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[midtownlabgeek]

One thing I've run into, as someone who dislikes MS Word and tries to avoid it...

If you collaborate with others (including manuscript submissions!), whatever you use, make sure it's compatible with what other people are expecting.  I spent two days converting my carefully-prepared journal article (written in LaTeX) into a Word file so my postdoc advisor could mark up the electronic copy.  (I'd sent him a PDF.  I guess he didn't know about adding comments in Acrobat?)  Then he complained about how the equations looked...

Similar kind of problem with OpenOffice's presentation format (99% compatible with PowerPoint).

At some point, the time saved by better tools gets lost when you're the only one using the better tools...

[conjugate]

I learned with troff (not groff, which is slightly different) and then picked up the basics of AMS-TeX, and learned enough plain TeX to make my way through a typical paper.  When I found out about LaTeX, I resisted it, but was eventually assimilated. 

OP, you are right in thinking you don't need LaTeX for what you do unless you want to do a lot of mathematical formulae.  I second the suggestion to try OpenOffice, which I just downloaded yesterday.  A nice plus: It also has an equation editor, and there are some add-ons to let you use TeX with it if you wish, so you don't lose much if anything over Word.  As for running it from a USB drive, I don't know but I think you don't have much to lose by trying, right?  I don't think Oo screws with Windows Registry much if any, so you should be good.

[mzunderstanding]

Thanks Conjugate. Oo actually has a portable version that I found at portableapps.com.

Now, if I could just find a motivator that runs from a USB.

[mock_turtle]

You absolutely do not have to be a scientist to use LaTeX profitably.  For many users its excellent capabilities for equations are entirely superfluous.  Some of its other strengths are: a bibliographical database with automatic formatting of references in any style, automatic cross-referencing, powerful indexing tools, ability to open even very old documents without problems, and so on.

I am in the humanities and I use it for absolutely everything -- presentations (Beamer), handouts, article submission, camera-ready copy of books.  I think it makes me much more productive.   Use XeTeX and you can have Unicode input if you work with non-Latin scripts.  If you don't like the default font, XeTeX lets you use any OpenType font installed on your system.

You can use LaTeX even if no one else in your field does.  When I submit an article for review, I submit PDF.  Then when the editor inevitably asks for a Word version of the article I convert it.  For simple articles, I use latex2rtf and for very complex ones I use oolatex; the next step is to use OpenOffice to save the file in Word format.  This takes 2 minutes, not 2 days.

Obviously, if you are collaborating with multiple authors, you should all agree to use the same document format, but revision control is easy with LaTeX -- you just use the external source code management tool of your choice.

It is only like using a sledgehammer to swat a gnat in the case of very short one-off documents with a lot of display text, like posters.

It is not something that you can pick up in five minutes, because it is a completely different paradigm to word processors.  So it's probably not what the OP wants.  But in the long run, whatever your field, it can free you from struggling against your tools and focus on content.  It is a long learning curve, but if you are a scholar you will spend much of your life writing documents, so the investment of time is worth it in the end.  I am so much happier now that I spend my days in Emacs instead of Word, but it took a long time to get here.

[galactic_hedgehog]

As for running it from a USB drive, I don't know but I think you don't have much to lose by trying, right?  I don't think Oo screws with Windows Registry much if any, so you should be good.

That's the point of the PortableApps version.  Everything's on the flash drive.  Or, if you prefer, you can install it directly on your computer and work normally.

[jackit]

You absolutely do not have to be a scientist to use LaTeX profitably.  ... I am so much happier now that I spend my days in Emacs instead of Word, but it took a long time to get here.

Ah, emacs and LaTex.  Those were the days.  Now if I could just get rid of all the collaborators who want to send me these word documents with tracked changes...

[jackit]

p.s. I also ran Mathematica (mathematics software) straight from an emacs interface that created a LaTex notebook.  It rocked.

[daniel_von_flanagan]

My computer is like a museum of word processors old and new: Word, WordPerfect, OpenOffice, even a 1981 version of Wordstar running in a CP/M emulator.  However, I was converted (with great reluctance at the time!) to TeX/LaTeX a little over 10 years ago, and only use the other programs when I absolutely have to, for example collaborations; they're just too painful to use by comparison.

For anyone who gave up on TeX years ago, there is a big difference today: computers are now fast enough to do essentially instant compilation and previews. 

With a good front end, LaTeX is extremely easy to use, and of course the output is beautiful.  The ease of use is even more true for nonmathematical work than for papers with equations, since you just need to put the text any old way between the \begin{document} and \end{document} lines in a shell document.  - DvF

[mzunderstanding]

It sounds interesting enough, but I found the whole installation process to be confusing.

[conjugate]

It sounds interesting enough, but I found the whole installation process to be confusing.

For OpenOffice, or for LaTeX?  When I installed OpenOffice, I was profoundly impressed that the stupid little checkboxes defaulted to unchecked for the questions about "Send me lots of stupid pointless e-mails that I will never read."  It was quick and easy; if you had a problem, what was it?  Wouldn't install to the USB drive?

[daniel_von_flanagan]

OpenOffice is relatively easy to install on any system, but the absolute easiest is to install it on a U3-capable thumbdrive; that's just one click from the U3 menu.

Half the problem with LaTeX is just deciding which installation to go with.  I recommended the following website recently to a colleague in the humanities: http://theotex.blogspot.com/ - DvF

[jackit]

OK, TeXnicians, just how do you collaborate?

(and I have to admit that using subversion or another CVS system won't work for me as my collaborators won't know what it is!).

[daniel_von_flanagan]

OK, TeXnicians, just how do you collaborate?

Usually by exchanging commented LaTeX files in plain text form.

We now have a TeX-aware Wiki server on my departmental system, and I do plan to try that in some future joint project. - DvF

[conjugate]

OK, TeXnicians, just how do you collaborate?

Usually by exchanging commented LaTeX files in plain text form.

We now have a TeX-aware Wiki server on my departmental system, and I do plan to try that in some future joint project. - DvF

Yup.  My co-author sends me his chapter in TeX or in PDF form, and I read it and make comments.  I send him my chapter likewise, and he comments likewise.  Two chapters have been shipped off to a publisher who might tell us yes, no, maybe, or go away, depending on what their reviewers say.

[mzunderstanding]

Um, the LaTex, OpenOffice was not an issue.