOOLS
Word

Word, word processing software is part of the Microsoft Office suite
 

Website	Word
Cost	Commercial
Free trial	Yes
Availability	Download
Platform	Windows/Vista and Mac
2007 ranking	10
2008 ranking	22
2009 ranking	36=
Directory of Learning Tools	Document and spreadsheet tools

Comments from some of those that selected Word as one of their Top 10 Tools in 2009

• has to be one of my top 10 tools as I use it so much but I am still getting to grips with the Mac version.
• I’ve worked with OpenOffice for Mac for a couple of months, but returned to Microsoft Office. And the main reason was that I missed the “review” options in Word, which I use with my colleagues when we are collaborating on reports or when I’m reviewing student’s papers. Jeroen Bottema
• the only word processor I use is the classic and the best. Marco Salas
• Microsoft Office is still a staple in my work. I use Word and PowerPoint often and Excel and Outlook less so. I have a ton of documents and spreadsheets 'in the cloud' but still find my desktop a better place for non-collaborate writing projects that are still works-in-progress. Janet Clarey
• I may be too conservative but I have been using MS Word as my favorite text processor since version 6 for Windows 3.1 (I had used Lotus Ami Pro before). Now I have Word 2007 and I am fully satisfied with it. And why Word as a tool for education? Most of my educational texts was created using Word.  Vaclav Friedrich

Comments from those that selected Word as one of their Top 10 Tools in 2008

• "outlining and writing. I write by outlines, and I've used Word since I bought a Mac II to write my PhD thesis on (now, if Pages had outlining...)"  Clark Quinn
• "I spend much of my time working in Word. The tracked changes and compare functionality took a little while to work out but I now find it indispensable. Storyboards and design documents always go through many revisions and Word helps me keep track of them all."  Rob Hubbard
• "As PPT. I've seen colleagues see the e-Learning 'light' (and need for interaction) after being shown how to use Forms and Comments"  David Sugden
• "Although, I use GoogleDocs more frequently, I still prefer to do most of my writing using Microsoft Word. However, you never know in the future, as these online processors continue to evolve and the Internet becomes easier to access."  Zaid Algasoff
• "For my electronic "To Do List" at work.  Every day, it is one of the first applications I pull up.  And it did help me to get through my dissertation." Benjamin Hamilton
• "Still the standard and much improved with the new ribbon interface"  Harold Shaw
• ""Depending on the project requirement, I use either Microsoft Word or Powerpoint for developing the storyboards for e-learning courses. I am impressed with the look and feel of Microsoft Office 2007." Sathish Narayanan
• "Still what I do all my writing in (although I've started using Goodle Docs too)." Kris Stanhope
• "It is the place where my thoughts start to gain coherence."  Anastasia Prynikova
• "Under everything I do are the many word documents that I write. Never think of using anything else - so it makes it a favourite, even if by default."  Judy O'Connell

Comments from those that selected Word as one of their Top 10 Tools in 2007

General comments about Office

• "Unlike many of my colleagues I have never been a Microsoft hater. I use Office so much that it has to be on the list. I really like the 07 suite with its new interface and wouldn't swap it for any cheaper alternative. I particularly like the RSS feeds facility in Outlook."  Clive Shepherd
• "On an average day I spend a large proportion of my time in either Outlook for emails, PowerPoint for creating storyboards or Word for documents.  Never thought of going anywhere else.  Some features of it drive me mad but it would be daft now to start again somewhere else." Vaughan Waller
• MS Office XP and Outlook 2003. Grouped together because they are so interconnected. These tools are chosen for me by my employer, but I have no complaints - they do the job and I think Excel is the finest application Microsoft ever produced."  Karyn Romeis
• "Whilst I'm not much of a PowerPointer, I use Word and Excel extensively. I particularly like Word's Outliner; and there are many situations in which some of Excel's easy-to-learn "advanced" features - like filters, conditional formatting and the like, save a lot of time and effort."  Seb Schmoller
• "I can’t imagine my work without Word, Excel and PowerPoint"  Jorge Goncalves
• " For creating.  The basic tools to help conceive, plan, design, build learning products.  Have been the standard for me for 10 years"  David Meaney
• "For writing, collating, preparing presentations, tracking, reporting – online and offline – I still haven’t found a way to avoid these tools"  Andrea Barrett

Specific comments about Word

• "As PPT. I've seen colleagues see the e-Learning 'light' (and need for interaction) after being shown how to use Forms and Comments"  David Sugden
• "what I use the most for creating documents"  Lisa Neal
• "Even being a true believer in agile development, it is still necessary to describe the framework of what we are developing. Previously, most specs where made in Word, but comapping has taken over." Ulrik Juul Christensen
• "Although, we have online processors like Buzzword and GoogleDocs, I still prefer to do most of my writing using Microsoft Word. However, you never know in the future, as these online processors continue to evolve and the Internet becomes easier to access."  Zaid Algasoff
• "I need Word mainly for printing web pages in a more readable format: 2-column."  I need Word mainly for printing web pages in a more readable format: 2-column."  Matthias Melcher
• "if only i could export all the macros, and all the autotext entries i've saved in word 2000, then i could try a different word processor .. Expensive, unless you have statewide educational licensing deal." Michael Chalk