1. The Word Doc is not the fault of the Developer.
Every time I send my CV out it is a PDF, but Recruiters usually ask me to send them a Doc instead. "How can I hire a developer who can’t even understand file formats?" This is a wrong conclusion I think, the Developer probably knows that a PDF would be better, but he has no choice if he wants to work with the recruiter.
2. how relevant is a traditional CV
I don't know how relevant a traditional CV is, but I know that there are great developers that simply can not pump everything they do onto GitHub because the type of Contract they have with their employers. This means that a CV would be the only way to show what they have done in those years without breaking their Contracts. Or do you think that someone that can do a little Play project on GitHub really does not even have to show what else he did?
3. "desperate, so driven by money"
Every time I work with a recruiter it works like this: The recruiter contacts me and tells me about a company that would be interested in working with me and I send him my CV. The reason I send him my CV is because it is no work at all and I want to find out if it is a interesting company. This doesn't mean that I am desperate and so far money didn't even come up once. And also I have not "gone to" a suit-and-tie recruiter the suit-and-tie recruiter came to me.