Microsoft Office is a digital approximation of a paper-based paradigm, but it's not really great at either one of those things. The Web and its plaintext formats are way better for sharing and interoperability than MS Office formats. Some fans of MS Office will dispute this, but they're not being honest with themselves. The fans who aren't lying to themselves will instead point out that it's better for print, but it's only better for print in comparison to the Web. If you're actually serious about print, then TeX and PDF/PostScript are better. But most stuff created in Microsoft office isn't ever really intended for print, anyway. So what gives? Microsoft Office succeeds despite being mediocre on both measures because while the alternatives each have things that make them better in their strong suit, they fail at the things they aren't strong at. Microsoft Office squeaks by because it's able to get a C in all its classes, whereas the others remain well-liked among their friends and family, but they don't get to graduate.