---
title: "Word Processing: Most of You Still Use Desktop Software"
date: 2008-09-05
author: "Richard MacManus"
categories:
  - name: "ReadWriteWeb"
    url: "/category/readwriteweb.md"
tags:
  - name: "2008"
    url: "/tag/2008.md"
---

# Word Processing: Most of You Still Use Desktop Software

![](https://web.archive.org/web/20081229215832im_/http://www.readwriteweb.com/images/weboffice/ms_vs_google.jpg)This week we ran a poll asking which word processing tool you primarily use. We wanted to see if things had changed much since we ran the same poll [one year ago](https://web.archive.org/web/20081229215832/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/poll_what_tool_do_you_use_for_word_processing.php).

So are ReadWriteWeb readers, many of whom are early adopters of Internet technology, using *online* word processing services now instead of desktop software? Er, no.

As at time of writing, over 1,500 people had voted. 48% of those still use Microsoft Word as their main word processing tool. Its open source desktop equivalent OpenOffice got 15%. However, there is good news for Web Office fans – Google Docs was in second place with 17%. This is a 6% increase from last year according to our polls.

## Less Than 1/4 of You Use an Online Word Processer as Your Main Tool

Let’s delve further into the results, firstly for the desktop software. Last year MS Word got 46% and this year 48%. So not much has changed for the dominant office software supplier, even with RWW’s Net savvy readers. OpenOffice slipped a bit, down from 17% last year to 15% this year. Overall, **76% of readers still use a desktop software program** as their main word processing tool (counting the 8% who use a text editor for this purpose). That’s up slightly from 74% the same time last year.

That means that **less than 25% of our readers use an online service** as their primary means of doing word processing. The best of the online breed was Google Docs, with 17%, up from 11%. This is a good sign though, because Google Docs is now second behind only MS Word.

## Google Docs Gains Users, But Not From Microsoft

What was a little surprising is that the Web startups competing with Google Docs all performed worse than last year. ThinkFree got 2%, Buzzword 1%, Zoho 1%, and Zimbra less than 1%. ThinkFree and Zoho both polled at 5% last year and Zimbra 2% (Buzzword wasn’t in last year’s poll). This indicates that Google Docs has gained users ***not from MS Word***… but from the online startups.

Tell us your reaction to these results. What’s happened to the startups? Are they doomed in this market dominated by the big guns?

*Originally published on ReadWriteWeb ([archived copy](https://web.archive.org/web/20020204040018/http://www.readwriteweb.com/archives/word_processing_poll_results_2008.php))*