Word processors have been a big part of how people get work done for several decades now, and by this point a generational shift can be seen as one generation starts adopting newer kinds of word management tool rather than older ones. Twitter recently saw a lively debate that showed that Gen Z clearly prefers Google Docs which is clearly a big shift from previous eras since Millennials most definitely preferred to use Microsoft Word for this sort of thing.
The start of this debate occurred when a Harvard professor by the name of Jake Anbinder noted in a tweet that his students rarely ever used Microsoft Word. Instead, they would type out their assignments and essays on Google Docs and convert them into a .doc format which they then submitted. The rather ironic aspect of this is that the .doc format has been out of date for quite some time now since .docx formats have become widely used instead, yet when some Twitter users referred to this in an attempt to disparage people that used Google Docs, the free to use word processor ended up seeing a lot of defenders come out of the woodwork.
A lot of people referred to the fact that Google Docs is completely free to use which makes it an obvious choice for various students who might not want to spend $140 when they probably have limited funds with which they need to try their best to make ends meet. While Microsoft Word is free to use in the browser format, in order to access all of the features that you might need when writing a proper assignment you would need to pay the aforementioned fee which might be what is driving people to eschew Microsoft Word in favor of Google Docs instead.
Another thing that might make Google Docs far preferable is the fact that you don’t need to keep saving your file. Instead, the file saves automatically onto a digital cloud without you having to sign into anything else at all.
Whatever one’s preference might be, it’s clear that the newer generation is not going to follow the ways of the old simply because of the fact that this is how they tended to do things. Instead, a lot of progress is being made and this only proves that no kind of application or software can be so ubiquitous that it can’t be supplanted by newer versions of the same thing that might be better and cost a lot less as well. This could potentially force Microsoft to change the way that they offer their various services and programs to their users lest they lose out to Google in the long run.
Photo: Thomas Trutschel via Getty Images
Read next: To save endangered languages, Google's AI picture software is now using crowdsourcing
The start of this debate occurred when a Harvard professor by the name of Jake Anbinder noted in a tweet that his students rarely ever used Microsoft Word. Instead, they would type out their assignments and essays on Google Docs and convert them into a .doc format which they then submitted. The rather ironic aspect of this is that the .doc format has been out of date for quite some time now since .docx formats have become widely used instead, yet when some Twitter users referred to this in an attempt to disparage people that used Google Docs, the free to use word processor ended up seeing a lot of defenders come out of the woodwork.
A lot of people referred to the fact that Google Docs is completely free to use which makes it an obvious choice for various students who might not want to spend $140 when they probably have limited funds with which they need to try their best to make ends meet. While Microsoft Word is free to use in the browser format, in order to access all of the features that you might need when writing a proper assignment you would need to pay the aforementioned fee which might be what is driving people to eschew Microsoft Word in favor of Google Docs instead.
Another thing that might make Google Docs far preferable is the fact that you don’t need to keep saving your file. Instead, the file saves automatically onto a digital cloud without you having to sign into anything else at all.
Whatever one’s preference might be, it’s clear that the newer generation is not going to follow the ways of the old simply because of the fact that this is how they tended to do things. Instead, a lot of progress is being made and this only proves that no kind of application or software can be so ubiquitous that it can’t be supplanted by newer versions of the same thing that might be better and cost a lot less as well. This could potentially force Microsoft to change the way that they offer their various services and programs to their users lest they lose out to Google in the long run.
Photo: Thomas Trutschel via Getty Images
Read next: To save endangered languages, Google's AI picture software is now using crowdsourcing
