[asciimov]

> I really don't understand how Word remains so popular.

Because Office/Word has become the hammer of the document writing world.

It isn't an issue that it's a bad product and better products our out there (and there are).

It is that everyone is expected to know how to use word at a basic level. From Secretaries to VPs and CEOs, almost universally these people can open a word document, edit it, and save it.

Because of this expectation, it is easier to throw money at Microsoft and have the tool you can expect everyone to use.